As day three of the Ranji Trophy Group D match between Delhi and Railways resumed at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday, the sight of black covers installed on the edge of Bishan Singh Bedi stand adjacent to the dressing room situated in the Virat Kohli Pavilion stood out. Asked about the same, DDCA sources told IANS that the black covers were installed early on Saturday morning after both Delhi and Railways teams were being disturbed by noise made by fans who were crowding near the edge of the dressing room situated in the Bishan Singh Bedi stand for the last two days.
That chanting grew louder when fans surrounded the edge during day two’s play on Friday to have a glimpse of the talismanic Virat Kohli, who was seated in the Delhi team dressing room balcony after being dismissed for six, by chanting names of him, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and his nickname ‘Cheeku’.
“Both Delhi and Railways teams were being disturbed by shouting from fans surrounding the edge of the dressing room in the Bishan Singh Bedi stand over last two days, and complained of it. As a result, the DDCA and security officials decided that black covers would be installed on the aforementioned edge for day three’s play on Saturday. Additionally, from a security point of view, gates 17 and 18 have been closed too for fans’ entry on Saturday,” added the sources.
For day three’s play, fans eager to watch the action at the Arun Jaitley Stadium will be seated in Gautam Gambhir and Mohinder Amarnath stands, with the Old Clubhouse stands housing the DDCA members. Despite no entry on West stand, the small number of spectators have been relentlessly shouting Kohli’s name.
Coming to the match, Delhi added only 40 runs to its overnight total and were all out for 374 in 106.4 overs, thus taking a 133-run lead over Railways. Sumit Mathur eventually made 86 while Navdeep Saini chipped in with a handy 20 not out.
For Railways, fast-bowler Himanshu Sangwan was the pick of bowlers with 4-55, including uprooting Kohli’s off-stump on day two’s play. He was well-supported by pacer Kunal Yadav taking 3-104, while Rahul Sharma, Ayan Chaudhari and Karn Sharma took a wicket each.
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