Kohli's Ranji return disappoints, Delhi crush Railways

Delhi short fall of knockouts, secure an innings win against Railways; Kohli's return concludes with single-digit score

Virat Kohli

IMAGE: Delhi is at the third place in Group D with two wins, two draws and three losses, giving them 21 points. Photograph: Kind Courtesy Mufaddal Vohra/X

A brilliant all-round show by Sumit Mathur and an aggressive knock by skipper Ayush Badoni helped Delhi secure a memorable win by an innings and 19 runs against Railways in their final league stage Ranji Trophy clash at the home ground of Arun Jaitley Stadium in the national capital on Saturday.

With this win, Delhi is at the third place in Group D with two wins, two draws and three losses, giving them 21 points. However it is not enough to give them a place in the knockout stages. Star India batter Virat Kohli also failed to impress on his return to the tournament after 13 years, scoring just 6 off 15 balls in the first innings.

Delhi won the toss and opted to bowl first. Railways were skittled out for 241, with Upendra Yadav (95 in 177 balls, with 10 fours and a six) and Karn Sharma (50 in 105 balls, with seven fours and a six) scoring fifties and stabilising the innings after the team was reduced to 66/5.

Sumit (3/20) and Navdeep Saini (3/62) were the pick of the bowlers for Delhi.

In their first innings, Delhi lost Arpit Rana (10) early. Sanat Sangwan (30 in 81 balls, with four boundaries) and Yash Dhull (32 in 69 balls, with seven fours) did stitch a 67-run stand, but the dismissal of Dhull was met with massive cheers even from the home crowd as it led to arrival of Virat at the crease, but his underwhelming stint ended at just 6 run in 15 balls.

With Delhi left struggling at 97/4, a 133-run stand from Mathur (86 in 206 balls, with eight fours) and Badoni (99 in 77 balls, with 12 fours and a six) helping Delhi reach near the lead score. After attaining a healthy lead, Mathur departed as the ninth wicket.

Delhi was bundled out for 374 runs, taking a 133 run lead.

Himanshu Sangwan (4/55) was the top bowler for Railways and cleaned up Virat's stumps as well. Kunal Yadav got 3/104.

Railways was totally derailed in the fourth innings, as only Mohammad Saif (31 in 31 balls, with six fours) and Ayan Chaudhari (30* in 30 balls, with five fours) could cross 20 runs. Railways was skittled out for 114 runs and Delhi won the game by an innings and 19 runs.

Shivam Sharma (5/33) took a match-winning fifer for Delhi.

Mathur walked away with the 'Player of the Match' award.