Yash Dhull's 189 protects Delhi from outright defeat not humiliation

If there was any hope of salvaging pride in a season of lows for Delhi, it was dashed by Rajasthan team in the Ranji Trophy encounter that ended in Rajsamand on Wednesday.

Delhi were faced with the ignominy of an outright defeat on the last day, when trailing by 274 runs on first innings, they were reduced to 12/2 and then 55/3.

Yash Dhull, standing in as skipper for Ayush Badoni, scored 189 and was ably supported by Ayush Doseja (64) to help the team avoid defeat. Despite Dhull’s 189, Delhi finished at 316/7 barely 42 ahead. Had Dhull or even Doseja not clicked, Delhi would had to return home with an innings defeat.

After this drawn result in which they earned one point, Delhi lie sixth after five matches. They have eight points. They have two more games after the break – both away, against Chhattisgarh and Mumbai – and they should very well bid goodbye to knockout stage now only.

The remaining two games can be an excellent opportunity for officials and office-bearers to try their favourites and oblige them.

Left-arm pace bowler Siddhant Sharma, who was axed following poor performances was drafted in again for this match against Rajasthan. Once again Sharma disappointed with the new ball, failing to pick a wicket. He is known to be good with the new ball and is known to have variations, so perhaps he should be tried in white ball cricket from where he can try and get to the Indian Premier League (IPL), the ultimate dream of every Delhi cricketer nowadays.

The seamer ended with 1/105 in 30 overs, his lone wicket coming in the 158th over, just 3.2 overs before Rajasthan declared at 570/7. He was brought in for Money Grewal, one of the best in Delhi.

Simarjeet Singh (3/81) and Navdeep Saini (2/83) were among the wickets as four Rajasthan batsmen racked up centuries -- including No. 7 Mahpal Lomror, a former India under-19 player, and No. 8 Kartik Sharma (in pic), who is being touted as a hot property for IPL auction for his hard-hitting batting. He hit nine sixes in his 120 not out.

Quite surprisingly, skipper Dhull did not bowl Sumit Mathur for a long time who is a regular bowler but continued with part-timers Arpit Rana and Vaibhav Kandpal.

It may have to do with the fact that he wanted to go in with off-spinners but keeping a regular spinner till the opposition has reached 300 is not a good move.

Delhi may have been better off in persisting with Hrithik Shokeen, who can bowl and bat, instead of fielding Siddhant.

In response to Rajasthan’s 570/7 declared, Delhi were dismissed for 296. Opener Arpit Rana (62), Vaibhav Kandpal (62), who replaced Ayush Badoni, and Pranav Rajvanshi scored half-centuries.

Delhi were made to follow on Day 4. After early setbacks, Dhull rescued them with a 242-ball 189 in an innings laden with 27 fours and two sixes.

Tags : Kartik Sharma, Delhi, Ranji Trophy, Rajasthan, Yash Dhull