Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Oct 31: Suryakant Pradhan’s (4/83) brilliant bowling spelt disaster for Delhi as the visitors were reduced to 245 for the loss of seven wickets in their Ranji Trophy Group A tie against hosts Orissa at the KIIT Cricket Stadium here Saturday. At stumps on the second day of a rain-curtailed Saturday, Pradeep Sangwan (15 batting) and Subhoth Bhatti (five batting) were at the crease.
The match was interrupted thrice because of drizzles and poor light frustrating the players and a sparse audience. Overnight 99 for one, Delhi’s batsmen failed to convert their starts into big scores, allowing the home side to gain the upper-hand. Middle-order batsman Milind Kumar (59, 138b, 8×4) emerged top-scorer for the visitors. There were other decent contributions from skipper Gautam Gambhir (41, 168b, 4×4) and Nitish Rana (37, 79b, 6×4), but those were not enough.
The middle-order failed miserably with Suryakant being the wrecker-in-chief. Basant Mohanty (2/78) notched up a couple of wickets. Deepak Behera (1/32) also chipped in with a wicket. However, Suryakant was the most impressive as he pitched on the ball in the right areas and troubled all the Delhi batters. The match was called off by the umpires half an hour before the scheduled time.
Brief Scores
Delhi 245/7 (Milind Kumar 59, Gautam Gambhir 41; Suryakanta Pradhan 4/83). Match to continue
Other Group A Matches
(At Nagpur): Vidarbha 332 (FY Fazal 120; SS Mundhe 3/60, AA Sanklecha 3/60); Maharastra 144/6 (SM Gugale 42). Match to continue
(At Jaipur): Karnataka 281 (A Choudhary 5/77); Rajasthan 219/7 (R Bhatia 99; R Vinay Kumar 2/39). Match to continue
(At Lahli): Bengal 329 (S Rana 5/46); Haryana 186/8 (RP Sharma 52; Mukesh Kumar 4/49). Match to continue