Fiery Shardul hunts down Delhi

Post News Network

Cuttack, Feb 17: Mumbai pace spearhead Shardul Thakur (5/54) bowled brilliantly to skittle out Delhi for 166 on day two of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals at the DRIEMS Ground, here Tuesday. Delhi thus finished with a lead of 10 runs in the first innings. At stumps Mumbai, having wiped out that lead were 97 for the loss of Aditya Tare’s wicket. Akhil Herwadkar (52 batting, 99b, 11×4) led the fightback with a half century and giving him company was Shreyas Iyer (12 n o, 35b, 2×4).

Tare was caught behind off Pradeep Sangwan in the 15^th over of the innings, but Herwadkar and Iyer saw out the day without any further losses putting on 46 runs for the second wicket.

Thakur was well supported by Balwinder Sandhu (2/43) and skipper Wilkin Mota (2/47). The skipper started the collapse by trapping his Delhi counterpart leg-before for five early in the day.

Shivam Sharma (30, 68b, 6×4) and Virender Sehwag (49, 58b, 9×4) then stitched a 78-run third wicket partnership only to be broken by Thakur’s excellence on the field as he ran out the former Indian opener with a throw from the deep.

Thakur, who bagged his sixth first-class five-wicket haul, then started his demolition act by getting Mithun Manhas caught behind for a duck and cleaned up the middle order in quick time.

Brief scores: Mumbai 156 and 87/1 (Akhil Herwadkar 52 batting); Delhi 166 (Virender Sehwag 49, Shardul Thakur 5/54). Match to continue.

Other quarterfinals scores:

(At Rohtak): Maharashtra 91 & 172/6 (Kedar Jadhav 81 n o, D Siva Kumar 3/54); Andhra 138 (AA Sanklecha 4/45). Match to continue

(At Indore): Karnataka 452 (Robin Uthappa 153, Krishna Das 4/101); Assam 58/3 ( Shreyas Gopal 2/6). Match to continue.

(At Jaipur): Tamil Nadu 403 (Vijay Shankar 111, Baba Indrajith 97, Murali Vijay 96 Rakesh Dhruv 3/106); Vidarbha 9 without loss. Match to continue.