Avasthi negates Sangwan's ton with five-for as Mumbai keep Delhi to 221 in Ranji tie

Mumbai, Jan 29 (PTI) Sanat Sangwan struck a fine hundred for Delhi against Mumbai before the visitors were shot out for 221 on day one of their Group D Ranji Trophy contest, with Mohit Avasthi claiming 5/62 here on Thursday.

While Sangwan (118) stood tall with a resolute ton — his third this season — Delhi's other batters cut a sorry figure.

Mumbai were 13/1 in reply with Divij Mehra removing Akash Anand (4). The hosts trail by 208 runs in first innings.

Sangwan mixed caution with aggression to negate early seam movement and testing spells from Mumbai pacers to produce a quality century. He scored his runs off 218 balls, hitting 11 fours and two sixes.

The 25-year-old Sangwan had fortified Delhi's position with a solid 100-run stand for the second wicket with Vaibhav Kandpal (32), keeping Mumbai at bay against the new ball.

"It's been a good season for me, I wanted to play long innings. The Delhi-Mumbai contest is always a tight match, so I will call it one of my best hundreds," Sangwan told the media after end of play.

Delhi had lost only one wicket in the morning session and were 111/1 at one stage in the second when after lunch, Avasthi ripped through the visitors in his third spell of 6-0-17-3.

Avasthi had Ayush Doseja (0), captaining Delhi in his debut season, and Sumit Mathur (2) caught behind in similar fashion. He cramped both the batters for room with deliveries angled across the southpaws and had them caught behind.

Before that, Avasthi had debutant Aryan Rana caught by Sarfaraz Khan at first slip off an innocuous delivery outside off.

Avasthi returned later to wrap up Delhi's innings, who had squandered the platform set by the top order, to snaffle two more wickets and complete his five-for.

"I had a ligament tear in shoulder of the bowling hand. I had to take time out for recovery. It was really tough since its difficult to get back in your zone and rhythm as a fast bowler," Avasthi said, reflecting on his injury setback earlier.

Delhi's collapse saw them losing nine wickets for 110 runs and it was sparked by Shams Mulani (2/45), who had Kandpal caught at slip on one that turned and bounced.

Tushar Deshpande claimed 2/36.

Mohammed Siraj returned 17-3-56-4 to help Hyderabad bowl Chhattisgarh out for 283 with Prateek Yadav making 106 and Vikalp Tiwary scoring 94. In reply, the hosts reached 56 for no loss, trailing by 227 runs in first innings.

Siraj had opener Anuj Tiwary caught for four, after coming off a century in the last match and then trapped No. 3 Sanjeet Desai (1).

The Indian pacer then denied Vikalp Tiwary (94) a century and also got rid of veteran Aditya Sarwate.

In Puducherry, Karan Kannan (5/37) and Sagar Udeshi (3/54) shared eight wickets as Rajasthan were dismissed for 164. In reply, the hosts reached 77/2.

For Rajasthan, Deepak Choudhary struck a vital 71-ball 64 at No. 8 with nine fours and two sixes while Deepak Hooda scored 36.

Jammu and Kashmir were 20 for no loss at stumps in reply to Himachal Pradesh's 168. Sunil Kumar produced 5/55 for J&K.

Brief scores: In Mumbai: Delhi 221 in 76.4 overs (Sanat Sangwan 118; Mohit Avasthi 5/62) lead Mumbai 13/1 in 3 overs (Akhil Herwadkar 4 not out; Divij Mehra 1/4) by 208 runs.

In Hyderabad: Chhattisgarh 283 in 72.3 overs (Vikalp Tiwary 94, Prateek Yadav 106; Mohammed Siraj 4/56) lead Hyderabad 56/0 in 15 overs (Aman Rao 32 not out, Abhirath Reddy 23 not out) by 227 runs.

In Puducherry: Rajasthan 168 in 61.1 overs (Deepak Choudhary 64; Sagar Udeshi 3/54, Karan Kannan 5/37) lead Puducherry 77/2 in 28 overs (Neyan Kangayan 41 not out; Deepak Choudhary 1/14) by 91 runs.

In Nadaun: Himachal Pradesh 168 in 60.1 overs (Pukhraj Mann 77; Sunil Kumar 5/55) lead Jammu and Kashmir 20 no loss by 148 runs. PTI DDV AH AH