Delhi dominated Himachal Pradesh for the second successive day intheir Ranji Trophy North Zone clash at the Harbax Singh Stadium in thecapital

Sankhya Krishnan12-Nov-2000Delhi dominated Himachal Pradesh for the second successive day intheir Ranji Trophy North Zone clash at the Harbax Singh Stadium in thecapital. Opener Akash Chopra completed a well-deserved double centurybefore the hosts declared on 417/8 and Ashish Nehra then got onto thescorebook four times as Himachal Pradesh slumped to 106/4 by stumps.Delhi resumed at 287/3 and Chopra reached his 150 with the first ballhe faced. Featuring in two fifty partnerships during the day, withPankaj Joshi and Sandeep Angurala, Chopra’s marathon 8 hour and 20minute vigil finally came to an end just after Delhi posted the 400.27 fours and two sixes rained from his bat during a 380 ball inningsthat fetched 222 runs.The declaration came shortly afterwards, leaving Himachal 54 overs toplay out the day. With his fourth ball, leftarmer Nehra despatchedopener Nischal Gaur but wicket keeper Arun Verma and skipper RajivNayyar then frustrated Delhi with a 60 run stand. Two more strikes byNehra besides a catch off fellow left arm seamer Amit Suman reducedHimachal to 89/4. Nayyar (36), who was still sticking to the creaselike a limpet in the company of Richie Kapoor, holds the key toHimachal’s fortunes on Monday.