Ranji Trophy 2023-24: Gourav Yadav’s seven-for sinks Delhi; Pondicherry top-order consolidates advantage on Day 2

Pondicherry restricted Delhi to 148 after Gourav returned his career-best haul of seven for 49 in the National championship and then hit up 113 for two when bad light stopped play on the second day.

Pondicherry’s Gourav Yadav in action against Delhi at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday. | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR/THE HINDU

Delhi was staring at humiliation against a clinical Pondicherry at the halfway stage of their Ranji Trophy match at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground in New Delhi.

Saturday offered better conditions than those witnessed a day earlier and Pondicherry lapped them up with both hands. It restricted the home team to 148 after Gourav Yadav returned his career-best haul of seven for 49 in the National championship and then hit up 113 for two when bad light stopped play on the second day.

Trailing by 35 runs with eight wickets in hand, Pondicherry is giving Delhi a taste of its own medicine that it administered to lesser teams not so long ago. Though the possibility of an outright result depends on playing time permitted by the prevailing weather, Pondicherry will be happy to ensure the first innings lead and collect more points than the host in the campaign opener.

Before the Pondicherry batters kept two former internationals – Ishant Sharma and Navdeep Saini – at bay for the better part of the 29-over innings so far, it was Gourav who thwarted Delhi’s plans of a reasonable first-innings tally.

Having taken two of the four wickets to fall on Friday, Gourav came with improved figures on Saturday to choke Delhi. Gourav’s figures of 16.5-5-27-5 on this day accounted for the home team’s last five wickets after Saurabh Yadav provided the breakthrough by sending back the reliable Himmat Singh.

An import from Madhya Pradesh this season, Gourav improved over his previous best of five for 11 against Meghalaya in February, 2022.

As a result, after starting the day at 40 for four, Delhi lost six wickets for an addition of 108 runs. A 47-run fifth-wicket stand between Himmat and Kshitiz Sharma and another 45-run eighth-wicket stand involving Saini and Harsh Tyagi took Delhi closer to the 150-run mark.

If the Delhi bowlers were expected to exploit the conditions better, the Pondicherry top-order proved equal to the challenge and reinforced the advantage given by Gourav’s dream spell.

BRIEF SCORES

Delhi 148 (Gourav Yadav 7/49) leads Pondicherry 113/2 by 35 runs.