Harshit Rana celebrated his maiden Test team call-up by rattling Assam with a fiery opening spell but keeper-batter Sumit Ghadigaonkar's unbeaten 120 took the visitors to a respectable 264 for 6 at stumps on the opening day of a group D Ranji Trophy match. (More Cricket News)
The fifth wicket stand between right-hander Ghadigaonkar and seasoned Sib Shankar Roy (59) yielded 164 runs before Rana (4/62 in 15 overs) came for his final spell to break the stand but Delhi were guilty of extremely slow over-rate with 76 overs being sent during the day.
It was largely due to another inexplicable decision by the chief selector-head coach pair of Gursharan Singh and Sarandeep Singh of fielding four pacers but only Rana with his bounce and movement along with debutant Money Grewal (1/42 in 13 overs) stood out.
Himanshu Chauhan (0/47) and left-armer Siddhant Sharma (0/36) didn't cause any trouble for the two in-form Assam batters.
However, the highlight of the day was Rana, who bowled at brisk pace to get rid of opener Subham Mandal (0) and Abhishek Thakuri (0) in a space of three deliveries in his third over.
While Rishav Das (33) and Denish Das (18) added 51 for the third wicket, Grewal got his first wicket at first-class level, Rana got his third to quickly reduce Assam to 59 for 4.
But Ghadigaonkar and Roy counter-attacked the Delhi bowlers once the initial help was no longer there and the Mumbaikar in fact hit the India international for a couple of sixes.
In all he hit 15 fours and three sixes but once left-arm spinner Sumit Mathur (1/64 off 20 overs) removed Roy caught by Sanat Sangwan, Rana quickly disposed off veteran Sarupam Purkayastha to get his fourth victim.
However on the second day, Delhi will need to speed up things if they plan to enforce a result having lost the first innings lead against Tamil Nadu at home in the last game.
Brief Scores:
In Delhi: Assam 1st Innings 264/6 in 76 overs (Sumit Ghadigaonkar 120 batting, Harshit Rana 4/62) vs Delhi.
In Coimbatore: Chattisgarh 1st Innings 293/2 in 90 overs (Aayush Pandey 124, Anuj Tiwary 68 batting, Sanjeet Desai 52 batting, Ajith Ram 1/73) vs Tamil Nadu.
In Rajkot: Railways 1st Innings 234 in 73.2 overs (Vivek Singh 65, Yuvraj Singh 67, Yuvrajsinh Dodiya 3/63).
