Delhi begin on winning note

Delhi had a shaky start as opener Shikhar Dhawan perished to a lazy shot outside the off stump. Chand and Mohit Sharma then put on 79 runs to steady the innings,with the former striking the ball cleanly,especially when he hit Samiullah Beigh for a couple of boundaries through covers. Chand departed for 46 and Sharma followed him soon after on 36,but Manhas picked up where the duo left off.

Manhas’ innings ended on 41 right after he hit spinner Raman Dutta for a towering six over long on but stepped out the very next ball to be stumped. Punit Bisht offered some resistance and along with Pradeep Sangwan helped Delhi post a competitive 245.

None of the J&K batsmen could really settle with Awana striking regularly and only one of the first five batsmen managed to enter double figures. It was not until the fall of the seventh wicket that the side was able to get going at all,with Hardeep Singh scoring a battling 40 and Samiullah Beigh holding up the other end. By then it was too late. Debutant Varun Sood was the only bowler to bowl his full quota of overs and the left arm spinner was unlucky to go wicketless.

Delhi coach Sanjeev Sharma said it was difficult to get the disciplined J&K bowlers away,and had words of praise for opener Chand. “There was a fair bit of moisture in the wicket at the start,Unmukt really played intelligent cricket and managed to deflect the pressure after we lost Shikhar early.”

While J&K were not expected to pose Delhi much trouble,Sharma said his side’s next encounter against Punjab,led by the returning Harbhajan Singh,would be crucial.”It is imperative that we get a good result against Punjab,I am hopeful that the boys will give their best.” said Sharma.

Brief scores: Delhi 245 in 49.4 overs (Unmukt Chand 46,Mithun Manhas 41,Samiullah Beigh 3/52) beat Jammu and Kashmir 120 in 41.1 overs (Hardeep Singh 40,Parwinder Awana 3/23,Rajat Bhatia 3/17)

(Chinmay Brahme is a student of the Express Institute of Media Studies.)