Himachal fight back after Delhi’s assault

New Delhi, November 12

Hiten Dalal scored a brisk 79 on debut before Himachal Pradesh fought back to reduce Delhi to 305/8  at stumps on Day 1 of their Group B Ranji Trophy match. 

Dhruv Shorey (88) made a significant contribution but missed out on a hundred on a day when some questionable umpiring calls were made. Gautam Gambhir, who was on 44, vented out his frustration after being caught at short leg off left-arm spinner Mayank Dagar in the 17th over. The replays showed that the ball only hit the pad before Priyanshu Khanduri claimed the catch, ending a 96-run partnership between Gambhir and Dalal. 

Dalal and Shorey then took the innings forward. Dalal ended up collecting 10 fours and three sixes. Once Dalal departed, Shorey never really got the support he was looking for with Delhi suffering a middle-order collapse after being 161/1 in the 34th over. 

Nitish Rana (6) could not do much on his captaincy debut, lasting just 19 balls. Running out of partners, a well-settled Shorey perished while attempting an aerial hit over cover. Varun Sood was batting on 18 and Vikash Mishra on 5 when stumps were called.

Dagar was the pick of the bowlers for Himachal Pradesh, taking 3/57 runs in 21 overs while off-spinner Gurvinder Singh took 2/57 in 21 overs. — PTI    

Brief Scores: Delhi: 305/8 in 89 overs (Gambhir 44, Shorey 88, Dalal 79; Dagar 3/57) vs HP 

Manipur: 137 in 42 overs (Yashpal Singh 38; Deepak Dhapola 7/50); Uttarakhand: 123/5 in 46 overs (Karanveer Kaushal 45; Bishworjit Konthoujam 3/41).

Haryana: 81 all out (Shubham Rohilla 36, Ajay Yadav 4/24; Rahul Shukla 3/24); Jharkhand: 120/6 (Ishan Kishan 23*)