Ranji Trophy: Spinner Nishunk's 12-wicket Haul Puts Chandigarh On Course For Victory Over Delhi

Delhi batters, barring opener Sanat Sangwan and young Yash Dhull, continued with ir -show as Chandigarh's young left-arm spinner Nishunk Birla grabbed his second six-wicket haul of match to put hosts on cusp of victory in ir Ranji Trophy game here on Friday.

Having scored 276 in first innings, Delhi fared worse in second essay by getting bowled out for 250, with only first-innings centurion Dhull's 58 and opener Sangwan's 70 being significant contributions.

On a track that offered turn and bounce, Birla took 6 for 65 in 27.1 overs and h a match haul 12 for 138 to set up an easy victory target of 203 for Chandigarh, who were 46 for loss at stumps on third day.

A lot will depend on how Delhi's spin troika of Hrithik Shokeen, Shivank Vashist and Sumit Mathur perform on final day as Chandigarh would look to get six points and consolidate ir position on top of table with a possible 19 points.

Having conceded a 48-run first-innings le, Delhi were cruising along at 138 for 1 at one point in time with Sangwan and Dhull ding 96 for second wicket. Once Gurinder got rid of Dhull and Sangwan, who hit seven fours, Birla ran through middle and lower-order.

Anuj Rawat (20) and Ayush Boni (1), who are more focussed on IPL and T20 cricket, were big-time flops and so was skipper Himmat Singh (26), who hasn't played a match-winning innings in a long time. t much was expected of Khsitiz Sharma (11) eir.

It was Shokeen, whose four towering sixes in a kck of 33, saw Delhi set a 200-plus target for Chandigarh.

Brief Scores In Chandigarh: Delhi 276 and 250 (Sanat Sangwan 70, Yash Dhull 58, Nishunk Birla 6/65).

Chandigarh 324 and (target 203) 2nd Innings 46 for loss.

In Guwahati: Tamil Nu 338 and 2nd Innings 8/0.

Assam Ist Innings 445 (Denish Das 109, SS Roy 69, Swarupam Purkayastha 90, PR Paul 3/45) In Raipur: Chattisgarh 500 for 9 declared.

Railways 1st Innings 323/3 (Suraj Ahuja 135 batting, B Vivek Singh 86, Upendra Yav 41 batting).

In Ranchi: Jharkhand 306 and 2nd Innings 74/1.

Saurashtra 1st Innings 386 (Harvik Desai 155, Arpit Vasava 73, Vikas Kumar 3/74, Manishi 3/75).