New Delhi, Dec 26 (IANS) The Delhi middle-order held the fort on the third day of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals against Tamil Nadu at the Palam ground here Saturday to keep their semi-final hopes alive.
Delhi had their backs against the wall after the second day’s play, losing both their openers Aakash Chopra and Shikhar Dhawan for 33 in reply to Tamil Nadu’s first innings total of 463.

But the hosts, resuming at their overnight score of 69 for two, lost just two wickets to end the day at 294 for four.

Delhi, however, have a huge task in hand as they still trail by 169 runs, with skipper Rajat Bhatia (67) and Gaurav Chabra (32) stitching together a 60-run unbroken partnership.

With the match evenly poised, a lot will depend on Bhatia and Chabra to take their team past Tamil Nadu’s total for the first innings lead. The team that gets the first innings lead in case of a draw will make the semi-final.

Earlier, a 134-run third wicket stand between overnight pair Aditya Jain (76) and Mithun Manhas (76) and the 67-run partnership between Jain and Bhatia for the fourth wicket saved the day for Delhi.

Jain and Manhas made the most of the batting conditions and scored untroubled. The two made merry against the spinners and the runs came thick and fast, with Manhas bringing up his half century in 88 balls. Jain was more cautious and took 132 balls to reach his half century.

A stiff back forced Manhas to call for a runner and Pradeep Sangwan was sent for the job. However, Manhas stay was cut short when he stepped out and smashed Srinivas straight to Chandrasekar Ganapathy at mid-on. Manhas’s 122-ball innings included 12 fours and a six.

Bhatia and Jain then saw through the 18 minutes remaining before lunch as Delhi made 176 for three at the break.

Sensing the need to save wickets, Bhatia and Jain worked on consolidating their partnership in the post-lunch session. The run rate came down significantly and only 57 runs came in the 33 overs of the session but Delhi went for tea at 233 without losing any more wickets.

Jain got a life when at 61 teenage left-arm spinner Aushik Srinivas dropped a catch off his own bowling. But he could not stay for long as part-time spinner Abhinav Mukund trapped Jain leg before in the second ball after tea when he stepped forward to defend. His 239 balls innings came with the help of 11 fours.