Chopra, Dhawan hit centuries to put Delhi in strong position

New Delhi, Nov 17 (UNI) Akash Chopra and Shikar Dhawan hit a century each as hosts Delhi piled up 295 for the loss of two wickets to gain a massive lead of 326 runs on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match against Saurashtra here today.

Resuming on their overnight score of 175 for seven, Saurashtra tailenders managed to add another 38 runs as the visitors folded up their first innings for a total of 213.

Ishant Sharma and Rajat Bhatia were the most outstanding among the Delhi bowlers, picking up four wickets each. Bhatia, in particular, had an outstanding display. He gave away just 16 runs while scalping four wickets.

The hosts had a strong start in their second innings, with openers Chopra and Dhawan firing on all cylinders. By the time Dhawan was dismissed, Delhi had already posted a comfortable lead of 230 runs.

Tehlan who came in at the fall of Dhawan's wicket failed to take off, being caught LBW by in-form left arm seamer Sandeep Jobanputra.

Thereafter, Kohli joined Chopra in the middle, remaining unbeaten on a personal score of 40 at the end of the day's play.

Delhi (First Innings) : 244 Saurashtra (First Innings) : Kanaiya Vaghela b Sharma 3 S Jogiyani c Chopra b Sharma 25 Sitanshu Kotak c Dhawan b Bhatia 77 Cheteshwar Pujara lbw b Bhatia 11 J Shah c Bisht b Bhatia 0 P Mehta c Bisht b Bhandari 27 Ravinder Jadeja c Bisht b Sangwan 1 Rakesh Dhurv lbw b Bhatia 21 Kamlesh Makvana c Dhawan b Sharma 13 Sandeep Jobanputra b Sharma 7 Sandip Maniar not out 2 Extras (b 11, lb 6, w 2, nb 7) 26 Total (All out in 92.1 overs) 213 Fall of wickets : 1/4, 2/61, 3/83, 4/83, 5/156, 6/156, 7/175, 8/195, 9/204, 10/213 Bowling : Pradeep Sangwan 24-5-69-1, Ishant Sharma 28.1-6-72-4, Amit Bhandari 14-7-22-1, Rajat Bhatia 17-8-16-4, Chetanya Nanda 8-1-16-0, Mithun Manhas 1-0-1-0 Delhi (2nd innings) : Akash Chopra batting 124 Shikhar Dhawan st Jogiyani b Dhurv 114 Mayank Tehlan lbw b Jobanputra 9 Vikas Kohli batting 40 Extras (lb 6, w 1, nb 1) 8 Total (in 69 overs) 295 (for 2 wickets) Fall of wickets : 1/199, 2/219 Bowling : Sandeep Jobanputra 15-1-77-1, Sandip Maniar 12-0-64-0, Kanaiya Vaghela 12-2-42-0, Ravinder Jadeja 15-2-51-0, Kamlesh Makvana 13-3-40-0, Rakesh Dhurv 2-0-15-1 UNI