Ranji 2017-18, Final, Day 1, Review: Dhruv Shorey’s century spoils otherwise perfect day for Vidarbha

The much-awaited final of the ongoing Ranji season between Delhi and Vidarbha commenced at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Friday. Both the teams have defied all the odds stacked against them during the tournament and have made it to the title clash. Now they would love to play out of their skins as the coveted trophy is up for grabs. The fierce contest was on display on the field as well with the teams refusing to give an inch and looking to dominate. However, it was Dhruv Shorey who owned the day with an unbeaten century and kept Delhi in the hunt as the bowlers of Vidarbha threatened to run through their batting line-up during the course of play.

Both Delhi and Vidarbha missed out on the services of Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav respectively as they were out for the national duty. Aditya Thakare for Vidarbha and Akash Sudan for Delhi made their first-class debuts in an all-important final of the tournament. Faiz Fazal won the toss and invited the seven-time champions to bat first on a wicket which had moisture in it due to the early start. They started well too as the debutant Thakare scalped the opener Kunal Chandela in the very first over.

Dhruv Shorey stands tall for Delhi

Gautam Gambhir and Dhruv Shorey then blunted the attack for an hour and settled their eye in. But the former misread the quicker one from the off-spinner Akshay Wakhare in the 13th over and lost his off-stump on 15. Another youngster Nitish Rana joined Shorey as they continued to resurrect the innings. The bowlers bowled exceedingly well and took the early advantage to keep the lid on the scoring rate and also picked up the wickets.

Only the first drop batsman Dhruv played with utter patience and was literally immovable. He first grafted his innings leaving the deliveries outside the off-stump and then applied himself on a tough wicket. Vidarbha bowlers kept plugging away at the wickets as Rana and the skipper Rishabh Pant was sent back into the hut. At 99/4 during the post-lunch session, things were looking bleak for Delhi and Himmat Singh came to the fore to partner the ever so solid Shorey.

While Himmat took the attack to the bowlers, Dhruv Shorey continued to tire them with his patience. Himmat took a few risks which thankfully for his paid off and soon he started to middle the ball sweetly. The 25-year-old Dhruv, on the other hand, proved that the runs could be scored on the pitch after settling in. His straight drives were especially sublime as he also took some quick singles. Meanwhile, Himmat reached his half-century soon after his partner did. Both of them added a crucial 105 runs for the fifth wicket.

Vidarbha strike back

Just when the day was tilting towards Delhi, Himmat Singh was dismissed by the star of the semifinal, Rajneesh Gurbani. The wicket inspired the dropping shoulders of his teammates as Manan Sharma also followed soon for 8 off Siddesh Neral as Delhi was left reeling at 242/6. Amidst all the action at the other end, Dhruv Shorey stood firm and slammed his first century of the season at an important time for his time. He looked solid throughout his sturdy knock and kept his team in the game.

He celebrated his ton and again grinded the day out by scoring most of the runs in the seventh wicket partnership with Vikas Mishra. Vidarbha, surprisingly, delayed to take the new ball and Rajneesh Gurbani didn’t bowl after walking off the field early on in the session. While the centurion remained unbeaten on 123, Vikas scored 5 as Delhi finished day 1 on 271/6 after being reduced to 99/4 earlier in the day. Vidarbha would not be too disappointed as the pitch is expected to get easier to bat and will aim to clean up the tail soon on the second morning and then bat big to take the lead. But Dhruv Shorey is making things difficult for them as the fans await a fascinating day of a Test match on Saturday.

Brief Scores:

Delhi 279/6 after 88 overs (D Shorey 123*, H Singh 66; R Gurbani 2/44, A Thakare 2/65)