Yash Dhull continued his good form with second century of the season but left-arm spinner Nishunk Birla's six-wicket haul helped Chandigarh bowl out Delhi for a below-par 276 on the opening day of a Ranji Trophy group D match on Wednesday. (More Cricket News)
At stumps, Chandigarh scored 63 for 1 with Shivam Bhambri remaining unbeaten on 42.
Dhull, who scored a century against Tamil Nadu, struck 21 boundaries in his 121 off 190 balls and added 96 with IPL star Ayush Badoni, who smashed three sixes in his 50-ball-49.
Nishunk picked up 6 for 72 on a track that offered some amount of turn. Off-spinner Vishu Kashyap picked up a couple of wickets even as Badoni tonked him for a few maximums.
But Delhi's middle-order flopped once again with skipper Himmat Singh failing to open his account.
The perennially controversial selection of Khsitiz Sharma (2), who walked into the team in place of left-hander Jonty Sidhu, whose century against Chattisgarh gave his team first innings lead, once again looked inadequate in terms of technique and application at this level.
It was Shivank Vasisht (31) and Hrithik Shokeen (16), who added 35 runs for the ninth wicket to take Delhi past 275-run mark.
Andre and Vijay propel TN to 299/7 vs Assam
C Andre Siddarth missed out on a ton by six runs while Vijay Shankar followed up his hundred with a 76 as Tamil Nadu scored 299 for 7 on the first day of their match against Assam in Guwahati.
Most of the other Tamil Nadu batters like former India A player Pradosh Ranjan Paul (27), T20 specialist Shahrukh Khan (28) and Mohamed Ali (27) all got starts but failed to convert them into big scores.
Ranji Trophy 2024-25 Group D Day 1 Brief Scores:
At Chandigarh: Delhi 1st Innings 276 in 71.4 overs (Yash Dhull 121, Ayush Badoni 49, Nishunk Birla 6/72) vs Chandigarh 1st Innings 63/1 in 16 overs (Shivam Bhambri 42 batting).
At Guwahati: Tamil Nadu 1st Innings 299/7 in 85 overs (C Andre Siddarth 94, Vijay Shankar 76) vs Assam.
At Ranchi: Jharkhand 1st Innings 247/7 in 72 overs (Sharandeep Singh 72, Hiten Kanbi 4/50) vs Saurashtra.
At Raipur: Chattisgarh 1st Innings 252/3 in 85 overs (Anu Tiwary 84, Sanjeet Desai 70 batting, Pratham Singh 1/14) vs Railways.
