Baroda fights back after Delhi dismisses them for 199

Indore, Jan 5 (UNI) Amit Bhandari and Sumit Narwal ripped through the Baroda batting to bundle them out for 199 but Delhi squandered the advantage as they were tottering at 49 for 3 at stumps on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final match here today.

Bhandari and Narwal claimed four wickets each as Baroda batsmen failed to negotiate tight bowling spells by the two bowlers.

However, Baroda struck back as they had Delhi crumbling at 5 for 3 in just 4.3 overs before Mithun Manhas and Aditya Jain got involved into the rescue act and added 44 runs for the unbeaten fourth wicket stand.

After winning the toss, Baroda elected to bat first and got of to a poor start as Bhandari reduced Baroda to 25 for two. The Baroda batting looked brittle as the two bowlers managed to extract good pace and bounce from the wicket.

The Baroda batsmen tried to hang around but were unable to cope against the nagging line of Delhi bowlers. S Gaekwad and P Shah came to the rescue of Baroda and added 48 runs for the fifth wicket.

Gaekwad was looking good but he fell seven runs short of his half century. He scored 43 off 65 deliveries which included six fours.

Later, Shah added 42 runs with Y Pathan before the former was dismissed by Bhandari on 46 (77 balls, 7X4). Rest of the batsmen could add only 47 runs and were finally dismissed for 199.

Bhandari finished with impressive figures of four for 52 while Narwal took four for 56. Rajat Bhatia and Mithun Manhas took one wicket each.

Scoreboard: Baroda 1st innings: S Parab c Narwal b Bhandari 5 C Williams b Bhandari 14 A Bilakhia c Dhawan b Narwal 26 R Solanki c Dhawan b Bhandari 2 S Gaekwad c Bisht b Narwal 43 P Shah c Jain b Bhandari 46 Y Pathan c Awana b Narwal 14 R Pawar LBW b Manhas 6 S Vohra c Chopra b Narwal 27 Sumit Singh LBW b Bhatia 0 S Veragi not out 10 Extras: (LB 1 W 1 NB 4) 6 Total: (in 64.4 overs) 199 all out Fall of wickets: 1/12, 2/25, 3/35, 4/62, 5/110, 6/152, 7/152, 8/171, 9/177 Bowling: A Bhandari 16-4-52-4 S Narwal 20.4-5-56-4 P Awana 10-0-47-0 R Bhatia 12-3-26-1 C Nanda 3-0-14-0 M Manhas 3-2-3-1 Delhi 1st innings: A Chopra c Shah b Veragi 3 G Gambhir LBW b Sumit Singh 2 S Dhawan c Williams b Sumit Singh 0 M Manhas batting 26 Aditya Jain batting 18 Extras: 0 Total: (in 19 overs) 49 for 3 Fall of wickets: 1/3, 2/5, 3/5 Bowling: Sumit Singh 8-3-25-2 S Veragi 7-1-21-1 S Vohra 4-2-3-0 UNI XC RAR RKM PM1832