Delhi concede first innings lead to Pondicherry

New Delhi: Delhi hit a new low on Day 3 of their Ranji Trophy match against Pondicherry at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground when they conceded a 187-run lead on first innings, and more likely three points as the last day is unlikely to produce an outright victory for them.

At stumps on Monday, Delhi were 76 without loss, still 111 runs behind after Pondicherry scored 481 runs in their first innings. Delhi were bowled out for 296 in the first essay.

Resuming at 240/4, Pondicherry raced past Delhi’s total in the first half hour only with Aman Hakim Khan batting in T20 mode, scoring 66 off 47 balls with 12 fours and two sixes.

By the time Khan was dismissed, Pondicherry had moved to 308/5, 12 runs ahead of Delhi. The grind continued for the home team as overnight centurion Ajay Rohera (151, in pic) and Test player Jayant Yadav (71) added 88 for the sixth wicket. A couple of useful knocks towards the end by Puneet Datey and Sagar Udeshi took the team way ahead of Delhi.

The only way Delhi could have challenged Pondicherry was to knock off at least about 140 runs in the 23 overs they got to play. That would have left them just 40-odd runs behind. They then could have hoped for a 90-over one-day challenge against Pondicherry on the last day and hope to earn full points.

But they could end with just 76/0, with Sanat Sangwan making 24 off 70 balls and Arpit Rana scoring 40 off 69.

Tags : Ajay Rohera, Pondicherry, Aman Hakim Khan