Indore: First-time finalists Vidarbha controlled most part of the proceedings on the first day but Dhruv Shorey’s fighting hundred helped Delhi remain in the game on the first day of the Ranji Trophy final at the Holkar stadium on Friday.
Delhi didn’t get off to a good start as Aditya Thakare sent back Kunal Chandela for a duck in the very first over. They were further dented when veteran opener Gautam Gambhir departed in the 13th over with 30 runs on the board. Nitish Rana and skipper Rishabh Pant too fell for identical scores with both mustering 21 runs and at 99/4, Vidarbha well and truly were in the driver’s seat.
But Dhruv Shorey came to Delhi’s rescue as he scored a magnificent hundred and stitched a 105-run stand with Himmat Singh (66). Shorey hit 17 fours in his 123-run unbeaten innings and would look to continue the way he has done so far to help Delhi post a challenging first innings total.
For Vidarbha, Rajneesh Gurbani and Aditya Thakare took two wickets each while Akshay Wakhare and Siddhesh Neral scalped a wicket apiece. It would be interesting to see what Delhi ends up scoring as Vidarbha boasts of a really strong batting order with the likes of skipper Faiz Fazal being in top form. Sanjay Ramaswamy and the experienced Wasim Jaffer too have had good outings in the tournament so far and their performance would be crucial to Vidarbha’s chances in the match.
Brief scores-
Delhi -271/6 ( Dhruv Shorey 123 n.o, Himmat Singh 66; Rajneesh Gurbani 2/44) vs Vidarbha