Delhi-Mumbai Ranji Report

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 26: In the morning, not many of the organising committee members showed interest in the action in the middle. They wer...

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 26: In the morning, not many of the organising committee members showed interest in the action in the middle. They were rather glued to the old TV set in the committee room at the Ferozeshah Kotla, seeing India’s graph go up and down in the Mumbai Test against South Africa. That, they thought, was a much better option than watching Mumbai pile miseries on the hosts Delhi in the Ranji Trophy Group A Super League tie here.

By afternoon, as the siesta sun shone majestically, two Mumbai southpaws were setting the ground on fire, literally. As the two, Jatin Pranjape and the temperamental Vinod Kambli, set about demolishing the aimless Delhi bowling, hit further by the pedestrian fielding, the Mumbai Test however took a backseat with nobody wanting to miss any of the dazzling array of strokes on view here.

Both hammered centuries, with Pranjape even sighting a double century as Mumbai took the route of invincibility on the third of the four-day tie. Resuming at their overnight score of 93 for two, Mumbai amassed 453 for eight before declaring their second innings, thus setting Delhi a near-impossible target of 501 in a minimum of 99 overs to win the game.

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Delhi openers Akash Chopra and Davinder Sharma, the stand-in choice after regular opener Ashu Dani’s sore shoulder (sustained after a fall yesterday) made him quite unfit for the occasion, saw off the day. But, even at 39 for no loss, Delhi will pray for only one result: Averting an outright defeat with 90 overs to be bowled on the final day.

There were no demons in the wicket today, the light was bright and the conditions were perfect for batting. The Delhi bowlers and fielders’ shoulders drooped after the first hour’s play and then on it was an exercise in futility for them. If the seamers pitched up, both Kambli and Pranjape would drive with grace and if they pitched short, they were cut or pulled with utter disdain. Even the second new ball in the afternoon failed to deter them and as many as 166 runs off only 26 overs came in the session between lunch and tea.

Kambli peeled off as many as 20 boundaries apart from a huge six in his typically-aggressive 97-ball 114. No bowler made any impact on him as he and Pranjape, who was the last of the eight wickets to fall before stroking 185 runs, added 210 runs for the third wicket in only 185 balls.

Those who had seen the Mumbai left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar bowl with guile yesterday expected a lot from the Delhi leftie Rahul Sanghvi. Well, Sanghvi went for as many as six sixes and looked all at sea against the left-handed batsmen. Pranjape alone hit him for four of the five sixes in his innings. There was little else Vijay Dahiya, deputising for the injured skipper Ajay Sharma could offer.

MUMBAI: (Ist innings) 247

DELHI: (Ist innings) 200

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MUMBAI: (2nd innings) Amol Rane c Manhas b Sehwag 24, Amit Pagnis lbw Nehra 18, Jatin Pranjape c&b Sehwag 185, Amol Muzumdar lbw Bhandari 38, Vinod Kambli c Bhandari b Sehwag 114, Sameer Dighe b Sanghvi 12, Sairaj Bahutule lbw Sehwag 8, Rajesh Pawar c Bhandari b Sanghvi 12, Nilesh Kulkarni not out 4; Extras: (b21, lb9, nb6, w2) 38. Total (for eight wkts in 115.4 overs, 516 mins) 453.

Fall: 1-32 (Pagnis), 2-49 (Rane), 3-151 (Muzumdar), 4-361 (Kambli), 5-387 (Dighe), 6-406 (Bahutule), 7-433 (Pawar), 8-453 (Pranjape)

Bowling: Bhandari 21-5-96-1, Nehra 20-1-61-1, Robin (Jr) 15-1-56-0, Sehwag 36.4-11-87-4, Sanghavi 22-2-103-2, Aakash Chopra 1-0-14-0.

DELHI: (2nd innings) (Needing 501 to win) Davinder Sharma batting 32, Akash Chopra batting 4; Extras: (b2, lb1, nb2) 5. Total: (for no loss in nine overs, 39 mins) 41.

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Bowling: Abhey Kuruvilla 4-0-12-0, Santosh Saxena 3-0-25-0, Rajesh Pawar 2-1-1-0