Delhi crush Maharashtra to stay in contention for last-eight slot
Delhi kept their quarterfinal hopes alive by notching up a comprehensive ten-wicket triumph over laggards Maharashtra in their fifth Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match on Friday.
Their second successive win gave Delhi six points, taking their overall tally to 15, and Virat Kohli’s side now need to beat Bengal in their final group engagement to qualify for the quarterfinals.
After Pradeep Sangwan’s five-wicket burst left them 334 for nine at stumps on Thursday, Maharashtra’s innings folded up after adding just 25 runs to the overnight total.
Parvinder Awana had Samad Fallah (28) caught by Aditya Jain to bring down the curtains on Maharashtra’s innings.
Needing 109 runs to win the match, Delhi romped home in just 17.1 overs with Kohli and Mithun Manhas combining for a 112-run unbeaten opening stand.
The in-form Kohli did most of the scoring, slamming 11 fours in his 58-ball 67. Manhas gave him good support with a 49-ball 38, which included five hits to the fence.
Delhi’s final league engagement is an away tie in Kolkata from December 15.
Brief scores (Super League):
Group A: At Hyderabad: Railways: 305 all out in 131 overs and 363/5 in 81.3 overs (Faiz Fazal 49, V Cheluvaraj 93, Tejinderpal Singh 100 n.o., Yere Goud 72 n.o.; Abdul Khader 3-65) drew Hyderabad: 303 all out in 122.5 overs. Railways 3 pts, Hyd 1.
At Mumbai: Tamil Nadu: 501 all out in 171.3 overs and 253/3 in 43 overs (Murali Vijay 154, KB Arun Karthik 60) drew Mumbai: 366 all out in 125.1 overs (Sahil Kukreja 31, Ajinkya Rahane 98, Wasim Jaffer 141; R Aushik Srinivas 7-107). Tamil Nadu 3 pts, Mumbai 1.
At Chandigarh: Orissa: 283 all out in 99 overs and 247/8 decl in 87.3 overs (Subhrajit Sahoo 62, Halhadar Das 67 n.o., Basant Mohanty 27 n.o.; Love Ablish 5-73, Manpreet Singh Gony 2-67) drew Punjab: 177 all out in 62 overs and 192/4 in 66 overs (Uday Kaul 73 n.o., Pankaj Dharmani 40; Debasish Mohanty 2-39). Orissa 3 pts, Punjab 1.
Group B: At New Delhi: Delhi: 419 all out in 90 overs and 112/0 in 17.1 overs (Virat Kohli 67 n.o., Mithun Manhas 38 n.o.) bt Maharashtra: 163 all out in 43.2 overs and 364 all out in 99 overs (Ankit Bawne 118, Rohit Motwani 61, Digambar Waghmare 46, Samad Fallah 28; Pradeep Sangwan 5-107, Parvinder Awana 3-83). Delhi 6 pts, Maharashtra 0.
