Sport

Delhi restricts Rest of India to 252

— Photo: PTI

BREATHING FIRE: Ishant Sharma, who troubled the Rest of India batsmen, traps Rahul Dravid in front.

VADODARA: Just two seasons ago, Ishant Sharma was one of the young tearaways in the Delhi Ranji squad learning the nuances of swing under Manoj Prabhakar. Today, he is the leader of the pace pack.

Rest of India, looking to dictate the trend of play in the Irani Cup, learnt a few harsh lessons from the India spearhead.

Pradeep Sangwan’s three-wicket burst with the old ball after tea, including those of M.S. Dhoni and Anil Kumble, restricted Rest to 252. At stumps on the first day, Delhi was 21 for no loss in five overs.

Ishant rattled the established Rahul Dravid with pace during a five-over spell in the morning, earning respect but not wickets, as Dravid and Rest’s other opener Wasim Jaffer, dropped anchor.

But Ishant returned after lunch and deceived Dravid with a ball which jagged back after pitching. He leapt in joy when the umpire upheld his leg-before appeal.

Dravid played the waiting game after being asked to open with Jaffer, his first boundary coming in the 20th over.

Jaffer looked in control at the crease, feet moving well against the Delhi new ball attack, a flick to the mid-wicket fence and a cracking drive to the ropes at extra-cover standing out.

Delhi turned to spin in the 15th over and with the Rest openers determined to wear down the attack, the bowlers looked to be in for a long haul.

Jaffer left just two balls after reaching his half-century, mistiming leg-spinner Chetanya Nanda to Virat Kohli at silly point. His 50 came off 91 balls and contained five hits to the fence. S. Badrinath walked in with Rest at 77 for one at the 25-over mark and watched Dravid depart in the fourth over after lunch to that beauty from Ishant.

Badrinath gained confidence from the way V.V.S. Laxman shaped up against the Delhi pacemen, looking to rotate the strike and playing confidently, before dragging a sharp Ishant ball on to the stumps.

Badrinath will eagerly await his turn to bat again to justify his promotion to No. 3 ahead of Laxman and Mohd. Kaif

The walk back to the pavilion would have been long for the India ‘A’ skipper, unable to capitalise on the first chance to display form with the bat after Sachin Tendulkar’s elbow problem opened a window of opportunity for him.

Ishant’s second spell of 7-2-14-2 — bowled during the hottest period of the day — depleted his energy level, but he recovered to return and end last man Munaf Patel’s rampaging ways. Ishant finished with three for 22 off 12.3 overs.

Virender Sehwag ensured that the bowlers and fielders kept their chin up despite the heat as the big names in the Rest middle-order played into his hands.

Sehwag, aware of his attack’s limitations on the slow track, kept faith in Nanda (three for 60) to block one end up and brought himself on when he sensed a partnership developing. Laxman fell for the bait, spooning a catch to mid-wicket.

Dhoni failed to get going as he swished at a Sangwan delivery outside the off-stump for Aakash Chopra to latch on to the ball at slip.

Parthiv Patel was left out due to Rest of India’s gambit to open with Dravid.

The scores:

Rest of India — 1st innings: W. Jaffer c Kohli b Nanda 50, Dravid lbw b Ishant 46, S. Badrinath b Ishant 16, V.V.S. Laxman c Manhas b Sehwag 17, Mohd. Kaif c Gambhir b Nanda 29, M.S. Dhoni c Chopra b Sangwan 5, A. Kumble c Bisht b Sangwan 9, Harbhajan (not out) 26, Zaheer c Bisht b Sangwan 0, R.P. Singh c Chopra b Nanda 18, Munaf b Ishant 19; Extras (b-3, lb-1, nb-13): 17; Total (in 81.3 overs): 252.

Fall of wickets: 1-77, 2-114, 3-127, 4-162, 5-172, 6-186, 7-186, 8-187, 9-225.

Delhi bowling: Nehra 14-2-59-0, Ishant 12.3-5-22-3, Sangwan 15-1-57-3, Bhatia 4.5-0-28-0, Nanda 27.1-3-60-3, Sehwag 8-1-22-1.

Delhi — 1st innings: A. Chopra (batting) 16, G. Gambhir (batting) 4; Extras (lb-1): 1; Total (for no loss in five overs): 21.

Rest of India bowling: Zaheer 2-1-8-0, R.P. Singh 2-0-7-0, Kumble 1-0-5-0.

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