Delhi under-23 end campaign in a tale of misses

It was another story of near-misses as the Delhi under-23 team ended their Col CK Nayudu Trophy campaign on a high just like the Ranji Trophy team but failed to make the next round.

In the words of assistant coach Suhail Sharma, Delhi should have crossed the line had it not been for bad weather and some opportunities squandered.

Delhi under-23s won their seventh and last league game, against Uttarakhand by five wickets, but two losses – a six-wicket one against Madhya Pradesh in Jabalpur and an innings and 120-run hammering at the hands of Mumbai in Mumbai – as well as three draws in which they took the first innings lead but couldn’t seal victories, pushed them to exit.

“There was the match against Bengal that was affected by inclement weather. We had taken a sizeable (153-run) lead on first innings and could have pressed on for victory,” said Sharma, a former off-spin bowling all-rounder who played several matches for Delhi in the noughties and earned stripes for ONGC in Capital’s cricket circuit.

Delhi had taken first-innings lead against Haryana in Sultanpur, the first game of their season. That was also a match which was affected by weather and two first innings could not be completed. Haryana were dismissed for 287 while Delhi made 301/8 declared.

Delhi then defeated Bihar by eight wickets at the Ferozeshah Kotla grounds of Arun Jaitley Stadium with left-arm spinner Manan Bhardwaj (5/67 & 4/60), Arpit Rana (135 & 68), and Sujal Singh (99) playing key roles.

Things were going fine till then.

But the match against Mumbai at the DY Patil ground proved to be the biggest humiliation of the season.

Delhi then also got points on first innings in the game against Vidarbha at the Kotla ground. The lead was slender, seven runs, but a lead nonetheless.

Ayush Doseja and Mayank Gusain scored fifties while Money Grewal and Gusain took 4/90 and 4/56 respectively.

The Bengal game at Jamia Millia Islamia should have been in Delhi’s kitty but weather played spoilsport. Delhi made 341 with Saurav Dagar scoring 82. The host then dismissed Bengal for 188 forcing them to follow-on. Right-arm pacer Grewal took 4/35.

Delhi then conceded a 111-run lead to Madhya Pradesh, scoring 224 in first essay, before getting restricted to 211 in second innings. MP coasted to 101-run target losing just four wickets.  

Uttarakhand proved to be easy meat at St Stephen’s Ground as Delhi took a 176-run lead in first innings. Delhi made 408 in reply to Uttarakhand’s 232. Raunak Waghela took 3/60 while Delhi skipper Ayush Doseja scored 97 and wicket-keeper Pranav chipped in with 72.

Uttarakhand scored 369 the second time with Grewal taking 6/85. Delhi chased the 194-run target, reaching 197 for the loss of five wickets.  

Tags : Cricket, under-23, Col CK Nayudu, Delhi District Cricket Association, DDCA