Cricket’s back, the good and the bad

They recovered, though, helped by their Karnail Singh Stadium wicket. It’s not easy to bat on and the Rest of India batsmen realised it the hard way, winding up their first stint for a modest 223 and allowing the hosts to amble up to 6 for no loss at stumps.

Of all the Rest batsmen, only Dhiraj Jadhav can hide behind bad luck — a skidder from paceman Harvinder Singh hitting him low and plumb in front — but he too erred in playing back on a wicket that kept low from the first ball. A patient innings of 53, built over 158 minutes of concentration was the sole talking point of Rest’s innings, if we discount the manner in which the batsmen got themselves out.

First to go was Gautam Gambhir; the skipper’s sweep shot getting a top edge to Kartik off Parida to end an opening partnership worth 82 with Dhiraj Jadhav. Raina was dismissed, wicketkeeper Sudhir Wankhede taking a smart leg-side catch off Kartik as the teams went to lunch at 117/2.

The left-arm spinner struck soon after lunch, inducing an edge to silly point fielder as the dangerous Venogopal Rao got out early. Parthiv Patel and Niraj Patel weaved together a partnership but Harvinder, coming back with the old ball got both snicking to wicketkeeper.

The lower order undid some damage, Sreesanth and RP Singh getting the team past the 200-run mark, before Parida returned to pick his remaining three wickets in a hurry. The Railway side look far more organised, stuck to a line and bowled on one side of the wicket as Rest Of India struggled to get their runs and survive on a wicket that started turning from Day One.

The only question remains, will the match last full five days? Sunday’s play might have an answer to that.

BRUEF SCORES

Rest Of India 223 all out (Dhiraj Jadhav 53, Gautam Gambhir 47, Niraj Patel 28, Sresanth 19 not out; Harvinder Singh 3/57,K Parida 4/61, Murali Kartik 2/34) vs Railways 6/0

‘Players enjoy training schedules’

NEW DELHI: There weren’t too many people at the stadium but Ian Frazer, kinesiologist with Team India, was — and he said Greg Chappell will be there on Sunday. ‘‘We want to be more aware of how domestic cricket is played in India and the amount of workload the players share. Also to see how the players adapt to different types of wickets and bowling attacks.’’ He didn’t take questions related directly to the recent controversy but did defend his “punishing” schedule. ‘‘When I came to India I realised certain players need specific conditioning and we’ve tried to incorporate that. It’s important that we understand the training schedule before we talk of it. It keeps changing and the players are enjoying it.’’ He also had another significant observation: seniors aren’t passing on enough tips to the youngsters. ‘‘I’d like to see the Sachins talk a lot more to the young boys, try and tell them about their experiences and how they handled a particular situation.’’ — ENS