Baroda’s Bilakhia hits 91,Delhi settle for draw

And,of course,a bowler was called for chucking once again. Baroda’s Salim Veragi and Rajesh Pawar were no-balled on days one and two respectively,while it was Delhi’s Yogesh Nagar who was pulled up by umpire Anil Dandekar on Friday. The BCCI has come down hard on chucking this season,in Nagar’s case some blame must be copped by the Delhi management.

Nagar had been called for chucking in the previous T20 game he figured in,and with this one,his tally has gone up to to four calls in two seasons. Skipper Aakash Chopra and coach Vijay Dahiya had been informed in a pre-match briefing by match referee Sunil Chaturvedi that since Nagar’s name figured on the list of bowlers with suspect actions,he might be called during the match. Nagar bowled seven overs and picked up a wicket in the first innings,but was called in the second. Chopra feels the issue needs to be addressed. “It’s sad that Nagar has been called,because as a player he really doesn’t know where he stands. There needs to be more clarity on the issue. We had umpires at the nets watching and he looked okay. He bowled around 12 overs in the match and only one ball was called,” Chopra said.

The selectors had picked Nagar purely as a batsman and although Nagar is free to bowl in the next game,if called again,he could face a ban from bowling,and lose out on his IPL contract with the Delhi Daredevils.

Brief scores: Delhi 591,Baroda 326 (Pinal Shah 63; Sumit Narhwal 5/71) and 233 for 4 (Azhar Bilakhia 91,Rakesh Solanki not out 69; Sangwan 2/42). Pts: Delhi 3,Baroda 1 on 1st innings lead