Rana's Magic Show

Hammers 68-ball century as Delhi top-order fires in big run chase

- Aditya K Halder

Nitish Rana went home a happy man on Wednesday after the senior Delhi batsman played his ‘best knock’ to clinch a Ranji Group A thriller for the side against Vidarbha on a deteriorating Feroze Shah Kotla track.

The 26-year-old southpaw fired a 68-ball 105 in a stiff 347-run chase on a pitch where the ball was keeping low with the uncertainty of the game being called off due to bad light.

However the weather gods decided to smile on the home side, as the team got to play 71 overs on the day without intervention.

“This is surely my best Ranji knock. I knew through if I stayed on the pitch till the end,” said Rana. “My concern was the light might force the match to end early. That’s why I always kept an eye on the sun above the Mohinder Amarnath stand. Once it get closer to the grills (on the top of the stand), it gets dark very soon after. Fortunately that wasn’t the case today.”