Two pitches, two stories

A greentop in Delhi is not what one expects walking into a Ranji Trophy match. But that8217;s precisely what the Karnail Singh Stadium wick...

A greentop in Delhi is not what one expects walking into a Ranji Trophy match. But that8217;s precisely what the Karnail Singh Stadium wicket was Rahul Dravid, take note and Bengal captain Rohan Gavaskar had no hesitation in asking for the ball after winning the toss.

And the scoreboard at the end of the day 8212; 305 for 9 8212; was vindication of everyone who has clamoured for sporting wickets in India all these years.

Blame it on their inexperience at bowling on tracks as these or sheer excitement at the sight the Bengal bowlers gave a very poor account of themselves for the first session and a half. Sabir Ali, Ranadeb Bose, Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Sanjib Sanyal sprayed the ball around making zero use of the wicket. After Sanjay Bangar got out early, Railways batsmen Amit Pagnis and Tejinder Pal Singh scored at will, stroking 21 boundaries between them.

Once spinner Murtaza Lodhgar picked up Pagnis and Singh, though, the four-pronged attack looked entirely different.

The tall, lean, long-maned Bose was the pick of the lot, and bowled unchanged for a sequence of 12 overs before and after tea. The fruit of his labours: 4/52 off 20 overs. All his wickets came in that last spell and after the match, he explained his waywardness saying, 8216;8216;I think the wicket was underprepared. Though it was green, there was inconsistent bounce, the ball skidded along a bit.8217;8217;

But a senior pro with the side admitted to The Indian Express: 8216;8216;We bowled really badly in the morning session. We should have picked at least three wickets early on and not allowed Tejinder and Pagnis to settle down. It was inexperience, I guess.8217;8217;

Picking four pacers isn8217;t a luxury an Indian domestic side can afford, but as Bengal coach Karsan Ghavri said, 8216;8216;We are lucky to have two medium pacers who are all-rounders. Laxmi and Sanjib are in our team anyway, and Ranadeb and Sabir always open our attack. That helped here, because we could play four pacers without worrying about team composition. And having Ranadeb is a boon, because he is probably the only pacer in India who can bowl long spells without a break.8217;8217;

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As the pitch dried out and the bounce became more even, Bose and Ali came into their own. Bose ran through the middle order for four consecutive wickets and then Ali picked two more to add to Bangar8217;s early on. And though they didn8217;t bowl in tandem 8212; Lodhgar working one end 8212; it was a refreshing sight for eyes accustomed to watching bad spinners bowling in tandem all day because they have a better chance of picking wickets than the pacers.

And with the scoring rate staying at over three throughout the day, what better advertisement can there be for the Ranji Trophy?