Ranji Trophy 2015: Sumit Narwal ton puts Delhi in strong position against Rajasthan on Day 3

Despite a great performance by Nathu Singh, Sumit Narwal ton made it harder for Rajasthan. (Source: Express File)

Veteran all-rounder Sumit Narwal blasted his way to an unbeaten 106 as Delhi seized control of their opening Ranji Trophy group league encounter against Rajasthan displaying remarkable recovery from hopeless position on the first day.

Having conceded a 102-run first innings lead against the hosts, it was a brilliant collective effort by the Delhi batsmen as they declared at 437 for nine in their second innings taking a handy overall lead of 335 runs.

In reply, Rajasthan were 20 for one at the end of the third day’s play with left-arm fast howler Pawan Suyal removing opener Pranay Sharma (0).

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The day however belonged to left-handed Narwal, who came in at the fall of Vaibhav Rawal’s (30) wicket. Delhi were 291 for seven at that time with lead of around 189 and not completely out of the woods. Skipper Gautam Gambhir (93) was trapped leg before by debutant pacer Nathu Singh (7/87).

Narwal, who only believes in attacking the bowling played 94 balls for his 106 that had 10 fours and five huge sixes. This was his second first-class hundred as his maiden one was scored for Haryana, years ago.

He shared couple of important stands — 65 for eighth wicket with Manan Sharma (22) and 53 for the ninth wicket with Parvinder Awana (11). These two stands effectively helped Delhi give themseleves a shot at getting full points from the match where they were bundled out for 138 on the first day.

For Rajasthan, Nathu bowled well working up a decent pace but it wasn’t good enough to trouble the batsmen.

Once Gambhir and Pradeep Sangwan (18) were out in the morning session, Delhi were 205 for three, but Milind Kumar (44) and Rawal added 75 runs for the fourth wicket before the visitors lost four wickets for 13 runs.

Milind, Rawal, Yogesh Nagar (0), Mohit Ahlawat (4) were dismissed in quick succession before Narwal took the attack back to the opposition camp.

Brief Scores: Delhi 138 & 437/9 (Sumit Narwal 106 no, Gautam Gambhir 93, Unmukt Chand 84, Nathu Singh 7/87)

Rajasthan 240 & (target 336) 2nd Innings: 20/1 (Pawan Suyal 1/6).
Haryana suffer late order collapse on curtailed 2nd day

Haryana lost their last four wickets for only four runs as only 19.1 overs of play was possible due to inclement weather on the second day of their Ranji Trophy opening group league encounter against Maharashtra.

Haryana were all-out in their first innings 335 after starting the day at 303 for six. At stumps, Maharashtra were 7 for no loss in three overs.

While Virender Sehwag hogged the limelight on the first day with his strokefilled 92, the second day was all about bad weather conditions.

Brief Scores: Haryana 1st Innings: 335 in 106.1 overs (Himanshu Rana 157, Virender Sehwag 92, Samad Fallah 3/78, Nikit Dhumal 3/55). Maharashtra 1st Innings 7/0 in 3 overs.

Assam take first innings lead against Karnataka in Ranji

Pallavkumar Das (55) and Amit Verma (57) came up with twin fifties as Assam grabbed a crucial first innings lead over defending champions Karnataka after posting 194 all out on the second day of their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match here today.
Overnight batsmen Pallavkumar and Gokul Sharma (30) forged a crucial 82-run stand, while Arun Karthik and Verma added 42 runs for the fourth wicket to help Assam surpass Karnataka’s first innings total of 187 all out at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium.
Brief Scores:

Karnataka: 187 all out in 75.2 overs and 77 for no loss in 21 overs (Ravikumar Samarth 33 batting; Mayank Agarwal 44 batting).

Assam 1st Innings: 194 all out in 78.5 overs (Pallavkumar Das 55, Amit Verma 57; R Vinay Kumar 2/20, Shreyas Gopal 2/43, Karun Nair 2/11).