Badoni's 99 ensures first innings lead for Delhi as Virat Kohli falls for 6

Skipper Ayush Badonis audacious 99 helped Delhi take the first innings lead against Railways after pacer Himanshu Sangwan got the coveted wicket of Virat Kohli on day two of their Group D Ranji Trophy match on FridayResuming the day at 411 Delhi were able to get past Railways 241 courtesy a 133run stand between Badoni 99 off 77 and Sumit Mathur 78 not out off 189 At stumps Delhi had taken a 93run lead by reaching 3347Badoni put the opposition bowlers under pressure with a fearless display of strokemaking before falling to a slog sweep of legspinner Karn Sharma in the 56th overRailways pacers were a tad unlucky in not getting a breakthrough in the first hour of play with Yash Dhull 32 off 69 and Sanat Sangwan living dangerously After a few streaky boundaries Dhull played a copybook cover drive before being adjudged leg before wicket off leftarm pacer Rahul SharmaDhulls dismissal brought Virat Kohli to the middle drawing a loud roar from the fans However the joy of fans was shortlived as the superstar went for an expansive drive off Himanshu Sangwan but the missed the ball completely to see his offstump uprootedKohli had drilled a straight boundary the ball before but standing outside the crease he went for the attack again only to miss the ball that seamed back in slightlySangwan also breached the defenses of opener Sanat Sangwan 30 off 81 in the following over leaving Delhi at 97 for four in the 30th overDelhi captain Badoni then led from the front to put his team in a strong position He took the attack to Railways especially leftarm spinner Ayan Chaudhari dispatching him for three sixesHe entered into his 90s with backtoback sixes before mistiming a sweep off Karn Sharma to be caught at short fineleg on 99 The sweep had yielded him the desired results until his dismissal in the 56th overBadonis innings comprised 12 fours and three sixes It was an innings that underlined his contribution to Delhis campaign this season He is both the leading rungetter and leading wickettaker for his team in Ranji TrophyTamil Nadu inch closer to quarterfinalsTamil Nadu took control of their fate as they inched closer to the quarterfinals needing 97 runs to win their match against Jharkhand in JamshedpurAfter sizzling with a six wicket haul on the opening day spin allrounder Utkarsh Singh made a crucial contribution with the bat scoring 35 runs in Jharkhands second innings as the hosts set Tamil Nadu a 233run target for the winResuming at 51 Utkarsh and Aditya Singh were the joint topscorers for Jharkhand in their second innings both scoring 35 eachTamil Nadu lost five wickets in their chase with Vijay Shankar and Ajith Ram batting on 33 and 5 at stumpsTamil Nadu who currently lead the group with 25 points need just a draw to secure a quarterfinal spotPujara misses out on century as Saurashtra dominateVeteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara fell agonisingly short of a century scoring 99 as Saurashtra strengthened their grip over Assam by enforcing a followon in their Ranji gameAfter adding 114 runs to their overnight score Saurashtra posted a commanding total of 474Their bowlers then delivered a dominant performance bundling Assam out for just 164 in 41 overs With a massive lead Saurashtra enforced the followon putting Assam under further pressureAt stumps Assam reached 671 but still trailed by 243 runs facing an uphill battle to avoid defeatSaurashtra will look to wrap up the game quickly on Saturday with a bonus point victoryBrief scoresIn Delhi Railways 241 all out Delhi 3347 in 96 overs Ayush Badoni 99 Pranav Rajuvanshi 39 Sumit Mathur 78 not out Himanshu Sangwan 246In Rajkot Saurashtra 474 in 117 overs Cheteshwar Pujara 99 Harvik Desai 130 Gajjar Samar 60 not out Assam 164 all out in 41 overs Riyan Parag 51 Mukhtar Hussain 46 not out Dharmendra Sinh Jadeja 461 and 671 in 18 oversIn Jamshedpur Jharkhand 185 and 154 Utkarsh Singh 35 Aditya Singh 35 Sai Kishore 543 lead by 96 runs over Tamil Nadu 106 all out and 1375 Mohamed Ali 44 Vijay Shankar 33 not out Manishi 336With agency inputs