Sanat Sangwan’s defiant 83, and a bit of deliberate time-wasting by Navdeep Saini as the shadows lengthened, helped Delhi escape with a draw in its second-round Ranji Trophy match against Tamil Nadu at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Monday.
The final day’s play stretched beyond 5 p.m. as Delhi, in its bid to escape an innings defeat, hung on in fading light with two wickets in hand to come away with a point. Tamil Nadu bagged three points, having secured a 408-run first-innings lead by restricting Delhi to 266 for nine (Dhruv Kaushik was unable to bat due to a hand injury).
At the start of the second innings, Delhi, asked to follow on, was required to see out 85 overs to thwart the visiting team’s hopes of a victory. In the end, Delhi was 193 for eight in 83 overs, with the umpires deciding that the light was no longer good enough for another two overs.
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This was after Tamil Nadu had already been instructed two balls into the 81st over to resort to spin. Pacer Sonu Yadav had to switch to bowling loopy off-breaks to complete that over before skipper N. Jagadeesan went to spinners Washington Sundar and S. Ajith Ram with the second new ball.
Even one wicket may have been enough given Kaushik’s injury, but Saini and Himanshu Chauhan didn’t allow it to come to that. Saini’s gamesmanship was a tad comical — off the second ball of the 81st over, he was hit on his head by a bouncer from Yadav. He initially gestured with his right hand to suggest he was alright before the match situation dawned on him; what followed was hysterical play-acting as he walked away from the pitch and fell to the turf to demand the physio’s attention.
Sangwan also played his part earlier in the innings by consuming 231 deliveries. In retrospect, Tamil Nadu may rue batting as long as it did for its mammoth total in the first innings.
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