Delhi, not at all overawed by Bihar's imposing first innings total of 398, replied with 115 for two at close of play on the second day of their Cooch Behar Trophy semifinal at the Keenan stadium in Jamshedpur on Monday. The stage is thus set for a battle royal for the all important first innings lead on Tuesday.

Bihar who had taken their time to get 199 for four off 94 overs on Sunday, turned on the heat on the second day, hitting another 199 runs off just 52.2 overs. First Manish Kumar and T Pratap, the overnight batsmen added 61 runs for the fifth wicket before the latter was out for 39. This was followed by a sixth wicket stand of 78 runs from 23.2 overs between Manish Kumar and MS Dhoni (38). Manish Kumar was finally eighth out at 336 but not before he got 101. He batted 320 minutes, faced 246 balls and hit ten fours. M Diwakar (46) and Satendra Mishra (22) kept the innings going by adding 40 runs for the ninth wicket. Suhail Sharma who sent down 50.2 overs finished with five for 94.

Diwakar who opened the bowling followed his valuable contribution by dismissing both the Delhi openers with only 23 runs on the board. However an unbroken third wicket stand of 92 runs from 29.1 overs between G Gambhir (57) and P Chawla (44) revived Delhi's hopes. Gambhir has hit nine fours and Chawla seven.

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