India U-19 World Cup-winning captain Yash Dhull could not have asked for a better start to his first-class career after he scored a century on his Ranji Trophy debut on Thursday (February 17) at the Baraspara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati against Tamil Nadu. Dhull scored his century off 135 balls.
Eventually, Dhull got dismissed after scoring 113 runs off 150 deliveries. His stunning innings was comprised of 18 boundaries. Tamil Nadu’s 30-year-old medium pacer M Mohammed picked the crucial wicket of Dhull.
Tamil Nadu skipper Vijay Shankar had earlier won the toss and elected to bowl first in the Ranji Trophy Group H match against Delhi.
Prolific Dhull
Dhull seemed to be in a good touch from the very beginning but Delhi had a scary start after they lost their other opening batsman Dhruv Shorey (1 run off 8 balls) in the third over of the innings, with just seven runs on board for the Delhi team.
Things got worse for Delhi as they lost their second wicket on the very next delivery after Himmat Singh departed without scoring a single run. Kerala-born medium pacer Sandeep Warrier was on fire as he picked up two wickets with two back-to-back deliveries.
Nitish Rana came to bat after Himmat Singh’s dismissal and played a crucial innings of 25 runs off 21 balls to avert the initial danger caused by the Tamil Nadu bowlers.
But Rana’s solid batting came to a premature end after he was sent back to the dressing room as M Mohammed scalped the vital wicket of Rana.
Later, Delhi's left-hand batsman Jonty Sindhu gave a good support to Dhull and helped his side in successfully avoiding the early danger.
Dhull's century
Dhull on the other hand, seemed to be in a ruthless form as he smashed 16 boundaries in his innings to notch his century.
Earlier, Delhi-born Dhull, secured his half century off just 59 balls, with 10 boundaries in his kitty.
At the recently-concluded mega auction for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 edition, Dhull was roped in by the Delhi Capitals (DC) franchise for an amount of Rs 50 lakh.
On the other hand, another member of the India’s U-19 World Cup-winning team- Raj Bawa had a memorable start to his first-class career also as he picked up a wicket with the first ball of his Ranji Trophy career for Chandigarh.
Bawa dismissed Hyderabad’s Tanmay Agarwal to start his first-class career on a terrific note.
