Ranji Trophy 2023-24: Pondicherry misses bonus point, thrashes Delhi by nine wickets

After Delhi resumed its second innings at 126 for eight, Pondicherry pacers Gourav Yadav and Abin Mathew needed only 6.4 overs to keep the home team to 145.

Pondicherry‘s Abin Mathew celebrates with his teammates against Delhi during a Ranji Trophy match in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR/THE HINDU

As anticipated, Pondicherry made short work of Delhi on Monday morning and raced away to a nine-wicket victory in its campaign opener in the Ranji Trophy league at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground.

After Delhi resumed its second innings at 126 for eight, Pondicherry pacers Gourav Yadav and Abin Mathew needed only 6.4 overs to keep the home team to 145. Mathew added a wicket to finish with a five-wicket haul.

That left Delhi only 49 runs ahead and Pondicherry began its run-chase hoping to win with a bonus point.

Pondicherry openers Akash Kargave and Jay Pande looked on target by scoring 44 runs in 12 overs. However, at the start of the next over, Kargave misread a delivery from Himanshu Chauhan and was bowled.

This dismissal denied Pondicherry a bonus point. In the 14th over, M. Viknesh hit a boundary off Hrithik Shokeen to take Pondicherry to victory, worth six points.

BRIEF SCORES

Delhi 148 & 145 (Gourav Yadav 3/49, Abin Mathew 5/39) lost to Pondicherry 244 & 51/1 by nine wickets.