Last Update: January 12, 2023, 22:05 IST
Dhruv Shorey remained the shining light in an otherwise dull Ranji Trophy campaign for Delhi as the opener hit his third century of the season to take his side towards a potentially decisive first-innings lead against Andhra on Thursday.
Shorey (142 batting) propelled his team into a strong position with the help of Hrithik Shokeen (45) and Himmat Singh (45 batting).
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Shorey is now leading the run-scorer charts this season with 744 runs and a few more are expected to come on the fourth day.
Faded light forced an early stump as Delhi reached 300 for four in 93 overs, trailing Andhra by 159 runs. The visiting team had scored 459 runs for nine wickets in their first innings.
It was another chilly morning at the Arjun Jaitley Stadium and air pollution only made things worse, especially for Andhra Pradesh. Two of his players Ricky Bhui and CR Dnyaneshwar were wearing masks on the field.
As hazy skies made way for bright sunshine, Shorey came into her element. The 30-year-old, who scored 252 and 150 against Assam, played some fine shots on his way to the three-figure mark.
He was guilty of hanging on for a little too long on 99, which also led to the run out of Vaibhav Raval (25). Shorey finally got to the point with a flick off left-arm spinner Lalit Mohan. His unbeaten effort included 12 fours and a six.
With just a day left, getting the first innings lead will be the decider in the game and Delhi will be hoping that Shourie and Himmat take their unbeaten 90-run partnership forward. Delhi, who have seen a string of defeats for their players this season, are already out of contention for a spot in the knock-out stage.
The other problem has been the complete reluctance of young captain Yash Dhull to either open and sometimes even bat at No.3 in Test conditions. for a player who is considered a India Chances are, his tendency to avoid potentially challenging situations will not hold him in good stead as the selectors look for fearless players.
Andhra wicket-keeper batsman KS Bharath said his team would be eyeing early wickets on Friday.
He said, ‘It would have been better if we had taken one more wicket before stumps. If we can get early wickets tomorrow, then 140 on this wicket is going to be a challenge.”
He said, ‘He did not give us any loose ball. The only option was to go top against the spinners but we were not in a position to do that, we were just trying to build those partnerships,” Bharat said.
Abbreviated Score:
in Delhi: Andhra 459 for 9 wickets vs Delhi 300/4 in 93 overs (Dhruv Shorey 142 batting; Shoaib MD Khan 2/69).
in Mumbai: Mumbai 687 for 4 declared vs Assam 370 all out and 36/5 f/o (Swaroopam Purkayastha 12 batting; Shardul Thakur 3/12).
In Pune: Maharashtra 446 and 104/3 in 26 overs (Rahul Tripathi 61; Sandeep Warrier 3/37) vs Tamil Nadu 404 (Vijay Shankar batting 107; PC Dadhe 3/67).
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)