Mohammad Shami comes to Bengal's rescue in Ranji Semi Final

The Ranji Trophy match between Bengal and Delhi has been an action-packed one with a lot of drama attached to it. The Delhi batsmen were on fire with Gautam Gambhir and Kunal Chandela smashing hundreds for the team. The two hundreds took Delhi to a position of strength as the Delhi side reached 271 runs at a loss of only three wickets on the second day of the encounter.

Gautam Gambhir played a knock portraying maturity and class as he scored 127 runs of 216. The thing which impressed most of us in Gambhir’s knock was his attitude. He displayed character and had a clear goal in mind in guiding Delhi to a good total at the end of the day’s play.

But Bengal had something going in their favour at the end of the day as Bengal pacer Mohammad Shami who has been in his prime for quite a time now provided the much-needed breakthrough for them. He dismissed Gautam Gambhir on the last ball of the day as Bengal breathed a sigh of relief on the left hander’s dismissal. The contest between Gambhir and Shami was the main attraction of the game as it was a battle between a talented bowler and a gifted batsman.

The battle at first was won by the batter completely. Shami bowled countless bouncers to get the left-hander out but did not succeed. But he finally got rid of a stubborn Gambhir on the final ball of Day 2.

Bengal had scored only 286 in their first innings and the way Delhi were batting, Bengal were sure to concede first innings lead. But Bengal somehow managed to pick up three wickets in the final hour of Day 2 and started Day 3 on a high as Shami was on a hattrick after picking up the 7th and the 8th wicket.

Shami ended with six wickets conceding 122 runs. This was his 8th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket which is quite a thing to be proud of. Delhi were eventually bowled out for 398 with a 112 run lead over Bengal.