Delhi cricket establishment continued with its dodgy selections even during an inconsequential final group league game of the Ranji Trophy season as Odisha batters made merry, reaching 314 for 4 riding on a century from Subhransu Senapati. (Streaming | More Cricket News)
Already out of the knock-out reckoning from Group D, the match at Jamia Milia Islamia featured three debutants -- batter Gagan Vats, left-arm spinner Sumit Mathur and leg-spinner Prince Chaudhary.
The Delhi team didn't feature left-arm seamer Siddhant Sharma, who got a five-for including seven wickets in the previous match against Himachal Pradesh in Dharamsala.
While the logic of dropping Siddhant was the slow track at the Jamia Milia Islamia ground, how was rookie leg-break bowler Prince picked ahead of Hrithik Shokeen (17 wickets), Delhi's second highest wicket-taker of the season, defies logic.
Funnily, Shokeen, the specialist off-spinner, has more runs (96) with the willow compared to the ever-controversial pick Kshitiz Sharma (67 runs at 13.50), who was rewarded with another chance for his quick-fire 27 in the last game, coming in at No.7 after all batters had looted runs in the second innings.
As far as Prince is concerned, he is the nephew of a former age-group selector and also an influential figure in DDCA.
It wasn't surprising that he was smashed around for 73 runs in just 13 overs. He conceded nine boundaries and mostly bowled half-trackers, with Senapati, who remained unbeaten on 109, hitting half a dozen of them. In all, Senapati hit 13 boundaries.
Senapati, who otherwise batted defensively, got 40 runs off 39 deliveries bowled by the leg-spinner, who was picked at base price by Punjab Kings at the last IPL auction.
Senapati had a good partnership of 80 for the third wicket with Shantanu Mishra (76) as none of the Odisha batters looked in any kind of trouble against the Delhi attack.
With the season's find Himanshu Chauhan (28 wickets) being rendered ineffective on a slow, low deck (0/55 in 15 overs), it was seam bowling all-rounder Pranshu Vijayaran (2/64 in 20 overs) and debutant left-arm spinner Mathur (2/67 in 29 overs), who shared the spoils for the day.
Brief Scores
In New Delhi: Odisha 1st Innings 314/4 in 88 overs (Subhranshu Senapati 109 batting, Shantanu Mishra 76, Sumit Mathur 2/69, Pranshu Vijayaran 2/64) vs Delhi
In Dehradun: Uttarakhand 1st Innings 295/5 (Jiwanjot Singh 139, Aditya Tare 75 batting, Atit Seth 2/48) vs Baroda.
In Puducherry: HP 1st Innings 272/4 (Nikhil Gangta 100 batting, Prashant Chopra 61, Gaurav Yadav 1/63) vs Puducherry.
In Indore: MP 1st Innings 200 (Venkatesh Iyer 62, Himanshu Mantri 50, Abid Mushtaq 3/35, Rohit Sharma Jr 2/18).
