Aakash Chopra and Mithun Manhas added 142 runs for the unfinished third wicket stand as Delhi crawled to 258 for 2 against Andhra on the first day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group match in New Delhi on Tuesday.
After being given a fantastic start by debutant Shikhar Dhawan (49 in 66 balls), the hosts failed to take the attack to the opposition on the placid Roshanara ground pitch, scoring at a rate of 2.86 runs per over though they had lost just two wickets.
Even in the final session, when Chopra (78 not out) and Manhas (91 not out) were well set, they never really tried to dominate the tired Andhra bowlers adding 95 runs in the 30 overs bowled.
Chopra played very slow as he completed his half century in 176 balls, six overs after tea.
He managed to break the shackles in the final session to some extent but let go a chance to put his team in a dominating position.
The Delhi cause was also not helped by the defensive approach by Andhra skipper MSK Prasad as his bowlers, knowing fully well that they would not get any assistance from the pitch, preferred to bowl a negative line.
But the day belonged to Dhawan, who looked his confident self in his first-ever Ranji match till he fell to a brilliant catch by Prasad off an inside edge with D Kalyankrishna claiming the wicket.
The 20-year-old Dhawan got a chance to open the innings in the absence of Gautam Gambhir, who is playing for the Board President's XI at Jaipur. He played all round the park scoring as many as nine boundaries in his 66-ball knock.
Earlier, Andhra won the toss and put the hosts into bat looking at the greenish tinge to the wicket but soon found out that their was no purchase for their fast bowlers.
Debutant AG Praveen did manage to trouble the batsmen in the initial stage with a probing line outside the off-stump but with no movement off the pitch the batsmen were happy to leave the balls alone.
The only other success which came Andhra's way was when KS Shahabuddin trapped wicket keeper-batsman Vijay Dahiya leg before wicket half an hour after lunch.
Scorecard
Delhi (1st innings):
A Chopra not out 78
S Dhawan c MSK Prasad b Kalyankrishna 49
V Dahiya lbw b Sahabuddin 33
M Manhas not out 91
Extras: (b 2, lb 1, w 3, nb 1) 7
Total: (2 wickets, 90 overs) 258
To Bat: A Jadeja, R Bhatia, A Bali, Sarandeep Singh, S Gill, Kunal Lal, NS Negi.
Fall of wickets: 1-56, 2-116.
Bowling: Sahabuddin 21-7-54-1, Kalyankrishna 20-9-65-1, Praveen 16-5- 37-0, R Prasad 14-1-51-0, Faiq 12-3-31-0, Suresh 7-0-17-0.
