Harshit Rana celebrated his maiden Test team call-up by rattling Assam with a fiery opening spell but keeper-batter Sumit Ghadigaonkar's unbeaten 120 took the visitors to a respectable 264 for 6 at stumps on the opening day of a group D Ranji Trophy match. (More Cricket News)
The fifth wicket stand between right-hander Ghadigaonkar and seasoned Sib Shankar Roy (59) yielded 164 runs before Rana (4/62 in 15 overs) came for his final spell to break the stand but Delhi were guilty of extremely slow over-rate with 7꧒6 overs being sent during the day.
It was largely due to another inexplicable decision by the chief selector-he🍸ad coach pa🔯ir of Gursharan Singh and Sarandeep Singh of fielding four pacers but only Rana with his bounce and movement along with debutant Money Grewal (1/42 in 13 overs) stood out.
Himanshu Chauhan (0/47) and left-armer Siddhant Sharma (0/36) didn't cause any trouble for the ⛄two in-form Assam batters.
How𒁏ever, the highlight of the day was Rana, who bowled at brisk pace to get rid of opener Subham Mandal (0) and Abhishek Thakuri (0) in a space of three deliveries in his third over.
While Rishav Das (33) and Denish Das (18) added 51 fo💜r the third wicket, Grewal got his first wicket at first-class level, Rana got his third to quickly re♏duce Assam to 59 for 4.
But Ghadigaonkar and Roy counter-attacked the Delhi bowlers once the initial help was no longer there an🧔d the Mumbaikar in fact hit the India international for a couple of sixes.
In all he hit 15 fours and three sixes but once le🐻ft-arm spinner Sumit Mathur (1/64 off 20 overs) removed Roy caught by Sanat Sangwan, Rana quickly disposed off veteran Sarupam♍ Purkayastha to get his fourth victim.
However on the second day, Delhi will need to speed up things if they plan to enforce a result having lostಌ the first innings lead against Tamil Nadu at home inᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ the last game.
Brief Scores:
In Delhi: Assam 1st Innings 264/6 in 76 overs (Sumit Ghadigaonkar 120 batting, Harshit Rana 4/62) vs Delhi.
In Coimbatore: Chattisgarh 1st Innings 293/2 in 90 overs (Aayush Pꦍandey 124, Anuj Tiwary 68 batting, 🤡Sanjeet Desai 52 batting, Ajith Ram 1/73) vs Tamil Nadu.
In Rajkot: Railways 1st Innings 234 in 73.2 overs (Vivek Singh 65, Yuvraj Singh 67, Yuvrajsinh Dodiya 3/63).
