PUNE: Two late wickets pegged back Maharashtra after they had dismissed Delhi for 191 on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' cricket match in Gahunje here on Tuesday.
Hosts Maharashtra lost the well-set Siddhesh Veer (23) and nightwatchman Satyajeet Bachhav (0) in the space of nine balls to reach a precarious 80/5 at stumps. Naushad Shaikh was unbeaten on 44, the team still 111 runs behind. Shaikh and Veer, one of the four debutants in the team and coming in for injured captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, had lifted Maharashtra from a precipitous 14/3 before the latter nicked seamer Mayank Yadav to the wicketkeeper. Bachhav then was run out for a nought.
It could have been worse as Shaikh got a reprieve on 32, when a full-pitched delivery from Yadav found the outside edge but it was not clear whether it hit the bat before or after pitching. That meant Delhi dominated the opening and closing stages of the day, and overshadowed Maharashtra's brilliant performance with the ball.
Manoj Ingale, 28, claimed 5-43, his third caree five-wicket haul, to restrict Delhi to a modest total.
Playing in only his eighth first-class match, the late bloomer brought his team back into the match after having failed to make an impact with the new ball.
Hangargekar-Dhull duel
Rajvardhan Hangargekar, also making his Ranji Trophy debut, took 3-58 — including the prized scalp of rival captain Yash Dhull (40, 52b).
Dhull was Hangargekar's captain in the World Cup-winning India Under-19 team two years ago, and the Maharashtra pacer unleashed a peach of a delivery that surprised Dhull with its steep bounce and pace. However, Dhull batted with authority with eight fours. And Tripathi's decision to bowl in seamer-friendly conditions seemed to bear no fruit with Ashay Palkar (2-67) and Ingale straying in their line.
Dhruv Shorey (41, 56b, 8x4s) and Anuj Rawat (24) brought up the fifty in the ninth over and the 100 came in 106 minutes. Although Ingale got Rawat played on from around the stumps, the visitors were hardly troubled.
With the track playing twopaced, short-pitched deliveries were comfortably pulled to the fence. But Ingale and Hangargekar found the line and length in their second spells. Bowling unchanged on either side of lunch, they triggered a middle-order collapse that saw Delhi slip from 116/2 to 149/9.
In fact, they lost six wickets for 14 runs at one stage.
Hangargekar's first spell read 6-0-25-0, but he had 8-2-33-3 in a destructive second spell. Similarly, Ingale went for 8-2-27-1 in the first, but found the rhythm in the second which read 8-4-15-4.
Delhi, however, added 42 runs for the last wicket between Himmat Singh (41) and No. 11 Mayank Yadav, whose contribution to the partnership was one run facing 22 balls.
