Bhandari leads Delhi fightback

Captain Amit Bhandari led Delhi's fightback after the hosts' ploy of spreading out a seaming track backfired on the first day of the Ranji Trophy league match against Gujarat at the Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi on Saturday.

The hosts were shot out for a paltry 69 on a green pitch, with 23-year old right-arm seamer Siddharth Trivedi (5-16) and new ball partner A Makda (4-30) doing the damage.

Bhandari, with the guillotine hanging over his head following ordinary performances in the first three games, then captured five for 43 as Gujarat reached 116 for nine at stumps on a day affected by poor visibility conditions.

The visitors now have a lead of 47 runs that could prove vital in a match that is, with three full days' play left, surely headed for a result.

The Delhi scoreline owed it to a 36-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Rajat Bhatia (33) and Chetanya Nanda (10) that lifted the home team from an embarrassing 29 for six.

Besides Bhatia and Nanda, Mayank Tehlan (13) was the only other batsman to score in double digits in a batting card that featured five 'ducks'.

The first blow came in the second over of the day, when Makda bowled Shikhar Dhawan in his very first ball.

Trivedi had Aakash Chopra in the next over, and Delhi simply imploded from there on.

Scorecard

Delhi (1st innings):
A Chopra c Christian b Trivedi 1
S Dhawan b Makda 0
M Tehlan c P Patel b Makda 13
M Manhas b Makda 4
P Chawla c Modi b Trivedi 6
R Bhatia lbw b Trivedi 33
Varun Kumar lbw b Trivedi 0
C Nanda run out 10
K Lal c Christian b Makda 0
A Bhandari not out 0
M Deewan b Trivedi 0
Extras: (nb 2) 2
Total: (all out in 30.5 overs) 69

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-3, 3-18, 4-25, 5-25, 6-29, 7-65, 8-65, 9-69.

Bowling: Trivedi 13.5-5-16-5, Makda 12-3-30-4, Majmudar 5-1-23-0.

Gujarat (1st innings):
N Modi c Varun Kumar b Bhandari 7
A Christian lbw b Bhandari 5
N Patel c Chopra b Bhandari 6
M Parmar b Bhandari 6
P Patel c Varun Kumar b Lal 7
Kalpesh Patel b Bhandari 6
B Thaker run out 13
H Watekar c Bhandari b Lal 16
S Trivedi c Varun Kumar b Deewan 0
H A Majmudar not out 12
A Makda not out 30
Extras: (b 2, lb 2, w 2, nb 2) 8
Total: (for 9 wickets in 44 overs) 116

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-17, 3-28, 4-36, 5-38, 6-42, 7-73, 8-74, 9-74.

Bowling: Bhandari 17-2-43-5, Kunal Lal 19-6-40-2, Deewan 7-1-21-1, Nanda 1-0-8-0.