Riding on a majestic 97 by Mithun Manhas, Delhi managed to take a crucial 72-run lead over Baroda on the second day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final match played in Indore on Sunday.
In reply, Baroda were eight without loss at stumps with all their second innings' wickets intact. Satyajit Parab was batting on eight while Connor Williams was yet to open his account.
Resuming from their overnight score of 49 for 3, Manhas along with Aditya Jain put on 131 runs for the fourth wicket.
Manhas's defiant innings came off 188 balls which included eleven fours and a huge six. Jain's patient innings of 48 (150b) came to an end after he was run out by Shah. Delhi was finally bowled out for 271.
Rajat Bhatia and Sumit Narwal made useful contributions down the order to take Delhi's score past Baroda's 199. Most of the Delhi batsmen did get starts but none of them apart from Manhas could manage to capitalise.
For Baroda, S Vohra, was the most successful bowler as he scalped four wickets in his 21.3 overs.
Sumit Singh and Romesh Pawar bagged two wickets each with the latter claiming the all important wicket of Manhas in 27 overs giving away 68 runs.
After a poor stint in the first innings where they were bundled out for 199, Baroda, would look to put up a competetive target for Delhi in second innings.
Scorecard:
Baroda (1st innings): 199
Delhi (1st innings, overnight 49/3):
A Chopra c Shah b Veragi 3
G Gambhir lbw b S Singh 2
S Dhawan c Williams b S Singh 0
M Manhas c Pathan b Pawar 97
A Jain run out (Shah) 48
R Bhatia c Pathan b Vohra 38
P Bisht lbw b Pawar 24
S Narwal c Pathan b Vohra 34
C Nanda not out 5
A Bhandari c Pawar b Vohra 0
P Awana c Pathan b Vohra 12
Extras: (b 2, lb 5, nb 1) 8
Total: (all out in 102.3 overs) 271
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-5, 3-5, 4-136, 5-163, 6-203, 7-237, 8-253, 9-253, 10-271
Bowling: S Singh 20-6-60-2, S Veragi 23-5-69-1, S Vohra 21.3-6-39-4, R Pawar 27-8-68-2, Y Pathan 11-4-28-0
Baroda (2nd innings):
SS Parab not out 8
C Williams not out 0
Extras: 0
Total: (for no wickets in 4 overs) 8
Bowling: A Bhandari 1-1-0-0, S Narwal 2-2-0-0, P Awana 1-0-8-0