Naman Ojha in a file image.
India discard Naman Ojha's deplorable on-field behaviour stopped proceedings for 20 minutes but couldn't stop Delhi from thrashing Madhya Pradesh by 75 runs in a group B encounter of Vijay Hazare Trophy on Thursday.
Batting first, Delhi scored 284 for 8 riding on Nitish Rana's 98-ball-107 studded with 10 fours and three sixes.
Having already lost focus due to their captain's outbursts, MP could manage only 209 in 42.4 overs as part-time off-spinner Lalit Yadav picked up five for 25.
Delhi now have 22 points from seven games and look good to qualify for the quarter-finals of the National Championship. The incident that marred the proceedings happened in the 28th over of the innings.
Left-handed Rana, then on 26, played a sweep shot off left-arm spinner Rameez Khan and the fielder at square leg took a catch. The MP players started celebrating as Rana stood his ground.
Umpire Rajeev Godara then walked up to square leg umpire Navdeep Singh and after discussion asked for a referral from the third umpire (match referee in this case).
After watching the feed, match referee Nitin Goel ruled not out after which Ojha, who has played a Test, ODI and couple of T20Is completely lost it.
He wagged his finger at Godara with an angry outburst questioning his competence as a first-class umpire. Match referee Goel had to enter the field as proceedings were halted for close to 20 minutes after which match started again.
Ojha might get some strict sanctions for bringing the game to disrepute as Goel is expected to submit a detailed report. Once the game resumed, Rana duly completed his hundred and Dhruv Shorey (67) added 147 runs for the third wicket.
Earlier, skipper Gautam Gambhir (41) and Unmukt Chand (41) added 89 runs for the opening stand to provide a platform for Shorey and Rana. While chasing, MP were never in the game as the pitch got slower and Lalit bowled wicket to wicket to end up with a maiden five-wicket haul.
Brief Scores:
Delhi 284/8 in 50 overs (Nitish Rana 107 off 98 balls, Dhruv Shorey 67 off 87 balls). MP 209 in 42.4 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 53, Lalit Yadav 5/25). Delhi won by 75 runs.
Odisha 197 in 49.2 overs (Biplab Samantray 62 off 79 balls, Jaydev Unadkat 3/39)
Saurashtra 145 in 38.4 overs (Sheldon Jackson 40, Gobind Poddar 3/33). Odisha won by 52 runs.
