Published: Oct 25, 2015, 08:20 AM (IST)
Edited: Aug 31, 2016, 02:58 PM (IST)
Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live coverage of Day 4 of the Group A game of the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy between Delhi and Bengal, live from Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi. Bengal hold the advantage, at least on paper, when play will start on Day Four. Having acquired a 108-run first-innings lead they ended Day Three on 46 for 3, which has increased their lead to 154. Unfortunately, a long tail means that at least two of Manoj Tiwary, Aamir Gani, and Wriddhiman Saha will have to play hard to get the lead beyond Delhi’s reach. Delhi, after all, boast of Gautam Gambhir and Unmukt Chand, among others. READ: Ranji Trophy 2015-16, full coverage here
Live cricket scores Delhi 161/4 | Target 326 | Overs 37 | Batting: Manan Sharma 0(5), Milind 11(40): Nitish Rana misjudges Aamir Gani’s ball and gets out leg-before-wicket. The impact was in line and hence the umpire had no hesitation to point his index finger up. Manan Sharma has come to the crease, he is yet to get off the mark. Match is drawn. Bengal gains three points, Delhi one. OUT! Nitish Rana lbw Aamir Gani 49(88)
Live cricket scores Delhi 161/3 | Target 326 | Overs 35.1 | Batting: Nitish Rana 49(87), Milind 11(35): Delhi lose their third wicket Rishabh Pant. Pant made a quickfire 57 before being stumped on Aamir Gani’s ball. Nitish Rana is just one short of his fifty. Milind is batting at the other end on 11. Gautam Gambhir has preferred to send Milind ahead of him. OUT! Rishabh Pant st Wriddhiman Saha b Aamir Gani 57(71)
Live cricket scores Delhi 111/2 | Target 326 | Overs 21.2 | Batting: Rishabh Pant 50(65), Nitish Rana 20(43): Delhi openers have slowed down a little. Rishabh Pant has completed his fifty. He struck two boundaries and three sixes en route his half century. The duo of Pant and Nitish Rana has added 65 runs so far. Gautam Gambhir will probably come next if another wicket falls.
Live cricket scores Delhi 101/2 | Target 326 | Overs 15.3 | Batting: Rishabh Pant 44(49), Nitish Rana 17(23): Rishabh Pant is dealing in sixes and boundaries right now. He is not willing to slow down his scoring rate. He is nearing his fifty and is batting at a strike of 89.80 which is simply phenomenal. Delhi now need 225 runs to win. They are batting at more than run a ball right now.
Live cricket scores Delhi 72/2 | Target 326 | Overs 12 | Batting: Rishabh Pant 21(31), Nitish Rana 13(18): Delhi have lost two wickets— Unmukt Chand and Yogesh Nagar for 22 and 14 runs respectively but Delhi have come with a plan and that is to slam bang from word go. They are batting at a run rate of six per over which one mostly witnesses in limited over matches only. Their approach of taking extra risk even if they lose the match is encouraging; although it is doubtful whether it is practical. Gautam Gambhir has demoted himself down the order maybe due to this strategy only that they will go for the kill but if they lose quick wickets he can stabilise the innings later on. OUT! Unmukt Chand c&b Ashok Dinda 22(15), Yogesh Nagar st Wriddhiman Saha b Aamir Gani 14(10)
Live cricket scores Bengal 357 & 217/5 declared | Delhi 249 | Overs 73.2 | Batting: Sayan Shekhar Mandal 27(24): Manoj Tiwary gets out just three short of his century; he played very well and thoroughly deserved a hundred but got out on a Sumit Narwal’s delivery. Bengal have declared their innings on 217 for five. Delhi will now need 326 runs to win in the last innings of the match. It will be extremely difficult for them to win this match from here on because less than 300 balls will be bowled in this match in the last innings. They could have thought about chasing had they got explosive batsman Virender Sehwag in their side who played for Delhi for a long time but is playing for Haryana in this Ranji Trophy. Now, it would be more sensible for them to play out all the overs that will be bowled today. OUT! Manoj Tiwary c Yogesh Nagar b Sumit Narwal 97(199)
Live cricket scores Bengal 357 & 178/4 | Delhi 249 | Overs 67 | Batting: Manoj Tiwary 83(180), Sayan Shekhar Mandal 3(5): Aamir Gani is caught by Rishabh Pant on the bowling of Sumit Narwal. Gani made 62 runs with the help of eight boundaries and a six. Manoj Tiwary is nearing his hundred. Wriddhiman Saha is next in batting order. Bengal are leading by 286 runs and we may see a declaration soon. OUT! Aamir Gani c Rishabh Pant b Sumit Narwal 62(142)
Live cricket scores Bengal 357 & 76/3 | Delhi 249 | Overs 40 | Batting: Manoj Tiwary 38(108), Aamir Gani 14(56): The duo have added 29 runs more after Bengal had finished on 47 for 3 at stumps of Day 3. From here, the visitors lead Delhi by 184 runs with seven wickets to spare and today being the last day.
Delhi resumed Day Three on 100 for 3, trailing by 257. Pragyan Ojha took out Nitin Rana (43 from 135 balls, 7 fours) soon, and though 5 of the last 6 batsmen went into double-figures, none of them managed to reach 20. Wickets fell at regular intervals, with Milind Kumar (77 in 193 balls, 6 fours, 2 sixes) standing tall amidst ruins. Batting at No. 11, Parvinder Awana provided some entertainment, scoring an 8-ball 18 with 4 fours. For Bengal, Ojha was the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 77, and was supported well by Ashok Dinda, who had 3 for 59.
Manan Sharma’s double blow reduced Bengal to 2 for 2 in the seventh over. Sudip Chatterjee, having scored two hundreds in this season, hung around for 52 balls before edging one to Rishabh Pant off Sangwan. Tiwary and Gani played out 39 balls before stumps, but there is still some way for them to go.
Squads:
Delhi: Gautam Gambhir (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Pradeep Sangwan, Unmukt Chand, Parvinder Awana, Yogesh Nagar, Sumit Narwal, Navdeep Saini, Manan Sharma, Milind Kumar, Nitish Rana.
Bengal: Manoj Tiwary (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk) , Parthasarathi Bhattacharjee, Naved Ahmed, Sudip Chatterjee, Pankaj Shaw, Sayan Mondal, Aamir Gani, Veer Pratap Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Ashok Dinda.
