Delhi stare at defeat against Andhra in Ranji Trophy

Ricky Bhui cracked an unbeaten 144 while pacer Cheepurapalli Stephen scalped four wickets as Andhra Pradesh took complete control of their Group A Ranji Trophy match against Delhi on the third day here on Thursday.

After conceding a 153-run first innings lead to Andhra, Delhi were reduced to 89 for 6 in 28 overs in their second innings with Stephen running through their top-order.

As Delhi still trail by 64 runs with just four second innings wickets in hand and one day left in the match, Andhra can aim for a bonus point and grab seven points if they can notch up an innings win on Friday.

Resuming at overnight individual score of 70 and team total of 249 for 6, Bhui batted for 40 overs with the tailenders and carried his bat through the innings to take Andhra to 368 all out from 127 overs.

Bhui faced 313 balls during his unbeaten knock and struck 15 boundaries and four sixes.

Delhi pacer Navdeep Saini, who was drafted in for injured Deepak Chahar in the Indian squad for the West Indies ODI series, took a five-for but his side had little to cheer apart from that.

In the second innings, Delhi were in a precarious position with Lalit Yadav holding fort on 23 not out from 48 deliveries, along with Vikas Mishra (7 not out), at stumps on the third and penultimate day.

Openers Kunal Chandela and Hiten Dalal contributed just 19 and 13 runs respectively while four Delhi batsmen could not reach double-digit figures.

Stephen's victims were Chandela, Dalal, one-down Kunwar Bidhuri (2) and Jonty Sidhu (9) while pace colleague KV Sasikanth got the wickets of captain Nitish Rana (8) and wicketkeeper Anuj Rawat (0).

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