Date:28/11/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/11/28/stories/2002112803802000.htm

Sport - Cricket

Bhandari bang on target

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI NOV. 27. Vikram Rathour's decision to bat on an under-prepared wicket backfired as Delhi medium-pacer Amit Bhandari exploited the `spots' well and left Himachal Pradesh worried on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy elite group match here on Wednesday.

At stumps, Himachal was 194 for seven after Bhandari struck four times softening the opposition with two early wickets and consolidating the gains later.

In the afternoon, two successive run-outs had reduced Himachal to 81 for four before Sangram Singh and Amit Sharma put on 77 runs. However, the two batsmen, along with Aashish Kapoor, departed in the space of three runs. Later, Virender Sharma and Rahul Panta prevented further damage before fading light forced a premature end to the day's play.

Looking back, Himachal had only itself to blame as almost all its leading batsmen failed to get going in spite of spending a fair amount of time in the middle.

After play began an hour behind schedule due to a moist pitch with lot of damp spots, Rathour chose to bat. Obviously, in Rathour's assessment, the pitch did not appear good enough to last. Bhandari proved it right.

The medium-pacer bowled opener Nischal Gaur to provide the breakthrough in the seventh over. Bowling with a lot of zest, Bhandari was rewarded for his consistent length. His biggest scalp of the day was that of Rathour who, after hitting four boundaries, edged a rising delivery to be caught behind.

Soon, the run-outs of Sandeep Sharma and Rajeev Nayyar, on either side of the lunch interval, allowed Delhi to take the upper-hand.

What followed was Himachal's finest phase of the day.

Sangram Singh (47, two 6s, four 4s) and Amit Sharma (30, five 4s) denied the Delhi bowlers any more success before tea.

Sangram was more aggressive as he carted Sarandeep Singh and Mithun Manhas for a six each.

But after tea, Sarandeep had Sangram caught at forward shot-leg.

Amit, dropped by Manhas off Sarandeep in the first over after tea, followed in the very next over when Bhandari came on for his fourth spell. Amit tried to cut an in-cutter and had his stumps in a mess.

In his next over, Bhandari trapped Aashish Kapoor leg-before to leave Himachal gasping at 161 for eight.

The scores:

Himachal Pradesh_1st innings: Nischal Gaur b Bhandari 17, Sandeep Sharma (run out) 24, Vikram Rathour c Dahiya b Bhandari 20, Rajeev Nayyar (run out) 12, Sangram Singh c Chawla b Sarandeep 47, Amit Sharma b Bhandari 30, Virender Sharma (batting) 17, Aashish Kapoor lbw b Bhandari 1, Rahul Panta (batting) 14, Extras (lb-3, nb-4, w-5) 12, Total (for seven wickets) 194.

Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-53, 3-64, 4-81, 5-158, 6-160, 7-161.

Delhi bowling: Amit Bhandari 20-4-57-4, Arun Singh 10-2-29-0, Rahul Sanghvi 10-2-29-0, Abhishek Sharma 15-5-27-0, Sarandeep Singh 25-13-37-1, Mithun Manhas 3-1-12-0.