Shivam spins Delhi to win, Kohli show ends

New Delhi, February 1

The Virat Kohli show in Delhi is over as home team demolish Railways by an innings and 19 runs. The fans that trooped in at the Arun Jaitley Stadium for the last three days went home disappointed as the Railways team’s lack of fight ended a slim chance to see Kohli bat again.

Trailing Delhi by 133 runs in the first innings after they posted 374 runs in their first innings and then rolled over Railways in little over 30 overs to win on Saturday.

Off spinner Shivam Sharma, who was playing his second successive first class match for the first time in three years, took a five-for dismiss Railways for 114 by the second session to end the contact.

Railways started their second innings on the back foot as the regular opener Achint Yadav could not bat and the stand-in captain had to open. Ahuja only lasted eight deliveries as he caught plumb in front of the wicket by Siddhant Sharma. With Vivek Singh failing once again, it was down to first innings hero Upendra Yadav and Mohammad Saif to take the game to the last day.

But two wickets before lunch hurt those plans as Delhi took a firm grip on the match. Saif and Bhargav Merai were dismissed within a space of six balls as Railways trudged their way to the pavilion four down for only 74 runs.

Even then there was no dearth of Kohli mania as three fans ran onto the field and tried to touch Kohli’s feet in the 18th over of the Railways second innings. Over 20 security officials struggled to lead them off the field and the match was stopped for over two minutes.

Once Yadav was dismissed by Money Grewal to a ball that kept low and he was caught in front of the wicket in the post lunch session, Delhi smelled blood. Karn Sharma, who looked sedate, was trapped leg before by Shivam Sharma seven balls later and then an over later Himashu Sangwan was castled by the off spinner again. 15 minutes later the innings ended as bowlers Rahul Sharma and Kunal Yadav holed out in a space of nine balls to hand a big win to the home team. “The pitch was aiding the spinners today and all I had to do was bowl in the right areas. We always knew we had a chance to post a win but we never expected that we would win soon,” Sharma said after the match. — TNS