The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : It’s a bowlers day out in Delhi

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Friday, Nov 16, 2007
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It’s a bowlers day out in Delhi

Special Correspondent

Jobunputra rocks the host; Manhas comes to its rescue

— Photo: V.V. Krishnan

SOLID INNINGS: Delhi will have the experienced Mithun Manhas to thank for as he pulled it out of the doldrums. Here he drives Saurasthra’s R.A. Jadeja.

NEW DELHI: Left-arm seamer Sandeep Jobunputra, in his third season, dented the Delhi batting line up with his sustained line on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite league match here on Thursday. Saurashtra prospered from a good toss to reduce Delhi to 244 in its first innings as the home team thanked the experienced Mithun Manhas for hauling it out of an embarrassing situation.

Delhi was struggling at 82 for four when Manhas and Rajat Bhatia produced an 80-run partnership. Batting was tough, given the fact that Jobunputra (five for 73) and seamer Kanaiya Vaghela (two for 27) rocked the batsmen with their disciplined bowling.

“We expected some tough stuff from the bowlers. The pitch was prepared with the aim to get a result and I was not surprised with the manner in which the bowlers called the shots,” confessed Delhi skipper Manhas, who hit a responsible 62 off 130 balls with ten fours.

Little more application

Coach Vijay Dahiya observed the Delhi batting could have done better with a little more application. “It is up to the bowlers now to exploit the conditions,” he said.

It was bowlers’ day at the Roshanara ground. Jobunputra tested the batsmen and snared them with his movement. He was quite nippy in comparison to Vaghela but the Saurashtra pace pair rattled the Delhi camp with some telling strikes. But for Bhatia and Puneet Bisht offering resistance, Delhi would have struggled to reach 200.

Manhas displayed exemplary commitment. He was willing to graft, give the bowlers respect but not at the cost of missing runs. His drives had the punch of a seasoned campaigner and it was an innings in keeping with his reputation. He is known to excel when the situation demands.

The scores: Delhi — 1st innings: A. Chopra lbw b Jobanputra 6, S. Dhawan c Jogiyani b Vaghela 38, M. Tehlan c Mehta b Jobanputra 17, V. Kohli lbw b Vaghela 1, M. Manhas c Jogiyani b Jobanputra 62, R. Bhatia c Jogiyani b Jobanputra 36, P. Bisht c Pujara b Jobanputra 35, C. Nanda (run out) 4, P. Sangwan b Jadeja 18, A. Bhandari b Mehta 18, I. Sharma (not out) 0; Extras: (lb-5, w-2, nb-2) 9; Total: (in 85.2 overs) 244.

Fall of wickets:1-10, 2-47, 3-54 , 4-82 , 5-162 , 6-165 , 7-177, 8-217, 9-238.

Saurashtra bowling: Jobanputra 27-7-73-5, Maniar 21-6-58-0, Vaghela 12-6-27-2, Dhruv 3-0-15-0, Makvana 5-0-23-0, Jadeja 17-7-37-1, Mehta 0.2-0-6-1.

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