NEW DELHI: It's taken Yash Dhull over two years to score a century. Delhi batting's big hope remained unbeaten on 103 on Sunday evening and looked the only batter who was looking to bat long as Delhi limped to 264/8 in response to Tamil Nadu's 674/6 on the third day of their Ranji Trophy game here.
This has been the story of Delhi cricket over the past three years. They have been out of depth for far too long. That they struggled to get going on a pitch where the opposition put up a huge score with ease is a poor commentary on their batting and bowling.
For a while in the morning, it seemed Delhi openers Sanat Sangwan and Harsh Tyagi were going to match Tamil Nadu's batting. But the fight lasted just 3 4 overs when the experienced Washington Sundar dismissed Tyagi with the score on 74. Very soon the score read 103/5. Because that's what big teams do.
Once Tamil Nadu saw an opening, they just ran through the Delhi top order. On a pitch where an outright result looked unlikely for most part of the first two days, Tamil Nadu went about embarrassing Delhi.
The pitch had sufficient green and consistent carry. Perhaps, enough for any skillful pace attack to make something out of. Tamil Nadu's seamers Gurjapneet Singh, Sonu Yadav and Mohammed relentlessly hit a line and length that challenged the Delhi batters' technique.
