Former champions Delhi are on the verge of scoring an outright win over Tamil Nadu as they are 95 runs short with ten wickets in hand in the Group 'A' Ranji Trophy Super league match in Chennai on Thursday.
Playing to their pre-match strategy of gaining the vital first innings lead and then go for a win (possibly with bonus points), Delhi have been successful thanks mainly to a superb bowling effort by leg break bowler, Chetanya Nanda, who bagged five victims and fine performance by wicketkeeper R.Bisht who took four catches.
Delhi can also score a win with a bonus point, if its opening batsmen, Aakash Chopra (2) and Gautam Gambhir (6) make the required 95 runs without losing their wicket.
A Delhi win with a bonus point will help them reach 24 points to be in line for a semi-final berth.
Delhi made 338 in reply to Tamil Nadu's first innings score of 268 and then skittled out the hosts for 174 in their second essay.
Needing 105 for win with a day to spare, Delhi made ten without loss at close.
Delhi dismissed five Tamil Nadu batsmen for 22 runs in 19.5 overs this morning. Rajat Bhatia, P.Awana, Sangwan and Nanda (two wickets) were the wicket takers.
With Tamil Nadu at 61/6, Ramkumar (57) and wicketkeeper-batsman Gopinath (37) batted carefully, putting on 82 runs in 18.4 overs. Nanda then got into the act to dismiss Gopinath, Ramkumar and Suresh while Awana scalped Yeo Mahesh.
For Delhi, medium pacers, Pradeep Jaiveer Sangwan and Parvinder Awana, claimed two wickets each.
Scorecard:
Tamil Nadu (1st Innings) 268
Delhi (1st Innings):
A Chopra c Srivasudeva Das b C Suresh 55
G Gambhir c Mukund b C Suresh 84
S Dhawan c Badrinath b C Suresh 59
M Manhas c Gopinath b Ramkumar 12
V Kohli c Mukund b Ramkumar 19
R Bhatia c Vijay b C Suresh 10
P Bisht c Srinivasan b Yeo Mahesh 14
P J Sangwan c Suresh b Sureshkumar 31
N Singh c Mukund b Sureshkumar 34
C Nanda c Srinivasan b Sureshkumar 2
P Awana not out 0
Extras: (B-6,Lb-7,W-1,Nb-4) 18
Total (all out in 104 overs) 338
Fall of wkts: 1-141, 2-146, 3-169, 4-224, 5-237, 6-252, 7-267, 8-322, 9-336
Bowling: Yeo Mahesh 18-4-72-1, P Amarnath 15-2-46-0, R Ramkumar30-3-94-2, Suresh Kumar 10-1-30-3, C Suresh 31-6-83-4.
Tamil Nadu (2nd Innings):
A.Mukund c Bisht b Sangwan 21
M.Vijay b Bhatia 6
S.Badrinath c Bisht b Awana 11
K.Srivasudevadas c Bisht b Nanda 4
R.Srinivasan c Bisht b Sangwan 11
Suresh Kumar lbw b Nanda 1
K.H.Gopinath b Nanda 37
R.Ramkumar c Dhawan b Nanda 57
Yeo Mahesh B Awana 6
C.Suresh b Nanda 0
P.Amarnath not out 0
Extras: (b 4, lb 9, nb 7) 20
Total (all out in 55.1 overs) 174
Fall of wkts: 1/19, 2/39, 3/45, 4/56, 5/61, 6/61, 7/143, 8/156, 9/174
Bowling: P.J.Sangwan 8-3-18-2, P.Awana 11-2-35-2, R.Bhatia 11-4-18-1, C.Nanda 15.1-4-47-5, Narender Singh 10-1-43-0.
Delhi (2nd innings):A Chopra batting 2
G Gambhir batting 6
Extras:(nb 2) 2
Total (without loss in 5 overs) 10
Bowling: Yeo Mahesh 3-1-8-0, P Amarnath 2-1-2-0
