Published: Dec 31, 2017, 08:30 AM (IST)
Edited: Dec 31, 2017, 04:22 PM (IST)
Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live coverage of the third day’s play of the Ranji Trophy Final 2017-18 between Delhi and Vidarbha at Holkar Stadium, Indore. The summit clash is living upto its expectations, and both sides will come hard against each other to dictate terms from hereon. In reply to Delhi’s 295, Vidarbha are placed at 206 for 4. Veteran batsman Wasim Jaffer is unbeaten — slamming his 86th First-Class fifty— and will start afresh to ensure a vital first-innings lead.
Vidarbha’s innings started on the right note. Skipper Faiz Fazal’s rich vein of form continued. He, however, threw his scalp for 67, trying to play the ball past the slip cordon and handed a simple catch to Rishabh Pant. Sanjay Ramaswamy, on the other hand, took a calm approach. His cautious stay in the middle was dented at 31. From thereon, Jaffer has led the resurgence and looks set for a big innings.
Earlier on Day Two, Delhi were rocked by Rajneesh Gurbani. He claimed his third fifth-wicket haul in three matches to restrict Delhi below 300; finishing with 6 wickets— including a hat-trick. Delhi needed centurion Dhruv Shorey to stay for long, but he lost partners. Gurbani’s hat-trick victims included Vikas Mishra, Navdeep Saini and Dhruv.
Day Three will surely add more spice to the contest, which at present looks evenly-poised.
