It’s only in cricket that a single incident can bring life back into a team on what otherwise would be termed a disastrous day. One rarely expects a number 10 batsman to bat diligently — especially when the genuine batters of the side have failed. It was some rearguard action by Amit Bandhari during the latter part of the day that brought the smiles back to Delhi.Performance on bowler-friendly tracks is what separates the boys from the men. Delhi’s batting today, unfortunately, put them in the former bracket.Granted the conditions in the morning were helpful to the seamers, but after seeing off the first hour of the day with just a single casualty, the Delhi batters should have consolidated that position. They didn’t, and as a result were skittled out for just 244 runs by close of play against Saurashtra on the first day of their Ranji Trophy Super League match at the Roshanara Club Ground.Minor flashes of class and form might look good on the field and may even get you runs for a while, but it does not make for champion material. The Delhi top and middle order today was full of such flashes.Good beginnings by most of batsmen turned into sad ends as they regularly gifted away their wickets against an attack that should be given credit only for sticking to a disciplined line but nothing that could be termed brilliant.Mayank Tehlan and Virat Kohli are both good, clean strikers of the ball. But inexperience does show and they both might have been a bit too adventurous with their stroke selection today.While Tehlan — who was moving steadily on 17 — casually edged one towards second slip off left-arm medium pacer Sandeep Jobanputra, Kohli got caught lbw while trying to steer the ball towards mid-wicket to a ball that stayed straight and low. Kanaiya Vaghela was the bowler.The only difference between them and the other bats were that they had small scores while Shikhar Dhawan (38), Mitthun Manhas (62), Rajat Bhatia (36) and Puneet Bisht (35) gave away their wickets after they had set themselves up for bigger ones.Manhas and Bhatia — who, at one point, looked like they were going to save the innings after being involved in an 80-run partnership — slashed at deliveries moving away from them and got the edge. Both got out in similar fashion — simple edges to the ‘keeper off Jobanputra. Bisht, again another Jobanputra victim, slashed at a wide ball straight to point. The Saurashtra bowling, which mostly banks on spinners, was today delighted by their seamers. Jobanputra picked up a five-for, and even with the bad batting one can’t ignore his efforts. He bowled 27 overs today with one spell that included as many as 16 overs. He swung the ball in the morning and kept a very tight line all day long.The day may have been bad for them but now it has passed and hopefully they will put this behind them. It’s up to their bowlers now to do what the batsmen failed to. Maybe that cheerful episode at the end of the day would lighten up their spirits for tomorrow.Brief scores: Delhi (1st innings) 244 all out in 85.2 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 38, Mittun Manhas 62, Rajat Bhatia 36, Puneet Bisht 35; Sandeep Jobanputra 5/73, Kanaiya Vaghela 2/27) vs Saurashtra
