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Pace duo gives Delhi the edge

Special Correspondent

Rajkot: Ishant Sharma may be a tyro in India's foremost first class competition, but the lanky fast medium bowler has augmented Delhi's attack delivering decisive blows with the new ball. He's not been found wanting with the old ball either despite the seam offering little to work with.

Bending his back for 153 odd overs in the four matches he has played so far and capturing 19 wickets at 19.52 apiece, Ishant has been Delhi's find of the season. Delhi would expect Ishant to spearhead its attack against Saurashtra in the Group `A' Ranji Trophy Super League match at the Madhavrao Scindia Stadium from Monday.

That the raw hand has sent down 6.2 overs more than Ashish Nehra's 147 — is a reflection of the faith his captain Mithun Manhas has reposed in him. On his come back trail, left arm seamer Nehra, has put in some hard work for 12 wickets, but at a dearer 38.58. Delhi will largely depend on its new ball pair, the immensely successful Sharma and the old hand Nehra — altogether six other bowlers have managed to take 20 wickets — in pursuit of a win against the home team.

According to the team management, Nehra had an appointment with former Indian team physio Andrew Leipus in Mumbai and is expected to arrive here late on Sunday.

Spinning wicket

Saurashtra, on its part, has identified the duo of Nehra and Ishant as a serious threat and has prepared a surface to blunt their effectiveness. The suggestion of the Delhi coach, Chetan Chauhan, to water one end of the pitch did not go down well with the ground in charge. He was apparently not receptive to the idea and refused to listen to anyone other than the local authority.

The Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) officials said the pitch would afford turn to spinners as the match progresses. The visitors may, therefore, pick more than one spinner. In the batting department, Delhi's top and middle order seem to have run into some form — five of them have scored at least a century each, including wicketkeeper Puneet Bisht, the replacement for the former India wicketkeeper Vijay Dahiya, who has retired.

Delhi is favourite

Delhi (six points) would hope to force a win to bag at least four points to improve its chances to advancing into the semifinal.

Saurashtra, on the other hand, faces the threat of relegation. There is also doubt over the fitness of its captain Jaydev Shah, who is down with a viral infection. Jaydev did not take part in the team's training and practice session.

Saurashtra's last match saw the team defying Tamil Nadu successfully with Cheteshwar Pujara scoring a delightful 177. His team will be hard pressed to defy a superior team for the second week, but as Saurashtra coach Debu Mitra said: "Anything can happen in a game of cricket. Did anyone expect Australia to win the second Test at Adelaide?"

The teams:

Delhi (from): Mithun Manhas (Captain), Akash Chopra, Mayank Tehlan, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rajesh Bhatia, Puneet Bisht, Chetanya Nanda, Amit Bhandari, Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma, Aditya Jain, Rahul Sanghvi, Ashish Malhotra, Sohail Sharma.

Saurashtra (from): Jaydev Shah (Captain), Sagar Jogiyani, Kanaiya Vaghela, Sitanshu Kotak, Cheteshwar Pujara, Pratik Mehta, Ravindra Jadeja, Sandeep Jobanputra, Sandeep Maniar, Rakesh Dhruv, Kamlesh Makvana, Prashant Joshi, Sandil Natkan, Firoz Bambhaniya, Ashok Kamalia.

Umpires: Messrs V. N. Kulkarni and R. Radhakrishnan.

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