The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : A forgettable day for batsmen

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 05, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Cricket

A forgettable day for batsmen

Special Correspondent

CRICKET / Delhi and Rajasthan get dictated to by mediocre bowling

— Photo: S. Subramanium

REAPING SUCCESS: Pankaj Singh of Rajasthan came with the lone five-wicket haul on a day dominated by bowlers.

NEW DELHI: Batting was an eyesore at the Ferozeshah Kotla as bowling, which was merely basic stuff, acquired monstrous proportions on the opening day of the Delhi-Rajasthan Ranji Trophy Elite league match here on Sunday.

Rajasthan won the toss, bowled Delhi out for a paltry 119 but ended up bowling again by evening as its batsmen let the side down by utter lack of application. “Building an innings is an art but sadly it was missing today,” said Delhi’s bowling coach Manoj Prabhakar as twenty wickets fell on a day of disappointing cricket.

“Bad batting,” bemoaned the rival coaches, Vijay Dahiya and K.P. Bhaskar, on a pitch that played true. There was juice only in the initial stages but then the batsmen were over-generous and allowed the bowlers to dictate.

Poor shot selection

Pankaj Singh, the tall Rajasthan seamer, claimed five wickets despite bowling below mark. Delhi’s batting, without exception, came apart in a shocking display of indiscipline and poor shot selection.

Pankaj reaped the wickets but Sumit Mathur was the bowler of the day, keeping the ball up, moving it well; he deserved much more.

Rajasthan was no better when it batted, succumbing to an attack that saw the nondescript Rajat Bhatia pick up three wickets with his seam bowling.

Left-arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan enjoyed a decent debut with a three-wicket haul while Amit Bhandari motivated the team with some accurate bowling and two good catches.

The scores:

Delhi— 1st innings: A. Chopra c Jhalani b Pankaj 16, S. Dhawan lbw b Aslam 35, M. Tehlan (run out) 4, V. Kohli c Jhalani b Mathur 19, M. Manhas b Pankaj 4, R. Bhatia lbw b Mathur 0, P Bisht lbw b Pankaj 5, C. Nanda lbw b Pankaj 10, P. Sangwan c Jhalani b Pankaj 10, K. Lal (not out) 2, A. Bhandari b Mathur 2, Extras (lb-7, nb-5) 12. Total (in 38.3 overs) 119.

Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-62 , 3-67, 4-79, 5-84, 6-93, 7-97, 8-115, 9-116..

Rajasthan bowling: Pankaj 15-3-43-5, S. Gehlot 8-1-29-0, S. Mathur 12.3-2-32-3, M. Aslam 3-1-8-1.

Rajasthan — 1st innings: V. Saxena c Bisht b Sangwan 35, Abhijit Sharma c Kohli b Bhandari 6, G. Khoda lbw b Bhandari 0, R. Bist lbw b Lall 14, Shafiq Khan b Lall 5, R. Kanwat c Chopra b Bhatia 5, R. Jhalani c Bisht b Bhatia 5, Pankaj Singh c Bhandari b Bhatia 5, S. Gehlot c Bisht b Sangwan 0, S. Mathur (not out) 4, M. Aslam c Bhandari b Sangwan 0, Extras (b-1, lb-2, nb-3) 6, Total (in 35.5 overs) 85.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-7, 3-32, 4-38, 5-52, 6-64, 7-73, 8-73, 9-85.

Delhi bowling: Sangwan 11.5-3-29-3, Bhandari 9-2-22-2, Bhatia 11-7-16-3, Lall 4-0-15-2.

Delhi — 2nd innings: Chopra (batting) 4, Dhawan (batting) 1, Extras (lb-1) 1. Total (for no loss in 0.5 overs) 6.

Rajasthan bowling: Pankaj Singh 0.5-0-5-0.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail