Ranji Trophy: Imtiaz, Praveen rattle star-studded Delhi

Ghaziabad : Delhi’s India stars flopped and Uttar Pradesh took charge of the Group B Ranji Trophy cricket tie after the first day’s play at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here Friday.

A star-studded Delhi team, with the likes of skipper Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, were bundled out for 235 in their first innings after they were put in by Uttar Pradesh captain Suresh Raina.

The star of the day was Uttar Pradesh’s medium pacer Imtiaz Ahmed (5/52), who along with the seasoned Praveen Kumar (3/56) made the best use of the overcast conditions in the morning session to wreak havoc.

Crucial innings from Puneet Bisht (52) and former captain Mithun Manhas (42) helped Delhi get to a modest score.

At stumps, Uttar Pradesh were 40 for one with opener Mukal Dagar (18) and Mohammad Kaif (3) batting.

Delhi started cautiously but none of the openers, Gambhir (32) and Sehwag (25), rose to the occasion. They did little to prove to their detractors that they are still one of the best opening pairs in Test cricket.

Praveen struck early removing Sehwag, who hit four fours during his brief stay. Sehwag played it safe but was caught behind by Amir Khan on the only chance he took.

Just when he was looking dangerous, Gambhir (32) was trapped leg-before by Imtiaz. Virat Kohli (14) hardly lasted 20 minutes at the crease before he was caught at first slip by Mohammed Kaif while trying to drive pacer Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.

Unmukt Chand (28), who recently led the India Under-19 team to a World Cup win, looked confident with his strokes, scoring four boundaries. However, he got out in an unfortunate fashion.

While trying to pull left-arm spinner Ali Murtaza, Chand hit the fielder at forward short leg and the ball bounced back to silly point where Dagar took a good catch.

At lunch, seven-time Ranji champions Delhi were reeling at 123/4 in 34 overs.

But it was the 86-run stand for the fifth-wicket between Manhas and Bisht that provided some stability. But Imtiaz sent both of them back to the pavilion.

In the post-lunch session, Imtiaz was in his elements. The Aligarh boy in his second spell of six overs, took four wickets to complete his fifer.

Praveen wrapped up the lower order by dismissing Ashish Nehra (1) and Sumit Narwal (21).

The following is the scoreboard of the first day’s play between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy Group B tie at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here Friday

Delhi (First innings)

Gautam Gambhir lbw Imtiaz 32
Virender Sehwag c Amir b Praveen 25
Unmukt Chand c Dagar b Murtaza 28
Virat Kohli c Kaif b Bhuvaneshwar 14
Mithun Manhas c Amir b Imtiaz 42
Puneet Bisht c Raina b Imtiaz 52
Sumit Narwal c Kaif b Praveen 21
Pradeep Sangwan c Raina b Imtiaz 11
Ashish Nehra lbw Imtiaz 1
Ishant Sharma not out 9
Vikas Mishra c Kaif b Praveen 0
Extras (lb 3, w 2)
Total (all out in 65.2 overs) 235

Fall of wickets: 1-39 (Sehwag), 2-77 (Gambhir), 3-98 (Kohli), 4-106 (Chand), 5-192 (Manhas), 6-205 (Bisht), 7-217 (Sangwan), 8-219 (Nehra), 9-235 (Narwal)

Bowling:
Praveen Kumar 19-5-56-3
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar 18-3-66-1
Imtiaz Ahmed 18-6-52-5
Ali Murtaza 8-0-44-1
Suresh Raina 2.2-0-7-0

Uttar Pradesh (First innings)

Tanmay Srivastava c Bisht b Sharma 18
Mukul Dagar batting 18
Mohammed Kaif batting 3
Extras (w 1) 1
Total (for one wicket in 13 overs) 40

Fall of wickets: 1-36 (Srivastava)

Bowling:
Ashish Nehra 5-1-17-0
Ishant Sharma 3-0-12-1
Sumit Narwal 3-1-8-0
Pradeep Sangwan 1-1-0-0
Vikas Mishra 1-0-3-0