With an unbeaten 123, Dhruv Shorey helped Delhi to a respectable 271 for six until Stumps on Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy 2017-18 final after debutant Aditya Thakare and Co had reduced them to 99 for four earlier in the day.
The top-order batsman anchored his team’s revival even as the Vidarbha bowlers pegged away relentlessly through the day after making optimal use of the morning conditions in Indore.
It was a day of firsts for Vidarbha – first appearance in a Ranji Trophy final, in which they opted to hand Aditya Thakare his Vidarbha cap and then handed him the ball to bowl the first over of the game.
After calling correctly they left Delhi precariously poised on 89 for three at Lunch. After starting off with a no ball, Thakare beat Kunal Chandela off the next delivery and kept him on his toes before drawing an edge later in the over while Fazal at first slip took a sharp catch to leave Delhi on 1/1. The Vidarbha pacers kept the opposition on their toes as they bowled a disciplined line to keep a lid on the flow of runs.
Introduced into the attack in the 13th over, Akshay Wakhare responded by knocking back Gautam Gambhir’s off-stump; giving Vidarbha a vital breakthrough. Nitish Rana then joined Dhruv Shorey in an effort to keep the bowlers at bay. However, towards the end of the session, the middle-order bat was trapped lbw by the debutant. With his team faltering on 65 for three, Rishabh Pant came to the crease and took Delhi to Lunch at 89 for three.
However, early in the second session the fourth wicket partnership was ended for 34 runs. Rajneesh Gurbani’s efforts bore fruit as Pant departed edging the pacer to the wicketkeeper leaving Delhi on 99 for four.
Himmat Singh then joined Shorey who had dug in his heels at the other end in building the Delhi innings. Himmat complemented Shorey’s patience as they pair chipped away at the Vidarbha attack to revive the innings.
While Vidarbha had dominated the first session, the Himmat-Shorey pair helped Delhi put up a fight in the second. Stemming the fall of wickets they took Delhi to Tea at 180 for four.
However, in the third over of the last session after having taken Delhi past the 200-run mark, Himmat returned to the pavilion. Gurbani struck to end the flourishing partnership for 105. After three boundaries earlier in the over, the last delivery off the over came into the batsman and took the inside edge off the bat as it passed between bat and pad and straight to the ‘keeper leaving Delhi on 204 for five.
Siddhesh Neral provided Vidarbha with their next breakthrough 38 runs later. While Shorey continued to determinedly hold up one end, the pacer got the better of Manan Sharma. Brought back into the attack, he had the batsman edge to the slips and Fazal took a good catch at first slip to leave Delhi on 242 for six.
However, an undeterred Shorey ploughed on. He continued to carry the innings forward with Vikas Mishra and saw the team through to the end of day’s play.
The Fazal-led side had got off to a good start, but later they conceded the early advantage to Delhi as Shorey plodded on to keep the match hanging in the balance.
Scorecard -
http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/91
