Punjab inch towards innings victory as Delhi batting collapses again

Delhi suffered another batting collapse to brighten Punjab's prospects of recording an outright victory in their Ranji Trophy Group B match here Thursday.

At stumps on the second day, Delhi were 106 for six in reply to Punjab's first innings score of 282. The hosts trailed by 69 runs as they were bowled out for a paltry 107 in their first innings.

The opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and Hiten Dalal provided Delhi with a solid start, adding 72 runs before the latter was trapped leg before by left-arm spinner Vinay Choudhary.

Two balls later Choudhary claimed the wicket of vice-captain Dhruv Shorey, who was dismissed for a duck.

Seamer Siddarth Kaul, who had a six-wicket haul in the first innings, claimed the wicket of skipper Nitish Rana before Himmat Singh and veteran Gautam Gambhir were dismissed in an over, leaving Delhi struggling at 99 for four.

Earlier, Punjab captain Mandeep Singh picked up from where he had left on Wednesday, scoring 90 runs with the help of eight boundaries.

Punjab had taken a lead of 176 runs by the time they were bowled out for 282. Simarjeet Singh and Vikas Mishra starred with the ball for Delhi, picking up four wickets each.

Brief Scores: Delhi 107 & 106/6 (Gambhir 60; Vinay Chaudhary 3/23, Siddarth Kaul 2/35)