Off-spinner Shivam Sharma grabbed five wickets as Delhi ended their Ranji Trophy league campaign on a high, sealing a bonus point win over Railways on Saturday. (More Cricket News)
Resuming the day at🌸 334 for seven, Delhi ended🍌 up with 374 all out in the first session to take a 133-run lead.
Railways batters played some reckless shots that expedited the out✅come of the matc꧑h.
They were all out for 114 i🌳n 30.4 overs in the afternoon session to suffer an innings defeat, handing Delhi seven points. It also denied the crowd a chance to see batting icon Virat Kohli in action for a second time in this match.
ﷺFor Delhi, Sumit Mathur (86), who was batting on 78 overnight, could not reach the three-figure mark as Kohli’s conqueror on day two, Himanshu Sangwan, ended with four wickets.
It was Delhi’s second win of﷽ the season and their chances of making the knockouts from Eliꦛte Group D depend on results of other matches.
The match had attracted national attention because of one man – Kohli who returned to Ranji Trophy after 13 years.
The spectators were robbed of the oꦜpportunity to see Kohli in the second innings as Railways batters self-destructed on a slow an𝄹d low surface.
The former India captain himself would notꦇ have minded another hit in the middle after managing six off 15 balls on day two.
It was a procession 🦂after Delhi left-arm pacer Siddhant Sharma trapped Suraj Ahuja with an inswinger.
His opening partner Vivek Singhඣ (12) hit a crisp cover drive off Siddhant before an over-aggressive approach got the better of him as he stepped out to offie Shivam only to be caught at backward point.
A little later Mohammed Saif (31 off 3🔯1 balls) also charged down the wicket aga🍨inst Shivam but could not get past the mid-on fielder.
Sidhant removed Suraj Ahuja with an inswinger. Even Delhi were no💦t expecting the game to end this early but the opposition batters had other plans.
Navdeep Saini castled Bhargav Merai to make it 57 for four before Railways’ star batter in the first innings Upendra Yadav (ﷺ19) perished off an incoming ball from Money Grewal.
The game got over when number 10 Kunal Yadav was dismissed by Delhi sꦆkipper Ayush Badoni as number 11 Anchit Yadav did not come out to bat.
Kohli, who returned to domestic cricket after 13 years, also spent a long time in the dressing room wi🌟th his teammates, shaking hands and posing for pictures.
The star cricketer also dropp⛦ed into Railways dressing room to meet the opposition players.
Delhi vs Railways Brief scores
Delhi 374 in 106.4 overs beat Railways 241 and 114 all out in 30.5 overs (Mohammed Said 31; Shivam Sharma 5/33) by innings an💙d 19 runs.
