Saurashtra has upperhand after unimpressive show by Delhi batters

New Delhi, Nov 15 (UNI) A defiant 62 by skipper Mithun Manhas and his 80 run fifth wicket partnership with Rajat Bhatia enabled hosts Delhi to put up a modest score of 244 before being all out against Saurashtra on the first day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match here today.

It was seamer Sandeep Jobanputra who rattled the hosts, claiming five wickets after his skipper Jaydev Shah won the toss and put Delhi in to bat.

The hosts, playing their second super league match at Roshanara ground suffered an early setback when Akash Chopra was dismissed by Jobanputra with only 10 runs on the board.

The Delhi batsmen were clearly struggling to cope with the green, bouncy track and the hosts lost wickets at regular intervals.

Manhas, who had a patient knock, managed to defy the visitors for sometime along with Bhatia, before they were both dismissed by Jobanputra. Thereafter, the Delhi batsmen failed to put up any worthwhile resistance, as they were bundled out by the visitors.

It was not a very impressive batting display by the hosts and they will definitely have to raise their performance in the second innings to have any hope of avenging the loss to Saurashtra at Rajkot last season.

Delhi 1st innings: A Chopra lbw b Jobanputra 6 S Dhawan c Jogiyani b Vaghela 38 M Tehlan c Mehta b Jobanputra 17 V Kohli lbw b Vaghela 1 M Manhas c Jogiyani b Jobanputra 62 R Bhatia c Jogiyani b Jobanputra 36 P Bisht c Pujara b Jobanputra 35 C Nanda run out 4 P Sangwan b Jadeja 18 A Bhandari b Mehta 18 I Sharma not out 0 Extras (lb 5, w 2, nb 2) 9 Total (in 85.2 overs) 244 (all out) Fall of Wickets: 1/10, 2/47, 3/54, 4/82, 5/162, 6/165, 7/177, 8/217, 9/238, 10/244 Bowling: S Jobanputra 27-7-73-5 S Maniar 21-6-58-0 K Vaghela 12-6-27-2 R Dhurv 3-0-15-0 K Makvana 5-0-23-0 R Jadeja 17-7-37-1 P Mehta 0.2-0-06-1 UNI