After much controversy, Delhi returned to their home ground — Ferozeshah Kotla — for the final league match with their hopes of qualifying for the quarterfinals hanging by a thin thread. But the home comfort didn’t bring any respite from their struggle with the bat as Delhi got out for 202 against Karnataka on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy match here on Monday. At stumps, Karnataka were 2 for no loss in one over.
As the play was stopped a couple of times due to bad light, only 68.4 overs could be bowled during the day - a big worry for Delhi who are looking for maximum points from this match.
On a slow pitch, that also kept a bit low at times, Delhi made several changes in their playing eleven to include spinners. While left-arm spinner Varun Sood replaced injured Parvinder Awana, off-spinner Manoj Chauhan came in place of Navdeep Saini, who wasn’t even included in the 15-member squad. They also dropped out-of-form Unmukt Chand and Vaibhav Rawal and included Milind Kumar and another left-arm spinner Manan Sharma to boost their spin department.
Opening the innings for the first times this season Virender Sehwag, after Delhi chose to bat first, played with his signature flamboyance to give his team a flying start. He shared a 51-run stand with Gautam Gambhir before getting out. He scored 32 off just 31 balls with five boundaries to his name. All other Delhi batsmen, including Gambhir, who played a patient innings to score 54, wasted the opportunity after getting decent starts. Wicket-keeper Rahul Yadav (21), Manan (23), Sumit Narwal (22), Mithun Manhas (12) and Sood (11), all spent a considerable time in the middle before getting out in one or other way.
Medium pacers R Vinay Kumar (4/40) and HS Sharath (3/58) together picked seven wickets on a pitch that was expected to assist spinners but as it was the first day of the match and sun kept playing hide and seek, the little bit of moisture in the pitch held it together.
Brief Scores
Delhi: 202 in 67.4 overs (Gautam Gambhir 54, Virender Sehwag 32, R Vinay Kumar 4/40, HS Sharath 3/58) lead Karnataka: 2/0 in 1 over by 200 runs.