New Delhi, Oct 18 Priyansh Arya missed out on a first-class double hundred by a whisker but his knock put Delhi in a commanding position on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match against Gujarat as they reached 381 for 4 here on Sunday.
Arya looked impressive throughout his innings, hitting 15 fours and two sixes for his century off 126 balls. He nudged a hip-high delivery from Chintan Gaja towards deep square leg for his milestone.
Fresh from India’s ‘A’ white-ball series against Australia ‘A’, where he featured in just one match, Arya quickly adapted to the red-ball game on a batting-friendly pitch.
The highlight of the Delhi innings, after the home side chose to bat, was Arya’s fourth wicket stand of 234 runs with captain Ayush Badoni who remained not out on 115 off 149 balls (11×4; 2×6).
Badoni reached his hundred off 113 balls and struck 11 fours and one six in the process. It was Badoni’s fifth first-class century. He was bowled off a delivery that kept low as Manan Hingrajia finds the breakthrough.
When Arya was out one run short of his double century, Delhi were 376 for 4 in the 77th over. Arya faced 220 balls for his 199 and struck 26 fours and six sixes
Sumit Mathur (0 not out ) was giving company to Badoni when the stumps were drawn after 84 overs of the Delhi first innings.
For a hapless Gujarat, Harshal Patel was the most successful bowler with two wickets for 66 runs.
In another Group C match in Delhi, 15 wickets fell on the opening day as a Mohammed Shami-less Bengal hit back after being bowled out for 186 against Services.
Bengal spinners Pradipta Pramanik and Aamir Gani shared four wickets between them to reduce Services to 83 for 5 at stumps. All the 15 wickets to fall in the day have gone to the spinners.
Brief Scores:
In Delhi: Delhi 381 for 4 in 84 overs (Priyansh Arya 199, Ayush Badoni 115 batting; Harshal Patel 2/66) vs Gujarat.
In Pune: Jharkhand 169 all out in 58.2 overs (Robin Minz 38; Vicky Ostwal 4/39) vs Maharashtra 85 for 3 in 26 overs (Sachin Dhas 58).
In Delhi: Bengal 184 all out in 54 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 56; Pulkit Narang 5/63) vs Services 83 for 5 in 34 overs (Rajat Paliwal 23 batting; Pradipta Pramanik 2/16).
In Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala 245 for 6 in 85 overs (Sachin Baby 112; Lalit Yadav 2/29) vs Odisha.
(PTI News)
