Bad light followed by 10 minutes of heavy shower disrupted play on the final day as the Ranji Trophy Elite Group-A match between Bengal and Delhi ended in a draw at the Eden Gardens here on Thursday.
Delhi added 25 runs, punctuated by a break due to foggy and overcast conditions, to its overnight total to reach 242 for seven.
The unbeaten pair of Jonty Sidhu (49 overnight), and Subodh Bhati, resuming from seven, put up a fight to gather 24 runs off six overs in 25 minutes before the first stoppage.
Raising hopes
Sidhu reached a deserving half-century and Bhati picked up some boundaries to raise Delhi's hope of overhauling Bengal’s first innings total of 318.
They returned after 33 minutes to add a run in one over before returning to the pavilion again due to bad light.
Heavy rains made the Eden look like a pool of water, but the groundsmen worked hard for two-and-a-half hours to dry it up.
Wet patches
However, the umpires decided to call off the match as they spotted some wet patches in the outfield during inspection around 3.30 p.m.
Only 16.3 overs could be bowled in the last two days due to rain and bad light. As the first innings remained unfinished, both teams got one point each.
“We are playing well and have to win the remaining matches (in Jaipur and Patiala) to reach the knockout stage,” said Bengal’s stand-in skipper Manoj Tiwary.
“We wanted to go for three points, our boys put up a fight,” said Delhi coach K.P. Bhaskar. Delhi will play its next two matches at home.
Bengal, which played three rain-affected matches at the Eden this season, slipped to fifth and Delhi to ninth in the Group A and B combined standings.
The scores:
Bengal — 1st innings: 318
Delhi — 1st innings: Kunal Chandela b Nilkantha 9, Hiten Dalal b Nilkantha 40, Dhruv Shorey c Goswami b Mukesh 65, Nitish Rana c Goswami b Mukesh 24, Jonty Sidhu (not out) 53, Kshitiz Sharma c Majumder b Shahbaz 9, Simarjeet Singh c Saifi b Shahbaz 0, Anuj Rawat lbw b Mukesh 0, Subodh Bhati (not out) 26; Extras (b-5, lb-4, nb-2, w-5): 16; Total (for seven wkts. in 82 overs): 242.
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-87, 3-147, 4-151, 5-192, 6-192, 7-192.
Bengal bowling: Mukesh 25-7-75-3, Nilkantha 14-3-37-2, Akash Deep 24-4-60-0, Shahbaz 11-2-30-2, Ayan 6-1-25-0, Tiwary 2-0-6-0.
