MUMBAI: Besides being First Class cricketers, one would have struggled to find another common thread between Pankaj Singh, Siddharth Kaul and Chirag Gandhi. While the burly Pankaj has been a workhorse for over a decade leading Rajasthan, Kaul has been enhancing his reputation as pace bowler on the domestic scene while plying his trade for Punjab. Gandhi, on other hand, has been trying hard to establish himself in Gujarat’s middle order for the last four years.
On Friday, however, the triumvirate from varied backgrounds hogged the limelight away from some of the established names in Indian cricket on the opening day of the Irani Cup tie at the Brabourne Stadium.
The Rest of India new-ball duo of Pankaj and Kaul shared seven wickets but Gandhi’s maiden First Class century salvaged the day for Gujarat as the Ranji champion ended at a respectable 300 for eight.
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Gandhi’s unbeaten 136 (159b, 18x4, 1x6) may have given Gujarat a reason to smile after skipper Parthiv Patel elected to bat in the morning. But the day didn’t start on a promising note.
Pankaj trapped Samit Gohil in front in the opening over before Kaul put RoI in command in a long second spell. Kaul first forced run-machine Priyank Panchal to edge one to Karun Nair at first slip before forcing Parthiv Patel to play one on to the stumps just before lunch.
Pankaj struck again in the first over of the afternoon session, with Dhruv Raval nicking to ’keeper Wriddhiman Saha. At 82 for four, Gujarat was in danger of letting the match slip through but Gandhi had other plans.
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The right-handed batsman first steadied the ship with Manprit Juneja. After Juneja threw away a solid start, succumbing to Akhil Herwadkar’s part-time off-spin in the last over before tea, Gandhi changed gears without any fuss in the last session.
Of the 109 runs Gujarat scored in the last session, 73 came off Gandhi’s willow. He was especially severe on the spin duo of Shahbaz Nadeem and Kuldeep Yadav, hammering 92 off their bowling.
Kaul, meanwhile, continued to make inroads. Despite having injured the ring finger of his bowling hand, he added two more wickets to his kitty with the old ball. Pankaj then trapped Chintan Gaja with the new ball before Gandhi saw the day off with tailender Hardik Patel.
With Gujarat being without its left-arm seam duo of Rush Kalaria and R.P. Singh — both sidelined due to niggles — Gandhi knows his work will be far from over on the second morning.
The scores:
Gujarat — 1st innings: Samit Gohil lbw b Pankaj 0, Priyank Panchal c Karun b Pankaj 30, Dhruv Raval c Saha b Kaul 39, Parthiv Patel b Kaul 11, Manprit Juneja c Pujara b Herwadkar 47, Chirag Gandhi (batting) 136, Karan Patel c Saha b Kaul 13, Mohit Thadani c Tiwary b Kaul 4, Chintan Gaja lbw b Pankaj 8, Hardik Patel (batting) 9; Extras (lb-1, w-2): 3; Total (for eight wkts, in 88 overs): 300.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-55, 3-81, 4-82, 5-191, 6-231, 7-237, 8-261.
Rest of India bowling: Pankaj Singh 17-4-77-3, Siddharth Kaul 21-3-73-4, Mohammed Siraj 15-5-44-0, Kuldeep Yadav 15-3-51-0, Shahbaz Nadeem 17-2-41-0, Akhil Herwadkar 3-0-13-1.
Toss: Gujarat.