Ranji Trophy: Ayush Doseja caps debut season with match-saving 159 for Delhi vs Mumbai | Cricket News

Delhi’s Ayush Doseja celebrates after scoring a century against Mumbai. (PTI Photo)

MUMBAI: Delhi may have crashed out of the Ranji Trophy at the league stage this season, finishing without an outright win in seven matches (they drew six out of them) but in young talented batting guns Ayush Doseja and Sanat Sangwan, they seem to have discovered two red-ball gems.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!On Sunday, Doseja, stepping in as the captain of the team at the last minute after Ayush Badoni had to report for India A duty, slammed his fourth century of the season, a gallant, unbeaten 159 (230b, 11×4, 2×6), after resuming from his overnight score of 62 to help Delhi finish at 407 for six and earn a hard-fought draw against Mumbai in their last league match of the Ranji Trophy at the MCA ground in BKC.

When the players shook hands at 2.10pm, Doseja, who has taken to first-class cricket like duck to water, finished his debut season with 949 runs in seven matches@105.44-an incredible feat indeed by the 23-year-old. In fact, if Delhi weren’t knocked out of the tournament, the lad from Rohini, the highest run-getter in India after the league stage of the Ranji Trophy, would’ve earned a rare distinction of scoring 1,000 runs in his debut first-class season. Immediately after the proceedings ended, the young left-hander and his teammate Sanat Sangwan, who slammed a superb century (118) in the first innings, approached Mumbai’s in-form batter Sarfaraz Khan -a domestic run-machine-for some tips on playing on red soil-something that he doesn’t get to do often as back in Delhi, he gets to play on black soil pitches. “He is a big player in domestic cricket. So, I asked him how I can be better while playing on red soil wickets. I am trying to be a three-format player. Sarfaraz. He told me that on red soil wickets, it would be better if I keep my head down while batting. You will then hit less ‘casual shots,’ because I survived two-three dropped catches, as the ball bounces a bit on red soil. He was saying that if I was having a bad day, those catches would’ve been taken. He said that I could change my game according to whether I play on a back soil or red soil pitch,” Doseja told reporters.Indeed, Doseja was dropped thrice, once by substitute fielder Akhil Hewadkar on 99 at short extra cover off Himanshu Singh, and later by substitute fielder Sairaj Patil at deep mid-wicket off Shams Mulani and then on 158 by Mulani at lone slip of Himanshu again. It must also be said that Mumbai, having already qualified for the knockouts, didn’t exert themselves. However, all this should take anything away from his gallant effort and fabulous consistency.Doseja slammed centuries (104* & 129) in each innings against Chhattisgarh at the BCCI’s centre of Excellence in Bengaluru and 209 against Hyderabad in Hyderabad on his first-class debut, but he rates his match-saving century against Mumbai in Mumbai as his “best” of his nascent career so far. During the Vijay Hazare Trophy, modern-day cricket legend Virat Kohli advised Doseja to give his “200%” in every match, and the youngster is sticking to that mantra from the maestro. ‘Have to pick spinners who can pick fivers’Asked on where Delhi failed to make it to the KOs of the Ranji Trophy despite he and Sangwan (828 runs in seven matches@69.00) being the top two run-getters in the league phase of the 2025-25 Ranji Trophy season, Doseja pointed out to the lack of good spinners in the side.“I was talking to the coach, our spinners and fast bowlers can be better in red-ball cricket. When we come to play the Ranji Trophy next season, we will have to work on our bowlers. We will have to pick spinners who can take five wickets. We had this problem the whole season. We didn’t have spinners who can take 10 (opposition) wickets. In this match also, it was a seaming wicket, and we thought that if the spinners stopped runs from one end, the fast bowlers could have taken wickets from the other. But the runs didn’t stop (leaking), otherwise we would have won the match on the first innings lead.”Thakur to return for Ranji quartersMumbai, who finished the league stage as Group D toppers with 33 points in seven matches, will be boosted by the return of captain Shardul Thakur, who has recovered from calf injury, for the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals, which start from Feb 6. Thakur bowled in the nets at BKC during the Delhi versus Mumbai game. Karnataka overhaul 250 in 27.5 overs, reach quartersBengaluru: Sunday evening will be remembered for one of the finest knocks by young captain Devdutt Padikkal and a chase for the ages as Karnataka scripted a memorable win in their fixture against Punjab in Mohali.Needing a win to qualify for the quarterfinals, they were set a target of 250 in 40 overs. Padikkal led from the front with an unbeaten 120 off 85 balls (6×4; 5×6), guiding Karnataka to a five-wicket victory in just 27.5 overs despite fading light and mounting pressure.Brief scores: