Ishant Sharma was a picture of commitment while leading the injury-ridden Delhi attack with an eight-wicket match haul to all but ensure an outright victory against Hyderabad on the third day of the Ranji Trophy group A encounter at Arun Jaitley stadium on Friday.
Having dismissed Hyderabad for 69 in the first innings, Delhi were handicapped by Pawan Suyal’s injury but that didn’t deter Ishant from sending down 19 overs, grabbing 4 for 89 in the visitors’ total score of 298.
Ishant finished with a match-haul of 8 for 108 in 29 overs.
Needing 84 to win, Delhi were 24 for no loss in the second innings and are just 60 runs away from full points. If they win by 10 wickets, the team will also walk away with a bonus point.
At a time when the Indian pacers’ workload management has become a focal point and top stars only want to bowl a specific number of overs in red-ball games to get into the groove, the veteran of 96 Test matches toiled hard, bowled those extra overs and also encouraged young Simarjeet Singh (3/80 in 19.4 overs).
Once Suyal was out of the attack with a groin strain, Ishant had no option but to bowl those extra overs and he started in earnest, trapping right-hander Himalay Agarwal in-front and then breaching Bavanaka Sandeep’s (0) defences.
To give him respite, even Nitish Rana had to bowl the seam-up stuff. There were times, when Ishant pitched it short but whenever he looked to pitch it up, he was a handful.
It was opener Tanmay Agarwal (103 off 154 balls), who was primarily responsible for thwarting Delhi's bid for an innings victory along with some rearguard action from Tanay Thyagrajan (34) and Mehedy Hasan (71).
Tanmay and Tanay shared a 93-run stand after Hyderabad were reduced to 97 for 6.
Hasan then used the long-handle to help Hyderabad avoid follow-on. However, all they could manage in the end was 83-run lead which certainly won’t be enough.
Porel bags three
Kolkata: Bengal speedster Ishan Porel blew away the Andhra middle-order with his triple strike as Andhra were reduced to 110 for 7 on the third day of group A encounter.
Only 46 overs of play was possible on the day due which has effectively robbed Bengal a chance to get an outright win with a day left.
Bengal were all-out for 289 in their first innings and Andhra need to score another 30 to avoid follow-on.
On a breezy winter morning, Andhra had their backs to the wall with Porel dismissing skipper Hanuma Vihari (23) and in-form Ricky Bhui (0) off successive deliveries to finish the day with figures of 3 for 35.
Porel's new ball partner pace partner Mukesh Kumar accounted for 2 for 36 but Andhra rode on Gnaneshwar’s dogged 45 not out off 145 balls to see through the day.
“The ball was moving both ways and I was enjoying my good form and rhythm. We all are young so there was a lot of positivity and we bowled our hearts out,” Porel said.
“However I could have bowled well in the last spell. I tried to bowl pace and was off the mark.”
Services win vs Tripura
New Delhi: Diwesh Pathania returned with a match haul of eight wickets, while Poonam Poonia had a hat-trick in his five-for as Services routed Tripura by eight wickets in Elite Group C match.
Pathania claimed 3/27 to return with a match-haul of 8 for 63, while Poonia hogged the limelight with his hat-trick as he ran through the lower-order en route to his 5/26 to skittle out Tripura for 84 in their second essay.
Resuming the day on 16 for one with 31 runs in arrears, Tripura hardly showed any fight and failed to negotiate the three-seam attack being bundled out in 43.5 overs with Poonia dismissing Harmeet Singh, Rana Dutta and Abhijit Sarkar off successive deliveries.
Chasing a paltry 38, Services lost two wickets for six runs inside four overs but opener Abhijit Salvi (23 not out) and Arun Bamal (nine) ensured that there was no more hiccups taking the team home in 11.1 overs.