Ranji Trophy: Kushagra's quickfire century propels Jharkhand to 356/9 against Delhi

Kushagra, a 20-year-old cricketer, was purchased by Delhi Capitals for ₹7.2 crores in the 2024 IPL auction. However, after playing only four matches, he was released from the team earlier this month. In a remarkable display of skill, Kushagra scored an unbeaten innings of 166 runs off 166 balls, hitting 14 boundaries and five sixes.

Courtesy Kushagra's aggressive ton, Jharkhand added 220 runs for the loss of six wickets from 70 overs played on Day 2 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The visitors had begun the day at 136 for 3.

Sharandeep Singh added just two runs to his overnight 64 to be the first Jharkhand batter to get out.

Coming out to bat at the fall of Sharandeep, Kushagra stitched 93 runs for the fifth wicket with captain Virat Singh to swell the visiting side's total. He then shared another 59 runs with Manishi for the eighth wicket to eventually take Jharkhand past the 350-run mark.

With just two days left in the match, Jharkhand have placed themselves in a strong position in the match.

For Delhi, Simarjeet Singh, Money Grewal and Sumit Mathur have so far taken two wickets apiece, while Siddhant Sharma and Ayush Badoni got a wicket each.

On Day 1 on Wednesday, Sharandeep scored a dogged half-century as Jharkhand batters were painstakingly slow in their approach.

They improved their run rate a bit on Thursday above three per over.

Having lost to Chattisgarh in the last game, Delhi, in their final home game of the season, made wholesale changes under new skipper Ayush Badoni.

Brief Scores:

In Delhi: Jharkhand 1st Innings 356 for 9 in 125 overs vs Delhi.

In Ahmedabad: Railways 229 vs Tamil Nadu 324 for 6 in 93 overs . In Chandigarh: Saurashtra 531 for 9 declared in 138 overs vs Chandigarh 78 for 5 in 23 overs .

In Raipur: Assam 289 all out in 95.2 overs vs Chattisgarh 214 for 4 in 72 overs .

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