NEW DELHI: With five wickets taken by off-spinner Shivam Sharma, Delhi defeated Railways on Saturday to earn bonus points and complete their Ranji Trophy league campaign on a high note.
Delhi started the first session at 334 for seven and finished with 374 all out to grab a 133-run lead.
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The contest ended quickly because of few careless shots by the Railways batters.
In the afternoon session, they lost the innings when they were all out for 114 in 30.4 overs, giving Delhi seven points.Additionally, it prevented the audience from witnessing batting legend Virat Kohli play for a second innings during this match.
Himanshu Sangwan, Kohli’s wicket-taker on day two, finished with four wickets, preventing Sumit Mathur (86), who was batting at 78 overnight, from reaching the three-figure mark.
It was Delhi’s second victory of the year, and the outcome of upcoming games will determine whether they advance from Elite Group D.
One player, Kohli, who made his Ranji Trophy comeback after 13 years, was the reason the match garnered national interest.
On a sluggish and low pitch, the Railways batsmen self-destructed, depriving the fans of the chance to watch Kohli in the second innings.
The former captain of India, who scored six from 15 balls on day two, would not have objected to another knock in the middle.
Siddhant Sharma, a left-arm pacer for Delhi, trapped Suraj Ahuja with an inswinger, to start the collapse.
After hitting a clean cover drive off Siddhant, his opening partner Vivek Singh (12) was caught at backward point after becoming overly aggressive.
A little while later, Mohammed Saif (31 off 31 balls) tried to hit Shivam down the wicket but was unable to get past the mid-on fielder.
With an inswinger, Sidhant dismissed Suraj Ahuja. The opposition batters had different ideas, but even Delhi did not see the game ending so early.
Upendra Yadav, the leading batsman for Railways in the first innings, was dismissed by an approaching ball from Money Grewal after Navdeep Saini had castled Bhargav Merai to make it 57 for four.
Since number 11 Anchit Yadav did not bat, Delhi captain Ayush Badoni dismissed number 10 Kunal Yadav to end the match.
After 13 years away from domestic cricket, Kohli spent a lot of time in the dressing room with his teammates, posing for photos and shaking hands.
In order to meet the opponent players, the renowned cricketer also stopped by the Railways dressing room.
Brief scores: Delhi 374 in 106.4 overs beat Railways 241 and 114 all out in 30.5 overs (Mohammed Said 31; Shivam Sharma 5/33) by innings and 19 runs