Delhi quickly in command against J&K

Delhi were quickly in command on the opening day of their North Zone Ranji Trophy league match against Jammu & Kashmir at the Maulana Azad stadium in Jammu on Friday. After dismissing the hosts for 198 runs, Delhi replied with 79 for no loss before play was stopped at 4.07 pm because of bad light.

J&K, opting to bat, lost two wickets for 44 runs but Kanwaljeet Singh (53) and Ashwani Gupta (32) steadied the innings by adding 58 runs for the third wicket off 15 overs to push the score to 102. Thereafter wickets fell at regular intervals thanks in the main to the former Indian fast bowler Ashish Nehra who finished with four wickets for 39. Of the later batsmen, only Vijay Sharma with an unbeaten 30 put up a semblance of a fight.

Delhi openers Akash Chopra (51) and Ashu Dani (21) batted at a brisk rate scoring 79 runs off 13 overs to come through unbeaten at stumps. Chopra was easily the more aggressive of the two hitting his runs off 53 balls with ten hits to the ropes.