Rohtak, October 21: Haryana dug themselves out of a hopeless situation to tie their match against Delhi in the opening encounter of the North Zone Ranji Trophy one-day league at the Vaish College Grounds here today. Both teams earned one point each from the tied game.Needing four runs in the final over to surpass Haryana's score of 152, Delhi managed just three with five wickets still in hand. Ajay Sharma took a single off the second ball from Vineet Jain but Nikhil Chopra failed to pierce the field and the two batsmen between themselves could muster only two more runs, a single coming off the final delivery.To the beating of drums and dolaks, Haryana managed to salvage some prestige in the match after they were outplayed earlier by Delhi. It was sheer bad planning on the part of Delhi that mattered in the end.In the morning, Ajay Jadeja landed just in time to lead the home team. But the India vice-captain disappointed the 3,000-odd spectators when he lasted just one delivery. He, however, made up inthe final overs with his shrewed handling of the limited bowling resources at his disposal.Leg-sinner Sandeep Angurala, playing only his third match for Delhi in four years, put the team in command by claiming four wickets for 23 runs in his 10 overs. He was responsible for Haryana's middle-order collapse after pacer Robin Singh Jr. had done the initial damage by taking two wickets.Jadeja won the toss and elected to bat but the uneven bounce of the newly-laid wicket helped bowlers make early inroads into the Haryana batting. Angurala triggered the collapse by removing Amarjeet Kaypee and Jadeja off successive deliveries, in his fourth over. In his next, he accounted for Yadav.Most of the batsmen perished trying to drive him and were caught in the close-in cordon. A last-wicket stand of 54 runs between left-handed Pradeep Jain (30 not out) and Vineet Jain (25) helped the home team reach a respectable 152 off 49.2 overs, from a miserable-looking 98 for nine in 33 overs.The ease with which Delhiopeners Ashu Dani (54) 6x4) and skipper Vijay Dahiya (33) began, there was no inclination of things to come. The openers put on 91 in 29.4 overs before both threw their wickets away. Manhas and Akash Malhotra struggled against some tight bowling by the spinners. But the situation became tight for the visitors when they approached the final over.The two teams will clash in the four-day league game at the same venue from tomorrow.ScoreboardHARYANA: Jatinder Singh b Robin Singh 5; P.Sharma (run out) 14; Dhanraj Singh b Robin Singh 1; S.Khan c Mithun Manhas b Angurala 36; A.Kaypee c Ajay Sharma b Angurala 2; A.Jadeja c Dahiya b Angurala 0; V.Yadav c Dahiya b Angurala 6; P.Jain (not out) 30; P.Thakur b Nikhil Chopra 3; S.Sharma c Ajay Sharma b Nikhil Chopra 0; V.Jain b Virender Sehwag 25; Extras (b 4, lb 9, nb 1, w 16): 30; Total (all out, 49.2. overs): 152.Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-22, 3-63, 4-66, 5-66, 6-74, 7-93, 8-98, 9-98.Bowling: Robin Singh Jr 8-1-36-2, Bhandari 8-1-15-0, Sanghvi9-1-36-0, Angurala 10-1-23-4, Chopra 10-2-21-2, Sehwag 4.2-1-8-1.DELHI: A.Dani st Yadav b Sonu Sharma 54, V.Dahiya c Shafiq b Dhanraj 33, Mahesh P. Jain 7, A.Sharma (not out) 2, A.Malhotra c Jadeja b Dhanraj 8; V. Sehwag st Yadav b Parinder Sharma 2; N.Chopra (not out) 3, Extras: (lb 3, nb 6, w7): 16; Total (for 5 wkts, 50 overs): 152.Fall of wickets: 1-91, 2-104, 3-112, 4-142, 5-148.Bowling: V.Jain 7-1-23-0, Dhanraj 10-0-8-2, Thakur 10-2-23-0, Sonu Sharma 10-4-17-1, P.Jain 10-0-32-1, Parminder 3-0-16-1.Result: Tie. Both Delhi and Haryana get one point each.
