Delhi 61/3 in reply to Saurashtra's 492 all out

Rajkot, Dec 26 (UNI) Delhi were three for 61 in the first innings in reply to Saurashtra's mammoth 492 on the second day of the four-day Super League Ranji encounter at the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground here.

The visitors started their innings on a disastourse note after dismissing Saurashtra for 492 in the first innings.

Medium pacer Sandip Jobanputra struck in his last delivery of third over and trapped Akash Chopra LBW. The visitors were one for 14 then.

Saurashtra's skipper Jaydev Shah introduced spinners from 10th over -- Kamlesh Makwana and Ravindra Jadeja -- which paid rich dividends as left arm spinner Jadeja struck in his first over, removing Mayank Tehlan who was caught by wicket-keeper Sagar Jogiyani. He made six runs, while team's score read 44 for 2.

Jadeja again struck in his second over and had night watchman Amit Bhandari LBW for no score.

The visitors would have been in greater trouble had the host's Rakesh Dhruve not dropped the catch in third slip of prolific batsman Shikar Dhawan off S Jobanputra, when he had made only eight runs.

At stumps, Dhawan and skipper Mithun Manhas were batting with 30 and 10 runs respectively.

Saurashtra started their innings at overnight score of 284 for 3, and were all out shortly after tea at 492. Kamlesh Makwana (54 not out, 5X4) and Sandip Maniar (57, 9X4) added 99 runs for the tenth wicket before the latter was caught by wicket-keeper P Bisht off S Sharma.

Southpaw Shintashu Kotak once again missed a century by five runs.

Medium pacer Ishant Sharma bowled him at his individual score of 95. He cound add only three runs to his overnight score.

Cheteshwar Pujara had, however, completed the ton, his second Ranji hundred this season.

He had made 177 against Tamil Nadu in the previous match here.

Again, he scored 139 off 264 deliveries, which included 19 fours.

However, last pair of Kamlesh Makwana and Sandip Maniar foiled the visitors design to early fold the innings as they put on 99 runs for the tenth wicket record partnership.

Visiting captain Mithun Manhas tried evertyhing to dislodge the pair and used as many as seven bowlers to unsettle the pair but in vain.

Umpires -- V N Kulkarni and R Radhakrishanan -- had extended half-an-hour for tea break, but the visitors failed to break the last pair before tea.

Breif score: Saurashtra Ist innings 492 for all out in 163.2 overs (S Jogiyani 61, S Kotak 95, C Pujara 139, Kamlesh Makwana not out 54, Sandip Maniyar 57, A Nehra 3 for 115, I Sharma 3 for 117, A Bhandari 2 for 75, R Bhatia 1 for 29 and S Sharma 1 for 107).

Delhi Ist Innings: 61 for 3 in 14 overs (S Dhawan not out 30, Mithun Manhas not out 10, S Jobanputra one for 31 and Ravindra Jadeja 2 for 1).

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