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Journalism of Courage
When the last 56 overs of the day go wicketless, it’s not always that a bowler will have a satisfied look on his face. But in case one is a 17-year-old Ranji debutant who finishes with figures of 19-7-22-0 after bowling to a present-day great like Rahul Dravid all afternoon, things are different.
Left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla might have gone wicketless, but his effort was not pointless. His economical spell meant Karnataka were 195/1 in 77 overs on the penultimate day of the Ranji Trophy game against Mumbai here today. Karnataka might justify their slow batting to their safety-first approach but Abdulla’s disciplined bowling also had a big role in Karnataka finishing with a slow run rate. Earlier, Mumbai took a 142-run lead as they finished their first innings at 337.
Mumbai skipper Amol Muzumdar brought on Abdulla one over before lunch. Despite the fact that the batsmen—Roland Barrington and Dravid—were set, Abdulla didn’t give them liberty. The two seasoned campaigners waited to pounce on the lose ball, but the left-arm spinner wasn’t obliging.
As one caught up with him at the end of the day, he said: “Bowling to Dravid was a different experience. I knew I have to be spot-on all the time since he will score runs if I err in line or length.”
He went on to add that he had learnt this after his brief brush with international quality players. “I have played one-dayers against South Africa and Sri Lanka earlier. Since it was the shorter version, I had to bowl tight. But still, bowling to Dravid is a different challenge,” said Abdulla, who is yet to take a wicket in his debut Ranji match.
