Ranji Trophy 2024-25: Virat Kohli distraught as Ayushi Badoni falls for 99 against Railways

Ayush Badoni bails Delhi out of trouble after early departure of Virat Kohli vs Railways (Source: JioCinema).

The final delivery of the 24th over of Delhi’s first innings in their ongoing Ranji Trophy clash against Railways triggered arguably the biggest cheers that the Arun Jaitley Stadium had witnessed. After all, ace Indian batter and Delhi’s own, Virat Kohli, made his way out to the middle after the dismissal of No.3 Yash Dhull. However, Kohli’s stay was brief, 15 deliveries to be precise for six runs.

That is when Delhi skipper Ayush Badoni came out, with his side in a spot of bother at 86/3 in 27.4 overs. Right from the start, he was proactive, stroking a couple of back-to-back boundaries off right-armer Kunal Yadav. The fourth delivery of Ayan Chaudhari’s first over was pinged for a maximum.

Badoni scored two boundaries in Chaudhari’s second over while Karn Sharma’s first couple of overs went for a total of 15 runs as Badoni struck two fours. He brought up his third First-Class half-century, off 34 deliveries. At Lunch, Delhi were 168/4 in 42 overs.

Badoni falls agonisingly short

The left-arm spin of Chaudhari was not spared by Badoni in his 80s as he raced into the 90s with a four and a couple of sixes in the same over. However, it was not to be as Karn induced a top-edge of a wild sweep by Badoni, only for the ball to be snagged by the fielder at short fine-leg as the Delhi captain fell just one short of a deserving century.

For Railways, Himanshu Sangwan has been the most economical bowler. He went through Kohli and Sanat Sangwan’s defences earlier in the day.

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