Ranji Trophy 2023-24: Pondicherry pacers shine in cloudy conditions, keep Delhi on the backfoot

Poor light restricted play to only 19 overs as Pondicherry pacers exploited the cloudy conditions and kept Delhi to 40 for four on the opening day of their Group D Ranji Trophy league match at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here on Friday.

After Pondicherry won the toss and put Delhi to bat, medium pacers Gaurav Yadav and Abin Mathew struck by turns to finish with two wickets each.

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Playing his 30th Ranji Trophy match and first for Pondicherry, Gaurav bowled Delhi skipper Yash Dhull in the fifth over. Having moved to Pondicherry from Madhya Pradesh, Gaurav proved his worth straightaway by making full use of the conditions. He swung the ball just enough to force the batters to play the wrong line. He did it again in the 15th over by trapping Vaibhav Rawal leg-before.

In the previous over, first-change Abin sent back Lakshay Thareja, the only batter to play with some confidence in trying conditions. After hitting Gaurav to two boundaries, Thareja fell leg-before to Mathew. Similarly, in the 18th over, Ayush Badoni became Mathew’s second victim after playing the wrong line.

With the weather forecast indicating cloudy days ahead, further fall in temperature followed by icy winds, the teams expect delayed starts and early closures on each of the next three days.

The scores:

Delhi-1st innings: Yash Dhull b Gaurav Yadav 2, Lakshay Thareja lbw b Mathew 19, Vaibhav Rawal lbw b Gaurav Yadav 9, Himmat Singh (batting) 6, Ayush Badoni lbw b Mathew 2, Kshitiz Sharma (batting) 1, Extras (w-1) 1, Total (for four wickets, in 19 overs) 40.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-30, 3-30, 4-38.

Pondicherry bowling: Gaurav Yadav 10-1-22-2, Saurabh Yadav 4-0-9-0, Abin Mathew 5-2-9-2.