Young left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja struck twice late in the day to have Delhi in trouble against Saurashtra on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Division match in Rajkot on Tuesday.
Delhi were 61 for three against the hosts' competitive first innings score of 492.
Opener Shikar Dhavan 30 (37b, 6x4) and skipper Mithun Minhas 10 (6b,1x4,1x6) were at crease at draw of stumps.
The visitors started their innings tentatively, losing opener Aakash Chopra early. Chopra (10) was trapped leg before by Sandip Jobanputra. The bowler was unlucky when Dhavan was put down at third slip when he was on eight.
Jadeja was introduced early and the decision paid as he got Mayank Tehlan 6 (23b, 1x4) caught behind the wicket.
He struck again in his next over, sending back night-watchman Amit Bhandri for zero.
Delhi need another 282 runs to avoid following-on with seven wickets remaining.
Earlier, the hosts folded up at 492. Overnight batsman Cheteshwar Pujara slammed 139 (267b, 19x4), while Sitanshu Kotak contributed 95 (264b, 11x4).
The last pair of K Makwana and Sandip Maniar frustrated the visitors by notching 99 runs before the latter was caught behind for a well-made 57 (98b,9x4).
Makwana remained unbeaten on 54 (175b, 5x4).
For Delhi, Ashish Nehra and Ishant Sharma shared three wickets each, while Bhandari took two.
Scorecard
Saurashtra (1st innings): Overnight 284 for 3
Kanaiya Vaghela c P Bisht b A Nehra 17
Sagar Jogiyani b I Sharma 61
Prashant Joshi lbw A Nehra 0
Sitanshu Kotak bowled I Sharma 95
Cheteshwar Pujara c Bisht b R Bhatia 139
Ravindra Jadeja c Chopra b Nehra 04
Jaydev Shah c Nehra b A Bhandari 5
Rakesh Dhruve c Bisht b A Bhandrai 0
K Makwana not out 54
Sandip Jobanputra c Tehlan b Sharma 4
Sandip Maniar c Bisht b S Sharma 57
Extras: (b-9, lb-5, nb-41, w-1) 56
Total: (All out in 163.2 overs) 492
Fall of wickets: 1-50, 2-58, 3-134, 4-294, 5-308, 6-317, 7-323, 8-381, 9/393, 10-492.
Bowling: Ashish Nehra 38-10-115-3, Ishant Sharma 36-5-117-3, Amit Bhandari 24-2-75-2, Rajat Bhatia 13-2-29-1, Sohail Sharma 41.2-6-107-1, Mithun Manhas 11-0-35-0.
Delhi (1st innings):
Aakash Chopra lbw S Jobanputra 10
Shikhar Dhawan batting 30
Mayank Tehlan c Jogiyani b R Jadeja 6
Amit Bhandari lbw Jadeja 0
Mithunh Manhas Batting 10
Extras: (lb-1, w-1, nb-3) 05
Total: (For 3 wickets off 14 overs) 61
Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-44, 3-50.
Bowling: Sandip Jobanputra 5-1-31-1, Sandip Maniar 4-0-11-0, Kamlesh Makwana 3-0-17-0, Ravindra Jadeja 2-1-1-2.
More from rediff