Ranji Trophy: Ishant Sharma bowls solely 9 overs as Delhi on brink of elimination, Tamil Nadu dominate Chattisgarh

Delhi are on the again foot of their Ranji Trophy Group H match in opposition to Jharkhand and are on the point of elimination from the premier home event. Jharkhand ended Day 3 of the match on the ACA Stadium in Guwahati with a lead of 315 runs, ending with 288 for five.

Hundreds from Nazim Siddiqui and Kumar Suraj within the 2nd innings has helped Jharkhand take management of the match after they sealed a first-innings lead in opposition to Delhi.

If Delhi finish with one other one level, they’d solely survive in concept as even a seven-point recreation (bonus) in opposition to Chattisgarh will not permit them to surpass Tamil Nadu, based on the Press Trust of India. Each staff in Group H will play 3 matches and Delhi will face Chattisgarh of their subsequent match after drawing their event opener in opposition to Tamil Nadu. Delhi conceded a first-innings lead in opposition to TN as effectively.

All eyes had been on Ishant Sharma because the senior India pacer, who was dropped from the squad for the 2-Test sequence in opposition to Sri Lanka subsequent month, returned to play Ranji Trophy after lacking the opening match in opposition to Tamil Nadu.

Despite getting the wicket of Utkarsh Singh in his first spell, Ishant bowled solely 9 overs on Day 4 in Jharkhand’s 2nd innings. The senior man had solely bowled 4 overs within the first innings as Jharkhand made 251 following which Delhi managed simply 224.

Ishant bowled two extra quick spells however by no means seemed in rhythm and, in actual fact, throughout his last spell, misplaced a little bit of cool as Suraj handled him with disdain.

In the morning, Jonty Sidhu (79) was the fifth sufferer of left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem when he tried to offer him the cost as Delhi had been all out for 224, giving Jharkhand an vital 27-run lead.

They did come again strongly throughout the first session, lowering Jharkhand to 67 for 4 as each Navdeep Saini (13-2-45-1) and Ishant (9-2-29-1) bowled good opening spells in tandem.

However, as soon as right-handed opener Siddiqui (110, 177 balls, 13×4) and the left-handed Suraj (129 batting off 160 balls, 17×4, 3×6) took cost, Delhi had been slowly and certainly batted out of the sport throughout the second session when left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra (0/74 in 21 overs) seemed flat in comparison with Nadeem.

Once Delhi went wicket-less at tea, the shoulders began drooping and with Ishant not bowling a lot with the previous ball, Jharkhand batters discovered different Delhi bowlers straightforward to barter as each off-spinners Lalit Yadav and Nitish Rana seemed off-colour.

BRIEF SCORES – DELHI VS JHARKHAND

Jharkhand 251 and 288/5 (Nazim Siddqui 110, Kumar Suraj 129 batting, Ishant Sharma 1/29, Navdeep Saini 1/45).

Delhi 224 (Jonty Sidhu 79, Shahbaz Nadeem 5/58).

TAMIL NADU DOMINATE CHATTISGARH

Tamil Nadu lowered Chattisgarh to 257 for eight at stumps after declaring their first innings at 470 for 9.

Chattisgarh nonetheless want 64 runs to keep away from follow-on with solely two wickets in hand. For Chattisgarh, their skipper Harpreet Bhatia performed a lone hand with an unbeaten 145 however hardly received any help from the opposite finish. Left-arm spinner Ravi Srinivasan Sai Kishore (4/48) was essentially the most profitable bowler.

An outright win on the ultimate day will take Tamil Nadu to 9 factors and on high of the desk earlier than the ultimate match in opposition to Jharkhand, whereas Chattisgarh want to save lots of the match and stay on high with seven factors, having gained the primary recreation outright.

BRIEF SCORES: TAMIL NADU VS CHATTISGARH

Tamil Nadu 470/9 decl. Chattisgarh 257/8 (Harpreet Singh Bhatia 145 batting, R Sai Kishore 4/48).