Abdulla leaves Delhi with mountain to climb

With the host pacers hitting the ground running after the changeover,Delhi were reduced to 85/3. This was a day when the smiles in the Mumbai dressing room grew wider with each passing session.

With batsmen not in great form,it was been the bowlers have been working overtime. They might not match the frontline batsmen in terms of runs,but when the chips have been down the bowlers have held the bat high. Powar’s ton against Punjab and Ajit Agarkar’s century against Himachal Pradesh in the league phase are just two examples of bowlers showing the way to the batsmen. Today,Abdulla’s 69 went a long in not just giving the total an imposing tag but also frustrating the rivals.

Earlier in the day Abhishek Nayar had continued his run feast. The southpaw struck 156 as he added 45 runs to his overnight score. Ishant yet again was the lone Delhi bowler to take advantage of the early morning conditions by getting Agarkar’s wicket.

The 20-year-old Abdulla started in style by hitting left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra for a six and a four towards square leg. Mumbai skipper Wasim Jaffer later explained how the lower order batsmen have played crucial role this season. “We look them as all-rounders and not as tailenders. When Ajit and Powar score,it isn’t a novelty anymore. They have done this in past. Abdulla too is reliable now,” he said.

With Delhi’s end of the day score similar to that of Mumbai in the first innings,skipper Rajat Bhatia said that the lower order batsmen of his team too needed to do what their rivals did. When asked about Abdulla’s knock he said,“Abdulla batted like a proper batsman,he was not batting like tailender.”

Had those lunch-time spectators stayed back until stumps,they would have had an answer to their question.