Delhi fought their way back out of the dumps before bad light forced them to share honours with Madhya Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy Elite 'A' match at the Jamia Millia Islamia university grounds in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Set a target of 173, Madhya Pradesh were cruising at 102 for two when medium pacer Amit Bhandari scalped three wickets to stall their march to a stunning win on the fourth and final day.
Skipper Amay Khurasia kept the visitors' hopes alive with a 56-ball 48 but his dismissal in what turned out to be the last over of the day ended their dream. At close, MP were 156 for eight, only 17 runs away from glory but two wickets close to disaster.
Bhandari returned with three for 36 while Sarandeep Singh and Rahul Sanghvi picked two wickets each. Delhi, who had resorted to verbal volleys to upset the visiting batsmen in the first innings, did not enhance their reputation with a slow over-rate to check the run flow.
Earlier, Shikhar Dawan showed matured batting with a patient 88 that spanned nearly seven hours that helped Delhi, resuming at 119 for four, see through the morning session. But pacer Sanjay Pandey and veteran leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani ran through their lower order to set the platform for MP.
Delhi (1st innings): 239 for nine declared
Madhya Pradesh (1st innings): 294
Delhi (2nd innings):
A Chopra c Ojha b Sunil Dholpure 1
S Dhawan c Ojha b Sanjay Pandey 88
A Bali b Sunil Dholpure 19
M Manhas lbw b Sunil Dholpure 32
S Singh c Ojha b Sanjay Pandey 6
R Bhatia lbw b Sanjay Pandey 11
A Jadeja c Bundela b Hirwani 24
V Dahiya c Abbas Ali b Likhar 3
R Sanghvi not out 10
S Gill c Sachin Dholpure b Sanjay Pandey 4
A Bhandari b Hirwani 0
Extras: (b-8, lb-8, w-3, nb-10) 29
Total: (All out in 92.3 overs) 227
Fall of wicket: 1/3, 2/32, 3/87, 4/98, 5/120, 6/167, 7/174, 8/223, 9/227
Bowling: S Pandey 20-4-61-4, S Dholpure 23-4-64-3, D Bundela 8-1-18-0, N Hirwani 25.3-8-43-2, J Likhar 16-7-25-1.
Madhya Pradesh (2nd innings):
Sachin Dholpure c & b Sanghvi 28
N Ojha c Manhas b Sanghvi 25
A Khurasiya c Sanghvi b Sarandeep Singh 48
D Bundela c Jadeja b Bali 20
B Tomar c Dhawan b Bhandari 4
S Abbas Ali c sub b Bhandari 13
N Patwardhan lbw b Sarandeep Singh 4
J Likhar c & b Bhandari 4
S Pandey not out 2
Sunil Dholpure not out 0
Extras: (lb-3, w-1, nb-4) 8
Total: (For eight wickets in 36 overs) 156
Fall of wicket: 1/56, 2/57, 3/102, 4/111, 5/131, 6/143,7/154, 8/156
Bowling: A Bhandari 9-0-36-3, R Bhatia 1-0-1-0, S Singh 14-0-65-2, R Sanghvi 8-0-34-2, A Bali 2-0-13-1, A Jadeja 1-0-2-0, M Manhas 1-0-2-0