Nikhil Patil, contributing an unbeaten 54, stood out a forlorn figure among the ruins of the Mumbai innings on the first day of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at the DRIEMS College ground here on Monday.
Mumbai came to grief against the discipline of the Delhi pace attack, and was bundled out for a paltry 156 in the first innings.
Balwinder Singh Sandhu picked off Unmukt Chand as Delhi went to stumps at 20 for one.
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Gautam Gambhir’s decision to field was justified by his pace battery — Sumit Narwal, Pradeep Sangwan and Parvinder Awana — which accounted for the cheap dismissals of seven batsmen on a pitch assisting the quicks.
The batsmen’s failure to apply themselves was shown up by Patil’s innings later in the innings.
“This is not an easy wicket to bat on; you cannot play shots but need to dig in and extract runs,” Patil said, trying to explain his team’s batting collapse.
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“We needed a bit more application from the top order, and could have got to 250-300 on this wicket,” he added.
Losing wickets at regular intervals, Mumbai never looked like it would reach a solid score; there were only two efforts of any substance.
Before Patil, captain Aditya Tare (39) seemed set before getting out to a fine delivery from Narwal. The Delhi pacer, utilising the conditions well by sticking to a steady line, got swing and movement off the seam to keep the batsmen honest.
Save for Tare, the top order departed without a fight. Narwal accounted for Akhil Herwadkar (1) while Awana and Sangwan scalped Shreyas Iyer (13) and Suryakumar Yadav (10).
Rajat Bhatia’s gentle medium accounted for Abhishek Nayar before left-arm spinner Manan Sharma got two more to bring the Mumbai innings to an early end.
Coming in at No.7, Patil made an attempt at reconstruction that came in the shape of a 34-run partnership with Sandhu for the last wicket.
The scores:
Mumbai — 1st innings: Aditya Tare c Yadav b Narwal 39, Akhil Herwadkar c Chand b Narwal 1, Shreyas Iyer c Manhas b Awana 13, Abhishek Nayar lbw b Bhatia 10, Suryakumar Yadav lbw b Sangwan 10, Siddhesh Lad lbw b Sharma 6, Nikhil Patil (not out) 54, Wilkin Mota c Sangwan b Sharma 5, Shardul Thakur run out 1, Harmeet Singh c Yadav b Sangwan 11, Balwinder Singh Sandhu c Yadav b Narwal 3, Extras (w-1, lb-2) 3; Total (in 81 overs): 156.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-22, 3-57, 4-75, 5-79, 6-86, 7-98, 8-102, 9-122.
Delhi bowling: Sumit Narwal 19-6-37-3, Parvinder Awana 11-2-27-1, Pradeep Sangwan 15-6-26-2, Rajat Bhatia 12-9-3-1, Manan Sharma 19-2-39-2, Shivam Sharma 5-0-22-0.
Delhi – 1st innings: Unmukt Chand c Tare b Sandhu 15, Gautam Gambhir (batting) 5; Total (for one wicket in 6.5 overs): 20.
Fall of wicket: 1-20.
Mumbai bowling: Shardul Thakur 3-1-9-0, Balwinder Singh Sandhu 2.5-1-5-1, Wilkin Mota 1-0-6-0.