Hiten Dalal ton leads Delhi charge

NEW DELHI: The Delhi batting line-up showed its destructive prowess against Rajasthan on the first day of their season's last Ranji Trophy league game on Wednesday.
Hiten Dalal led the way as he notched up his maiden first-class century inside the first session of the match. The scoreboard moved at a rate close to five runs per over for most part of the day as the hosts went to stumps at 389/6.
This show of dominance may have come too late in the tournament for Delhi but Wednesday's performance brightens their chance of pushing for a bonus point to keep their faintest of hopes alive.Once Dalal fell for 102 off 93, Himmat Singh and Jonty Sidhu took charge at 189/4.
Himmat struck his third fifty on the trot as Sidhu kept pace with him. Himmat missed his maiden first-class century by 10 runs as Sidhu too fell eight short.
Himmat was kept out of the squad for major part of the season but his comeback performances have told the selectors enough about his importance in Delhi's middle-order.
Kshitiz Sharma, whose inclusion in the squad has been debatable, was the only batsman who looked out of sorts on a rather placid, true Kotla pitch. He was batting on 11 off 46 with almost all of his runs coming off the outside edge. Dalal later lamented that his century came too late in the season. "This knock will give me confidence for the next season as I know I have cracked the code to score a century at this level. But it also hurts that I found my touch when there are no more games left in the season," Dalal said.