da 888casino： A stubborn 137 minute stay at the wicket by the eighth wicketpair helped Services reach 297 for the loss of nine wicketsbut the visitors were still 21 short of saving the follow-onat the end of third day’s play against Delhi in the North Zone
Staff Reporter03-Nov-2001A stubborn 137 minute stay at the wicket by the eighth wicketpair helped Services reach 297 for the loss of nine wicketsbut the visitors were still 21 short of saving the follow-onat the end of third day’s play against Delhi in the North ZoneRanji Trophy tie here today.Coming together in the 51st over of the day with Servicesstruggling at 210 for 7 after Delhi left-arm spinner RahulSanghvi ran through the middle order claiming four quickwickets, a determined CD Thompson and JP Pandey thwarted therival attack for 34 overs frustrating Delhi’s attempts to wrapup the tail and enforce a follow-on today itself.Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 62 for two,services continued their save-the-match tactics with overnightbatsmen cautiously defending for 22 overs before Delhi struckremoving Yahspal Singh (69), who while trying to sweep, edgedto keeper Pradeep Chawla off Rahul Sanghvi.Sanghvi struck again four overs later removing PMS Reddy (34,3×4), effecting a brilliant caught-and-bowled.Just when Services seemed to fold up meekly, skipper SanjayVerma played a blistering innings, which included tenboundaries. when the team seemed to claw their way back intothe game, Sanghvi came back with more venom and sent Vermaback.Verma (53) skied a Sanghvi full toss towards the mid-wicketand Sarandeep Singh committed no mistake.Four overs later, off-spinner Sarandeep produced a beauty andChawla latched on to a top edge flying out of new manSarabjeet Singh’s bat.The Sanghvi-Chawla duo continued working wonders for Delhi andthis time Sayed Javed perished to their designs for a duckgiving Chawla his fourth catch of the match.Delhi then prepared for the kill, bringing on seamers Bandhariand Arun Singh to finish off the tail. But the Thompson-Pandey partnership proved too stubborn.With his arsenal exhausted, Manhas brought himself on andeffected a turn-around six overs before close of playdismissing Pandey, who seemed to have lost concentration andended up snicking to Akash Chopra at first slip.He also worked a miracle with the last ball of the daydismissing Arun Sharma who hit a rash shot towards fine legwhere RS Gupta gleefully grabbed it.Delhi would have loved to garner full eight points with anoutright victory after dominating with a huge first inningsscore. For that to happen, they will have to grab 11 servicewickets on the last day tomorrow.On a dead Palam pitch, it is indeed an uphill task.