Bowlers day out at the Kotla

A smile on the curator’s face after a match is a rarity these days. But it was not the case with Radhey Shyam.

A smile on the curator’s face after a match is a rarity these days. But it was not the case with Radhey Shyam. He was smiling all the way from the pavilion to the wicket—to cover it at the end of Day One of the Ranji Trophy opener between Delhi and Rajasthan at the Kotla here today.

Naturally, the curator thought he was vindicated—20 wickets fell on a single day—after he left a tinge of grass on the rectangle. But it was more to do with bad batting than exceptional bowling on the day from both sides. Delhi, after being inserted, were bundled out for 119—with nine wickets falling in a space of 56 runs as Delhi were coasting along nicely at 62/1 — and even before Rajasthan could celebrate, they were sent packing for a paltry 85.

After being weakened by the absence of Ashish Nehra and Ishant Sharma, Delhi were banking on their seasoned batters to see them through. The willow-wielders did nothing worthy, succumbing to the pace of Pankaj Singh, but thanks to the hosts’ seamers, who went into damage control mode as soon as Rajasthan took centrestage to steamroll them for a lead of 34 runs.

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Rajasthan’s stalwart Pankaj Singh was not fully fit. Yet, he insisted on playing the game today. A decision that coach KP Bhaskar wouldn’t regret as his strike bowler ended with figures of 5/43. Just when the Delhi openers —Aakash Chopra and Shikhar Dhawan—were going along nicely, Pankaj enticed Chopra into a drive, the resultant leading edge landing safely into the keeper’s gloves.

Mayank Tehlan came and played an elegant cover drive, making his intensions clear. But Delhi’s plans went a little awry—while Shikhar scored freely, Mayank found it hard to open up after that. The pair put in some real hard work by watching off the initial pace, but Dhawan’s fatal error cost the team dearly. He shouldered arm to skipper Mohammed Aslam and was trapped plumb in front. His dismissal signalled Delhi’s fall and the duo of Mathur and Pankaj combined to polish off the remaining seven bats. Though the ball wasn’t really moving much, the two pacers—more so Mathur— bent their back to send the seasoned batting line-up back in the pavilion.

Rajasthan were shaky to begin with, as the Delhi bowlers began atoning for the sins of their batsmen. Opener Vinit Saxena spent nearly three hours for his 35 to ensure that Delhi’s lead was intact. Debutant Robin Bisht, too, seemed promising. However except for the duo, Rajasthan’s poor batting came to the fore as Sangwan used his accurate bowling to take 3/29, while Kuunal scalped two.

Rajat Bhatia, making amends for his batting failure, chipped in with three crucial wickets. Bhandari contributed with two wickets and it was his bowling in the early stages of the Rajasthan innings that pegged the visitors down.

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Brief scores: Delhi (1st innings): 119 in 38.3 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 35, Pankaj Singh 5/43, Sumit Mathur 3/32); (2nd innings): 5/0 lead Rajasthan (1st innings): 85 in 35.5 overs (Vinit Saxena 35, Pradeep Sangwan 3/29, Amit Bandhari, 2/22, Kuunal Lall 2/15, Rajat Bhatia 3/16) by 39 runs.

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