Delhi under-23 crash out of Col CK Nayudu Trophy as bowling fails

Delhi under-23 cricket team crashed out of the Col CK Nayudu Trophy after getting buried under a mountain of runs made by Mumbai at the Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana in Kandivali in Mumbai. The home team advanced to semi-finals on first innings lead. 

Delhi won the toss and put Mumbai into bat who amassed 714/6 declared.

“Our bowlers missed the trick. The decision to put them into bat was correct. There was a bit of grass on the pitch as well as moisture. The curators had watered the pitch a day before. But our bowlers couldn’t execute the plans,” said Head Coach Shankar Saini.

Manan Bhatt scored 157 while Pragnesh Kanpillewar hit 189 as both the batsmen added 167 for the fourth wicket.

Kanpillewar then added 115 with Suryansh Shedge for the fifth wicket and followed it up with 177 runs for the sixth wicket with Ayush Vartak.

Barring an early breakthrough in the innings, the Delhi bowlers toiled.

Manan Bhardwaj and Rounak Waghela picked two wickets each but went for 158 and 191 runs respectively.

Delhi folded for just 350 runs, conceding a lead of 364 runs. Opener Arpit Rana scored a century, 103, whereas skipper Sujal Singh (53) and Tejasvi Dahiya (62) scored half-centuries.

After conceding such a big lead, Delhi had backs to the wall and whatever hopes they had of returning in the game, were dashed after Mumbai scored 399/6 declared.

Opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi scored 148 while Kanpillewar remained unbeaten on 120, for his second century of the match.

Left-arm spinner Manan Bhardwaj picked 5/152 to return as the top wicket-taker in the innings.

“There were some good performers this year. Waghela did well, Aprit Rana, Ayush Doseja, Sujal Singh, Manan Bhardwaj, Yugal Saini, Mayank Gusain all did well,” added coach Saini.

“We will see how it goes the next year and will look to perform better.”

The left-handed Sujal was the top-scorer for Delhi under-23s with 594 runs in eight matches at 54. He is 24th in the list of run-getters. Mayank Gusain followed it with 562 in six matches at 80.29. He is 27th.

Ayush Doseja (527 in five matches at 105.4) and Arpit Rana (526 in six matches at 65.75) are 35th and 36th in the list of run-getters.

Among bowlers, left-arm spinner Rounak Waghela was the star of the season, finishing with 50 wickets in eight matches at an average of 24.86. He is second in the list of wicket-takers across the country.

Bhardwaj with 18 scalps in four matches at 32.55 is 57th on the list.

Tags : DDCA, Delhi cricket, Col CK Nayudu Trophy, Rounak Waghela, Sujal Singh, Mumbai, Sachin Tendulkar