Nitish Rana made a gritty 92 before pacers reduced Punjab to 44 for four in their second innings to put Delhi in a strong position on day three of their Ranji Trophy match here on Sunday.
Not many gave Delhi a chance against table leaders Punjab going into the match but the Dhruv Shorey-led squad has upped its game.
After Shorey’s 96 on day two, Rana (92 off 189) batted sensibly alongside Jonty Sidhu (41) to take Delhi past Punjab’s first innings score of 313.
Lalit Yadav (39) also made a crucial lower-order contribution as Delhi ended their first innings at 339.
After a spirited showing with the bat, pacers extended Delhi’s advantage, especially the young Simarjeet Singh who continues to impress in his second first-class season.
He removed Sanvir Singh (11) before removing the in-form Gurkeerat Singh Mann (15).
Opener Shubman Gill (4), who courted controversy in the first innings, failed for the second time in the game. The India batsman was dismissed by Subodh Bhati in the third over.
Punjab captain and first innings’ top-scorer Mandeep Singh was in the middle on 8 when stumps were drawn. Punjab lead by just 18 runs going into day four.
Karnataka thrash Mumbai
Mumbai: Putting up an all-round show, Karnataka defeated Mumbai by 5 wickets in their Elite Group B game at BKC, inside two-and-half days.
This was Mumbai’s second consecutive loss at home, following their defeat against Railways.
It is also Karnataka’s fourth outright win against Mumbai since the 2013-14 season.
Chasing 126 for an outright win, Karnataka openers R Samarth (34; 2x4) and Devdutt Padikkal (50; 5x4, 2x6) gave the team a solid start and the visitors were racing towards the target as they were 77/0 at lunch.
However, post lunch offie Shashank Attarde (4-52) pegged back the visitors by taking wickets.
But Shreyas Gopal (5 not out) and B R Sharath (4 not out) took the side home without any further damage.
Earlier, resuming the day on 109/5, left-arm pacer Prateek Jain (4-11) grabbed all the wickets in the morning session as he ran through the Mumbai’s lower order.
Meanwhile in Vadodara, Baroda thrashed Railways by 99 runs.
Services gain bonus
New Delhi: Medium-pacers Diwesh Pathania and Sachidanand Pandey took five wickets each as Services thrashed Maharashtra by an innings and 94 runs in a Group C match.
Resuming at their overnight score of 93 for five, Maharashtra’s second innings folded for just 147.
The visitors lost Naushad S Shaikh (41) for the addition of just one run when Pandey (5/56) induced an edge, taken by wicket-keeper Nakul Verma.
Opener Murtaza Trunkwala, who had retired hurt on Saturday returned to the crease but didn’t last long, falling to Pathania (5/49) for 9 after hitting two boundaries.
Vishant More, who was batting on 33 overnight, added only three runs to his score before being bowled by Pandey.
There was brief resistance from the lower-order but eventually Maharashtra were bundled out in 48.1 overs.
Bihar beat Mizoram
Patna: Medium pacer Abhijeet Saket produced a magical spell during which he dismissed seven batsmen without conceding a single run to fashion Bihar’s six-wicket win over Mizoram in a plate group match.
Saket eventually ended the match with his career-best figures of 7/12 as Bihar completed the win inside three days.
Mizoram opener C Lalrinsanga’s (0) first-over dismissal marked the beginning of Saket’s electrifying spell. Four Mizoram batsmen could not even open their account.
Taruwar Kohli soon followed suit with a first-ball duck in the the 24-year-old’s second over. Lalhruaizela (1), Lalhmangaiha (3) , Lalruatdika (0), Pratik Desai (0) and G Lalbiakvela (0) were Saket’s other victims.
His efforts helped Bihar bundle out Mizoram for 68 in their second innings, setting Bihar a 185 run target.
In reply, Bihar cruised to the target in 33.4 overs with opener Indrajit Kumar (98 not out) and Babul Kumar (61) hitting comfortable half centuries.