New Delhi, Dec 11 (Inditop.com) Delhi registered their second straight victory at home, beating Maharashtra comprehensively by 10 wickets on the fourth and the final day of their Ranji Trophy Super League match at the Roshanara Club ground here Friday.
The win gave Delhi six points to take their tally to 15 in Group B. With the two top teams in the group, Karnataka (23) and Uttar Pradesh (18), already through to the quarterfinal, Delhi and Baroda are in the running for the third berth.
Delhi’s task is simpler as they only need to draw their away league game against Bengal taking first innings lead, while Baroda, who have 10 points from five matches, must win their last match outright and hope that Delhi lose.
Friday morning, Maharashtra’s last pair batted for seven more overs, adding 30 more to their overnight 334 for nine to set Delhi a 109-run target. The visitors were dismissed for 163 in reply to Delhi’s first innings total of 419 and were asked to follow on.
Delhi skipper Virat Kohli and experienced Mithun Manhas took just 17.1 overs to take their side home.
Kohli made a quick 58-ball 67, that included 11 fours, while Manhas’ 38 came off 49 balls with five fours.
Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya was pleased with his team’s performance.
“I am happy the way the team has performed in the last two matches. But we still need three points to make it to the quarterfinals,” he said.
Dahiya was all praises for young Kohli, who was appointed the captain in the previous match against Saurashtra. Under Kohli’s captaincy Delhi, who looked down with two draws and an innings loss against Uttar Pradesh, bounced back.
“He (Kohli) is an aggressive captain. He likes to seize the initiative and that’s good strategy,” Dahiya said.
Kohli, though, will miss Delhi’s next match as he will be joining the national squad for the ODI series against Sri Lanka.
