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Journalism of Courage
After four days of see-saw battle, the Duleep Trophy final between South Zone and West Zone is headed for a thrilling finish. On a rare day at M Chinnaswamy Stadium where play was not held up because of bad light or rain, chasing 298 to defend their title West Zone were 182/5 at stumps on Day 4. Skipper Priyank Panchal remained unbeaten on 92 as South were made to toil hard for wickets on a pitch that is getting slower and slower.
When Dharmendra Jadeja took all three remaining wickets of the South Zone towards the middle of the first session to bowl them out for 230 in the second essay, the target of 298 seemed a long shot for West. Although the pitch hasn’t undergone enough wear and tear because of rain through the course of the last four days, it has patches where the odd ball is keeping low. Deliveries may not be jumping off the rough patches, but they are shooting low at times, bringing the LBW into play. The plan from the South attack was simple, target the stumps and make the West batsmen play as much as possible.
Although Vidwath Kaverappa, who has been in red-hot form in the Duleep Trophy with consecutive five-wicket hauls in the semifinals and in the first innings, couldn’t make an impact, his state teammate V Koushik gave South key breakthroughs. Having lost four years of his prime without a chance in the Karnataka team, the former Amazon content executive, who now works in Central Excise and Customs, stepped up to deliver blows that one thought West would not recover from.
After losing Prithvi Shaw and Harvik Desai early in the chase, West Zone were doing a fine rebuilding job through their two experienced players – Panchal and Cheteshwar Pujara – as the pitch eased out a bit on a day where there was bright sunshine for a change. Under the circumstances, West let themselves down once again with the bat for the third time in four innings. Koushik isn’t express quick and operates in the mid-120kmph and relies extensively on swing. A natural out-swinger to rely on, Koushik’s plan is to pitch it up and let the ball move and make the batsman play at all times. An off-spinner growing up, he started taking cricket seriously only when he was 17 and before he could pursue it any further, he enrolled for mechanical engineering. And with Karnataka’s pace bowling stocks full, he would resort to playing club cricket on the weekends before getting a call-up earlier last season.
“The plan was to attack the stumps as the pitch was a bit on the slower side. Even before we took the field, (Hanuma) Vihari told us we had to work hard and now we have five wickets, hopefully we can get the job done tomorrow,” Koushik said.
With not much happening off the pitch, South Zone skipper Hanuma Vihari was commendable with his field placings, ensuring Panchal and Pujara didn’t get any easy runs as his bowlers attacked the stumps. And Koushik reaped rewards from some exceptional awareness. Having delivered his stock-ball – the outswinger – Koushik made one to come back in and Pujara, having committed to a defensive prod, would end up inside-edging it to the short-leg, where Tilak Varma caught it safely. And three balls later, Suryakumar Yadav, who had got off the mark with a boundary, would fall LBW to another delivery that just came back in a bit. At 79/4, the target seemed a steep climb for West.
South smelt blood now. Having started the game as underdogs, their first title since 2010-11 was there in their sights (they shared the title in 2013/14 with North). But Sarfaraz Khan and Panchal were in no mood to relent.
With scores of 0,6,0 in three innings so far in the tournament, Sarfaraz couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to redeem himself. Having been overlooked for national duty once again, Sarfaraz didn’t start well as South attacked him with a barrage of short balls. Twice, Vijaykumar Vyshak’s bouncers would hit Sarfaraz as he struggled to get behind the line. In the first instance, while trying to duck down, he would turn his head behind only for the ball to hit him on the left-side of the helmet grill. Later another well-directed bouncer found him and instead of crouching or using the bat, he would end up showing his back as the ball would hit him just below the left shoulder.
While the rest struggled, Panchal – who was given a lifeline by Vihari when on 5, would go about constructing his innings. Although he has limited range, Panchal has the patience to grind out attacks and force bowlers to land in areas where he is more comfortable. Anything that was pitched full was driven beautifully by Panchal. With minimal foot movement, he invited risk, a couple of French cuts were lucky not to take the stumps with it.
If Panchal was solid, after seeing through the testing spell, Sarfaraz opened up when Washington Sundar came on. After hitting him for a six over mid-wicket, he would sweep him for a boundary, even though he was engaged in a mini-battle with R Sai Kishore. Having exchanged words early on, Sarfaraz tried to hit the left-arm spinner inside-out, only to be beaten in the air. Although he went through with the shot, the resulting edge dropped beyond the diving third-man fielder.
Out of nowhere runs started to flow as the two stitched a 98-run stand that brought West into the game. But just before the end of play, Vihari would throw one final dice, as he made Sai Kishore to bowl around the stumps. The plan would materialise immediately as Sarfaraz tried to drive him from the rough, only to miss it altogether as he was bowled for 48.
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