Riding on opener Shivam Bhambri’s eye-catching knock of 80, Chandigarh managed to nudge ahead of Delhi on day two of a Group D Ranji Trophy contest here on Thursday.
A number of handy contributions from the middle and lower order, too, made a difference as the host secured a 48-run first-innings lead on a pitch where the spinners are extracting appreciable assistance.
By reaching 32 for no loss at Stumps, Delhi has cut down the deficit to 16 runs, but there is plenty of work for its batters to do in the second innings if it is to try and turn things around with two days remaining.
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With Delhi captain Himmat Singh relying on spin given the conditions on offer, pacers Himanshu Chauhan and Siddhant Sharma bowled only 19 of the 92 overs that they were on the field. Ayush Badoni, who is in the team more for his batting, was the most successful of the four spinners Delhi had at its disposal, claiming four for 57 in 14 overs of off-spin. Left-arm spinner Sumit Mathur bowled well too, returning figures of 28-5-72-3.
It was Mathur who made the first breakthrough of Day 2. Introduced in the 11th over of the day, the 26-year-old removed Manan Vohra immediately. The Chandigarh skipper had added 100 runs for the second wicket alongside Bhambri before being caught by Yash Dhull at cover off a ball that seemed to hold up in the surface.
Three more wickets in the opening session, including that of Bhambri who miscued a slog sweep to long-on, reduced Chandigarh to 182 for five at lunch, 94 runs adrift of the visitor’s total with five wickets in hand. Instead of pressing the panic button, wicketkeeper Mayank Sidhu and Aayush Sikka were judicious in their shot selection and stitched together a 62-run partnership for the sixth wicket. It went a long way towards deflating Delhi’s hopes of grabbing the first-innings honours.
Badoni, nevertheless, stuck to his task and ended with a four-wicket haul for his second straight game.
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