Rawat ton raises slim win hopes for Delhi
NEWDELHI: Wicketkeeper batsman Anuj Rawat played a dominating knock of 133 on Thursday to give Delhi a slim chance of victory against Gujarat in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A game at the Ferozeshah Kotla. The lefthander—another one from coach Rajkumar Sharma’s stable—who was asked to open in this game after regular opener Kunal Chandela was left out, grabbed the opportunity and helped Delhi take a 186-run lead by stumps after his side’s bowlers had restricted Gujarat to just 335 in the morning.
Rawat was one of the multiple openers tried last season. Being moved up and down the order can be unnerving for any batsman and it was evident at the start when he survived some close calls of leg-before, almost chopped one on to his stumps and survived a dropped chance. “Yes, my performance has been up and down and part of the reason could be that I’ve been playing up and down the order,” he said after the end of day’s play.
Rawat also has the task of filling the big shoes of Rishabh Pant, who is on India duty. “I try to score wherever I get an opportunity. As an opener I have to go out and bat and not really think about and prepare for situations as it is while batting lower down with the tail.” Here too, Rawat had to cater to different scenarios—first application and survival and then going after the bowling as at 17 points, Delhi need two outright wins to stay in with a chance to make the quarter-finals.
After surviving the jitters, Rawat—dropped on 34—settled in and began playing his shots. “The wicket wasn’t that difficult to bat,” said Rawat who began the post-lunch session with two cracking cover drives. In all, he hit 15 fours and two sixes, one off a perfectly executed hook shot and another over long-off. Eight of his fours came on the off-side.
His onslaught made Gujarat desperate, with left-armer Arzan Nagwaswalla trying three bouncers in an over before getting warned by the umpire. Delhi needed partnerships and Rawat provided two—an 86-run one with skipper Dhruv Shorey before a 106-run stand with Jonty Sidhu. Earlier, pacer Simarjeet Singh completed a fifer and restrict Gujarat’s lead to just 42 but he could do it only after parttime off-spinner Nitish Rana provided two scalps with his medium pace.
TON-UP SURYA LEADS MUMBAI FIGHT
RAJKOT: Suryakumar Yadav scored 134 to lead Mumbai’s fight back on the third day of their Elite Group B Ranji Trophy game against Saurashtra after they conceded a 73 run-first innings lead. After losing opener Bhupen Lalwani (3) early, Surya (134 off 130 balls, 17x4, 3x6) and Jay Bista (46) wiped the deficit in just 16 overs to keep Mumbai in the hunt at the SCA Stadium in Khandheri.
Surya notched up his 14th firstclass 100, as he played his usual aggressive game, while Bista played second fiddle. The duo added 119-runs for the second wicket and their partnership brought Mumbai back into the contention in what is a must-win game. Shams Mulani (67*) and Sarfaraz Khan (25*) are batting.
Brief Scores
Group A: In Delhi — Delhi 293 & 228/4 (Anuj Rawat 133, Jonty Sidhu 48). Gujarat 335 (Manprit Juneja 124, Dhruv Raval 94).
In Jaipur — Rajasthan 241 & 201 (Nilkantha Das 4/26). Bengal 123 & (target 320) 185/4 (Abhimanyu Easwaran 62, Koushik Ghosh 64). Bengal need 135 to win.
Group B: In Rajkot — Mumbai 262 & 285/3 (Suryakumar Yadav 134, Shams Mulani 67*) vs Saurashtra 335 (Sheldon Jackson 85, Chirag Jani 84*, Royston Dias 4/64). Mumbai lead by 212 runs.
In Vadodara — Baroda 174 & 259 (Krunal Pandya 74; A Sheth 70; K Vignesh 5-62) vs Tamil Nadu 490/7 declared. Baroda lost by an innings and 57 runs. Tamil Nadu: 7 points, Baroda: 0 point.
In Shimoga — Karnataka 426 vs Madhya Pradesh 311/4 (Aditya Shrivastava 109*, Venkatesh Iyer 80). Madhya Pradesh trail by 115 runs.
In New Delhi (Karnail Singh Stadium) — Himachal Pradesh 283 & 24/0 vs Railways 545/7 decl (Arindam Ghosh 204*, Karn Sharma 82, Mahesh Rawat 60 ; AP Vashisht 3/110, M J Dagar 3/114). Himachal Pradesh trail by 238 runs.