Nehra rocks Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh were plunging towards an innings defeat at the end of the third day of their North Ranji Trophy match against Delhi at the Harbax Singh Stadium in the capital. Having been dismissed for 225 in their first knock, the visitors were at a dismal 83/5 the second time round, needing a further 109 to make Delhi bat again.

In the morning, skipper Rajiv Nayyar held HP together with a battling 75, being involved in two useful stands with Richi Kapoor and Sangram Singh. Nayyar's dismissal for 75 (316 balls, 5 fours), a knock encompassing six hours and 40 minutes, opened the floodgates as the last five wickets tumbled for 27. Ashish Nehra who has tasted a fair bit of success already in the season returned figures of 5/74 while his pace twin Amit Bhandari produced a bag of 3/72.

Both of them struck again as Himachal followed on, the crucial blow being Nayyar's removal, trapped leg before by Nehra for nine. Virender Sharma and Richi Kapoor were holding fort at stumps.