Sood traps Gujarat in his web

Perfect start

Sood’s day started only post lunch. Until then, he had bowled well but was unlucky not to get a wicket. Until then, it were the Delhi seamers and Shivam Sharma who gave Gambhir a perfect start to the day, clinching five wickets in the opening session to send Gujarat to lunch at 110/6 in 50 overs.

It must have been something in the menu today that worked wonders for Sood. In the very first over after lunch, Sood claimed Karia with a delivery that deceived him completely and Sehwag did the rest at slip. Initially, Sood stuck to his style of bowling quicker in the air. But as he was to find out later, the Kotla wicket demanded slower variations.

So, following Manhas’s advice, Sood struck twice in the 59th over to take his tally to three. Before that he was only relying on bowling slow, which was also becoming predictable for the batsmen. It was then that Sood used his talent with the armer, which has helped him in the past to get wickets on tracks that hardly support spin.

Sood set Chirag Gandhi up by mixing his variations. In the 59th over, Gandhi stepped out but could only manage to scoop the ball into Sharma’s hands at mid-off. Two balls later, Sood surprised Kushang Patel with an armer and trapped him in front. Last man Ishwar Choudhary wasn’t a puzzle for Sood as he tempted him to go over the top. Sood was a happy man with four in his pocket.

Clued in gambhir 

One thing that Gambhir realized very early into Gujarat’s innings was the importance of employing spinners on the Kotla track which was crumbling. He had used his pacers initially only to make sure that the roughs could be created, which in turn would help his tweakers. On occasions, Gambhir even asked his pacers to bowl both over and round the wicket so that their spikes could plough the roughs well.

Spinners were introduced in the sixth over into Gujarat’s second innings. Sharma soon got into the act, castling Samit Gohil in the 10th over. Sood then responded immediately from the other end to pick Gujarat’s second wicket on 59. Sood was in his elements after that. In his next over, he used his armer again to stun Panchal as the ball crashed onto his stumps. Sharma then picked up Rujul Bhatt in the 14th over and both spinners were on two wickets each.

But with right handers on strike, Gambhir bowled Sood more than Sharma. At 88, Gujarat lost their fifth in Smith Patel as Gambhir took a low catch at slip off Sood. Manhas then caught Gandhi to give Sood his fourth in the 31st over.

With just four wickets left, it looked like Gujarat might lose before Karia and Rush Kalaria saw off the next 10 overs. Sood then struck again, for his maiden five-for, as he trapped Kalaria on 23.

Brief scores: Delhi 425/6 decl; Gujarat 150 in 61 overs (V Sood 4/50, S Sharma 2/39) & 152/7 in 53 overs (V Sood 5/37, Shivam Sharma 2/52).