All eyes on Gauti after Delhi bowl out Odisha

Tribune News Service

Delhi would be pretty happy with how Day One of their Ranji Trophy contest with Odisha panned out here today. The Delhi bowlers put in a collective performance with both seamers and spinners picking up wickets to dismiss the opposition for a paltry 237; and then openers Gautam Gambhir and Unmukt Chand helped Delhi to 43 for no loss in 10 overs before the umpires called it a day.

Apart from how the contest between the two teams pans out, the other point of interest in this particular game will be the performance of Gautam Gambhir, who was recalled to the Test squad for the New Zealand series after the regular openers were unavailable because of injuries, and Ishant Sharma, who’s returning to action after suffering from chikungunya. 

Ishant sent down 14 overs and picked up a wicket on Thursday. The national selectors, who will shortly name the Test squad for the upcoming England series, must be keeping tabs on his fitness. As for Gambhir, he would need to convert the start into a century to keep the selectors interested.

As for the rest of the action today, pacer Sumit Narwal picked up two quick wickets to give Delhi a good start. Later, spinners Varun Sood (3/23) and Manan Sharma (2/52) polished off the middle and lower-order. For Odisha, seasoned Biplab Samantray (62) and Subhranshu Senapati (76) added 145 runs for the fifth wicket. However, the lack of support from the other batsmen meant Odisha couldn’t even touch the 250-run mark. 

Hooda hammers Punjab 

New Delhi: Deepak Hooda hit a career-best unbeaten 190 as Baroda reached a healthy 358/6 against Punjab at the draw of stumps on the opening day of their Group A encounter at the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium. Hooda, whose sparkling 215-ball knock had 16 boundaries and three sixes, added 178 runs for the third wicket with Dhiren Mistry (76). The Punjab bowlers toiled throughout the day without much success. — PTI