Ranji Trophy: Ashish Nehra rips apart Vidarbha with a six-wicket haul

Veteran speedster Ashish Nehra made full use of the conducive conditions as he wreaked havoc with a six-wicket haul, which was instrumental in Delhi skittling out Vidarbha for a paltry 88 in Ranji Trophy group league encounter at the Roshanara club ground.

Nehra, who grabbed six for 16 in 10 overs, took six of the first seven wickets with controlled swing bowling on a 'green top' where play was stopped for 28 minutes due to dangerous pitch conditions with one of the Vidarbha batsmen getting hit by a Parvinder Awana bouncer.

Rashmi Ranjan Parida (28) and Amol Jungade (27) were the two players who crossed 20 while other player to reach double figures was skipper Shalabh Srivastava.

Heavy roller was used to get the bounce more even before play resumed but when Delhi batted, it didn't look as menacing as it was during the first session.

At stumps, Delhi were 96 for two in reply with skipper Gautam Gambhir making 49 off 135 balls with six fours. Unmukt Chand was dismissed for 37 although he hit seven delightful boundaries.

The morning belonged to Nehra who troubled the Vidarbha batsmen with his pace and swing.

He first trapped left-handed opener Faiz Fazal (4) leg before with a delivery that came in after pitching. His opening partner, a right handed batsman Akshay Kolhar (1) got one that came in as he offered a simple catch to Rajat Bhatia at short leg. Ravi Jangid (1), skipper Shalabh Srivastava (10) and Ranjit Paradkar (0) left in successive overs as Nehra completed a five-for.

Urvesh Patel (3) was dismissed by Narwal as played on the up with skipper Gambhir taking a well-judged catch at mid-off.

Nehra got his sixth dismissing Shrikant Wagh edging one to Rahul Yadav behind stumps before the drama started.

It was the second ball of the 19th over bowled by Parvinder Awana which took off from good length and hit Amol Jungade on the right shoulder.

The batsman immediately dropped his bat and called for medical attention. After protests from Vidarbha players, the match officials decided to halt proceedings for 28 minutes as heavy roller was used to ease out the steep bounce before play started again.

It was Awana and debutant Navdeep Saini (2/18), who polished off the remaining three wickets with young 21-year-old from Karnal working up brisk pace in the post-lunch session.

Brief Scores: Vidarbha 88 all out in 31.1 overs (Rashmi Ranjan Parida 28, Ashish Nehra 6/16, Navdeep Saini 2/18).

Delhi 96/2 in 48.3 overs (Unmukt Chand 37, Gautam Gambhir 49).