Delhi take lead as Andhra match ends in draw

Visakhapatnam: Delhi recorded their best show so far in this season’s Ranji trophy and in the process dashed Andhra’s hopes of reaching the knockout stage by taking first innings lead in the drawn Elite Group B league match at the Arun Jaitley stadium in New Delhi on Friday.
Andhra might have been in the race with an outright win, but they failed even to earn the first innings lead even after recording their best score against Delhi (459 for nine declared).
Opener Dhruv Shorey missed his second double ton of the tournament while Himmat Singh completed his century and put Delhi at the threshold of first innings lead and the tail-enders Harshit Rana and debutant Divij Mehra shared 65 runs for the unbeaten last wicket to take the team past Andhra total of 459 for nine declared.
Delhi declared at 488 for nine and the match was called off at that stage. K Nitish Kumar Reddy claimed three wickets and Shoaib Mohammaed Khan and A Lalith Mohan took two each for Andhra.
Andhra failed to disturb the overnight pair of Shorey (142 batting) and Himmat Singh (45 batting) after Delhi resumed at 300 for four on the final day. A Lalith Mohan claimed Shorey, stumped by KS Bharat at the score of 366. Shorey (185; 311b, 4x19, 6x1) added 156 crucial runs for the fourth wicket with Himmat Singh.
Soon Nitish Kumar Reddy took two wickets and Lalith Mohan one while Himmat Singh 104 (204b,4x10,6x3) was run out and Delhi lost four wickets for the addition of 17 runs but Harshit Rana and Divij Mehra secured first innings lead, their first in five matches. They had lost two matches and conceded lead in the other two.
This was the second highest score by Delhi against Andhra in the tournament, after the 491 for nine declared in Delhi during 2004-05 season, according to ACA statistician AL Narasimham. The previous best for Andhra was the total of 438 in Visakhapatnam in the 2003-04 season, The teams have so far played seven matches between them, winning one each. The rest five were drawn.
Andhra, with 13 points, are placed fourth in the Elite Group B league, behind Saurashtra (26), Mumbai (23), Maharashtra (19) and ahead of Assam (11), Tamil Nadu (8), Delhi (5) and Hyderabad (1). They play Saurashtra at Rajkot from January 17 to 20 in their next match.
Brief scores: Andhra 459/9 decl. drew with Delhi 488/9 decl. in 147 overs (Dhruv Shorey 185, Himmat Singh 104, Hritihik Shokeen 45, Harshit Rana 33 no, Divij Mehra 32 no; . Nitish Kumar Reddy 3/ 90).