Ishant Sharma bagged a rich haul, Shikhar Dhawan scored an attractive unbeaten 99 in his 99th limited overs match and Ajinkya Rahane made a half century as India ‘A’ posted a bonus point win over Bengal in the first match of the Airtel Challenger Series here on Saturday.
Of the five member new national selection committee, three — Saba Karim, Vikram Rathour and Rajinder Singh Hans — were present at the Saurashtra Cricket Association’s stadium at Khanderi Village and would have been impressed with Ishant’s showing.
Under constant examination following a surgery to mend the ankle of his landing foot, Ishant lifted the India ‘A’ attack with two wickets each in his second and third spells.
Even with the national team in Sri Lanka for the ICC World Twenty20 tournament and a select India ‘A’ team in New Zealand, the three teams in the Challenger series was filled with plenty of talent to draw attention from the selectors and fans alike.
Once Bengal chose to bat, the focus inevitably was on Ishant after his first comeback match in the Irani Cup at Bangalore.
There was a likeness to the three pitches prepared — flat and brownish — on the centre square for this tournament.
Initially Ishant did not bend his back in his first four over spell, but came back and removed Subhomoy Das and Debabrata Das with short deliveries. Ishant then teased and drew an error-prone drive from the stoical and brilliant Wriddhiman Saha and rounded off with the wicket of Sourav Sarkar.
The compact looking Jayojit Basu stroked and hit the ball wonderfully well to make an impression, while Saha showed defiance and did not waste opportunities to score quick runs.
Towards the end Arnab Nandi thumped the ball to many parts of the field and shared an entertaining 84-run seventh-wicket partnership with Saha.
The India ‘A’ fielding was on occasions half-hearted and sloppy, but wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik made no mistake and Sharma (slip), Rahane (mid-wicket) and Awana (long on) took superb catches to mount pressure on the inexperienced Bengal team.
Left arm spinner Ojha too had a good day, first giving the breakthrough and increasing it to three for Bengal to be shot out for a paltry score of 193 in a mere 41.1 overs.
The scores: Bengal: Jayojit Basu c Ishant b Ojha 42 ( 52b, 7x4 ), S. Goswami (run out) 11 ( 22b ), Sandipan Das c Karthik b Ojha 5 ( 11b ), W. Saha c Badrinath b Ishant 65 ( 73b, 5x4, 1x6 ), Subhomoy Das c Karthik b Ishant 9 ( 22b, 1x4 ), L.R. Shukla c Awana b Yusuf 0 ( 3b ), Debabrata Das c Rahane b Ishant 1 ( 4b ), A. Nandi c Badrinath b Ojha 43 ( 45b, 3x4, 2x6 ), Sourav Sarkar c Karthik b Ishant 0 ( 5b ), V.P. Singh c Karthik b Mithun 1 ( 2b ), I. Saxena (not out) 4 ( 9b, 1x4 ), Extras (lb-7, w-5): 12; Total (in 41.1 overs): 193.
Fall of wickets: 1-32, 2-63, 3-71, 4-88, 5-89, 6-92, 7-176, 8-176, 9-181.
India ‘A’ bowling: Ishant 9-1-29-4, Mithun 10-0-47-1, Awana 6-0-29-0, Ojha 9.1-0-40-3, Yusuf 5-0-35-1, Badrinath 2-0-6-0.
India ‘A’: S. Dhawan (not out) 99 ( 112b, 12x4 ), R. Uthappa c Basu b Sarkar 25 ( 19b, 5x4 ), A. Rahane c&b Basu 63 ( 84b, 5x4 ), S. Badrinath (not out) 6 ( 9b, 1x4 ); Extras (w-3): 3; Total (for two wkts. in 37.2 overs); 196.
Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-185.
Bengal bowling: Sarkar 6-1-27-1, V.P. Singh 8-0-46-0, Shukla 7-0-42-0, Nandi 8-0-33-0, Saxena 6-0-32-0, Basu 2.2-0-16-1.
