New Delhi: Skipper Shikhar Dhawan led from the front to help Delhi seal an outright victory over Maharashtra in their group B Ranji Trophy match at the Roshanara Cricket Club on Wednesday.
Chasing a target of 270 on a seaming pitch on the last day never looked an easy thing to do, but Dhawan (116, 194b, 12x4, 1x6) along with Mohit Sharma (51, 91b, 9x4) and Mithun Manhas (51, 40b, 5x4, 3x6) showed character to help the hosts overhaul the daunting target with seven wickets remaining.
The win has now propelled Delhi to third place on the table with 17 points of seven games, and kept them in the hunt for a quarterfinals spot.
Delhi’s chase did not start on the brightest of note with their star batsman Unmukt Chand falling for cheap. Sharma joined his captain in the middle and both the players mixed aggression with caution and started stealing easy runs.
Sharma reached his half century first but unfortunately fell at the stroke of lunch break.
At 99-2, the job was still not done for Delhi and it was Manhas’ aggressive knock that provided the launch-pad and certainly the pace of the match changed. He launched an onslaught on the hapless Maharashtra bowlers and hit them all over the park. He stitched a crucial 83 runs partnership with Dhawan who at the other end was happy playing the role of an anchor.
He was however fell soon after his half century. With the job almost done, Vaibhav Rawal and Dhawan were happy playing the waiting game and slowly guided Delhi to the victory. Rawal scored 35 off 63 deliveries including four boundaries an put up unbeaten 91 runs stand with Dhawan for the fourth wicket.
For the visitors, Shrikanth Munde was the most successful bowler with his spell of 2-61.
Brief scores:
Delhi 193 (Rawal 65, Fallah 5-67) and 273 for 3 (Dhawan 116*, Manhas 51, Mohit 51) beat Maharashtra 196 (Bawne 58, Narwal 3-35) and 266 (Khadiwale 96, Bawne 55) by seven wickets
By Indian Sport News Network