Four fifties put Delhi in a strong position against Himachal Pradesh

Gritty, patient half-centuries from openers Arpit Rana (64 off 110), Sanat Sangwan (79 off 170 balls) and Ayush Doseja (51 not out off 88 balls) interlaced by a fluent one from Yash Dhull (61 off 66 balls) helped Delhi finish Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy tie against Himachal Pradesh at 306/4 at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground on Saturday.

After being into bat on a pitch that seemed good for batting but betrayed some turn and bounce for spinners, Rana and Sangwan began well, adding 103 for the first wicket.

Sangwan dropped anchor and added 93 with Dhull. For large part of the day, the Himachal Pradesh boys struggled to get a wicket but during a period of 14 overs when they looked like getting a few, as they reduced Delhi to 235/4 from 196/1, newcomer Ayush Doseja’s calm head parried them.

The left-handed Doseja was there to dig deep right from the start, it seemed. The defence he showed early was tight and if anything, it may have demoralised the opposition bowlers.

He nudged and carved runs around the pitch even as the buoyant Himachal bowlers, high on wickets, tried to bowl a tight line.

But Doseja, who represents Ravi Brothers and trains at Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, and Sumit Mathur (32 batting) kept frustrating the Himachal Pradesh bowlers and took the team past 300.

Even the new ball couldn’t make much of an impact against them, although one can say that they didn’t bowl as well as they were expected to.  

Tags : Ayush Doseja, Arpit Rana, Sanat Sangwan, Yash Dhull, Ranji Trophy