Haryana v Delhi (Cooch Behar, North Zone)

Anil Gulati, CricInfo
28-30 October 1998

ROHTAK - Haryana scored 248 for 7 at close on the first day of their Cooch Behar North Zone fixture versus Delhi, at the Vishwakarma Studium.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Haryana lost its opener Praveen Sharma in the 5th over when the scoreboard read 8 runs. He fell lbw to Amit Suman. Six overs later his opening partner Satish Ohlan handed a return catch to the bowler Rakesh Raman, when the batsman had scored 13. This wicket fell at 34.

The Haryana middle-order made useful contributions to remedy the situation. Half-centuries by Ishan Ganda and Amitab Dwivedi brought the situation under control. Ishan scored 50 in 110 minutes after facing 82 balls and hit 7 boundaries. Amitab scored 55 in 180 minutes off 139 deliveries and hit 5 boundaries.

Bhuvnesh Sharma was not out on 29 and Deepak Saju was batting on 2 at stumps today. For Delhi, left-arm spinner Kundan Mehra took 3 for 55. Amit Suman and Rakesh Raman captured two wickets each.

Day 2 Report

At the close of the second day's play of their match against Haryana, Delhi have a first innings lead of seven runs, with five wickets intact. Thanks to the three half-centuries (Neeraj Chawla 58, Gautam Gambhir 72, and Rajan Gupta 50 not out) Delhi managed to reach this commanding position. They were 255 for 5 at stumps.

Earlier their bowlers did a commendable job to wrap up Haryana's first innings at 248 without any addition to their overnight score. They lost Bhuvnesh Sharma in 91st overs at his individual overnight score of 29. The remaining batsmen followed him in quick sucession. Deepak Sain was caught and bowled by Rakesh Raman Jha for 2 and Kuldeep was bowled by same bowler without opening his account. For Delhi, pacer Rakesh Raman Jha captured four wickets for 56 runs. Amit Suman and Kundan Mehra took three wickets each.

Highlights of Delhi's batting today was a useful partnership of 112 runs between Rajan Gupta and Gautam Gambhir. It lasted for 117 minutes. Unfotunately, Gautam lost his wicket to the last ball of the day.

Day 3 Report

ROHTAK - The match ended in a draw. By virtue of 65 runs first innings lead, Delhi gathered 5 points and Haryana got 3. Resuming its innings from an overnight score of 255 for 5, Delhi lost their remaining five wickets after adding only 58 runs. Three wickets were consumed by off-spinner Ishan Ganda today and the other two by Kuldeep Singh. Rajan Gupta who was not out on 50 yesterday, was bowled by Kuldeep at 54. Bhupinder Singh and Amit Suman contributed 10 and 15 respectively whereas. Sidharth Verma remained not out on 18. For Haryana, Ishan Ganda was the most successful bowler. He captured 5 for 69. Delhi's innings lasted for 111.4 overs and 461 minutes, to compile a total of 313 runs.

In the remaining 225 minutes of play, Haryana scored 240 for 7 wickets when play was called off after 57.2 overs. The Haryana openers gave their side a sound start and carried the score to 72 when Praveen Sharma lost his wicket after making 34. His opening partner Satish Ohlan scored 59. Bhuvnesh contributed 53. But highlight of Haryana innings was an unbeaten innings of 74 runs by Ajay Ratra in just 85 balls. He hit 14 boundaries.

Haryana now takes on Jammu and Kashmir in their next encounter starting on 2nd November at Jammu.