Delhi fights back as Imran scalps six wickets for SNGPL

New Delhi, Sep 15 (UNI) Sui Northern Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) were leading by three runs as a six-wicket haul from pacer Imran Ali ripped through Delhi batting to bundle them out for a paltry 134 but the hosts battled their way into the match to reduce the visitors at 137 for six on the opening day of the Mohammad Nissar trophy at Feroz Shah Kotla here today.

Imran made the life difficult for the Ranji Champions as he used the overcast conditions to great effect and claimed a hat-trick to end Delhi's hope of posting even a modest total.

Delhi, after electing to bat first, were in disarray as captain Virender Sehwag was clean bowled by Imran for zero in the second over of the day. Akash Chopra followed his captain soon after with the Ranji Champions tottering at two for four.

Virat Kohli and Mithun Minhas then started the repair work and added 86 runs for the third wicket.

While Kohli made 52 with the help of 11 fours, Manhas raced to 49 in just 52 balls but with their loss, Delhi's hopes of making a comeback evaporated.

Manhas, who looked set for a good score, was out for a soft dismissal and was caught by Imran Khalid off his own bowling.

From there on, nothing went right for the hosts as a fired up Imran rattled Delhi with the wickets of P Bisht (0), Chetanya Nanda (0) and Pradeep Sangwan (0) to claim a well deserved hat-trick.

Asad Ali gave Imran good support from the other end as he claimed the wickets of Chopra, Kohli and Rajat Bhatia (1).

However, the Pakstani batsmen too found a few devils in the pitch when they came out to bat.

Ashish Nehra, who is fighting for a place in the national side, led the bowling attack and claimed the first wicket for Delhi.

Opener Yasar Arafat failed to read the moving ball from Nehra and was trapped leg before for zero.

Umar Akmal along with his captain Mohammad Hafeez then took over and looked to dominate the Indians particularly the former who clobbered nine fours to score 58 off 73 balls. His captain was happy to play a second fiddle scoring 28 runs.

Nehra first put an end to Hafeez's innings and then Nanda clean bowled a dangerous looking Akmal.

The Pakistani side did get some useful contributions from its players but nobody was able to continue his stay at the wicket for a long time. As a result SNGPL lost wickets at regular intervals.

A lot was expected from Misbah-ul-Haq (9) but he failed to deliver and looked completely shocked when a beautiful delivery from Nanda uprooted his stumps.

Young pace spearhead Ishant Sharma, however, went wicketless and was belted for runs by the Pakistani batsmen.

A few overs before the stumps were about to be drawn, Nehra came back to scalp Adnan Akmal for 14 and the Paksitani side's score read six for 133.

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