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September
25, 2008
 Rest
of India are in a commanding position after the second day's
play of the Irani Cup match at the IPCL Sports Complex in
Vadodara. This was after Delhi collapsed to 177 leaving a
crucial 75-run lead to Rest of India.
The Kumble-led team after getting the lead made
sure that they consolidated their position by stumps by
putting up 99 for 1 in the second essay. ROI batted for 36
overs in which both Rahul Dravid (34* from 111 balls with 2
fours) and S Badrinath (33 from 71 balls with 5 fours) have
come through with decent starts to their knocks. The only loss
for their team is Wasim Jaffer (21 from 36 balls with 3
fours), who departed off the bowling of Pradeep Sangwan but
not before putting on a useful opening stand of 44 along with
Dravid.
Earlier in the day, Delhi got off to a
shocking start when overnight opening batsman Gautam Gambhir
played a
loose drive on the up to nick a warm-up
delivery from Zaheer Khan into the slips. Delhi, however did
comeback in the game through a superb partnership between
Aakash Chopra and Captain Virender Sehwag. That partnership
was all about some stunning singles that were stolen along
with the usual smashing shots from Viru. But Anil Kumble was
clever enough in the damage control by having men along the
boundaries for Sehwag. Just when the partnership seemed to
have been putting Delhi on top, came a moment when Sehwag got
into a war of words with Munaf Patel, who as such was teased
by the two batsmen taking him for granted for stealing singles
infront of him in the 30 yards circle. Sehwag was heard on the
stumps microphone saying something that meant 'Munaf learn
some manners' which clearly didn't go well to the laid back
fast bowler. Munaf was now an angry young man and he decided
to do the right things which was to make the ball talk.
Munaf Patel clocked speeds at nearly 140
kmph while getting the ball to come back sharply along with
the odd delivery that held its line. Aakash Chopra, who had
earlier survived a plumb lbw moment off RP Singh was finally
dismissed as he had to nick one great delivery from Munaf. It
was a great catch as well in the slips from Mohammad Kaif, who
dived to his right to pull off a one-handed catch to his
right. Chopra looked well composed in his 42 off 68 with 7
fours and it will be only hard luck if he doesn't find a
regular place in the Indian Test line-up in the near future.
Meanwhile Munaf continued to give his everything with the
Selectors watching the match closely. Very soon he had his
second victim when an awkward short delivery was fended to the
Keeper down the legside by Virat Kohli to get Delhi to 96 for
3. It was a disaster when Sehwag too perished in the next over
after finding it difficult to handle the extra bounce in a
Kumble delivery which he was trying to late cut. It was
another fabulous catch, this time from Dravid to keep the high
catching standards of the Rest team intact. Prior to that, it
was turning out to be an excellent contest that was heating up
between Sehwag and Kumble. India's highest wicket taker in
Tests had started off with a testing maiden but soon was
smacked over his head for an arrogant six by Viru which was
followed up a bit later by a whip to mid wicket for a
boundary. Kumble did get the last laugh because of his
'never-say-die' attitude. Sehwag made 43 from 57 with 3 fours
and a six.
All of a sudden, Rest of India were all over
Delhi as the lesser known players came out in the middle. In
the 15 minutes of play between 11:00 AM and 11:15 AM, Delhi
lost three quicks and with that also the plot. Now it was all
about the cleaning up job for the Rest bowlers and they did
that with relative ease. The good thing for India was the way
Harbhajan Singh was making the ball turn and bounce sharply
which will give a lot of trouble to the Aussies in the
upcoming series. Anil Kumble on the other hand seemed to have
developed a new delivery in his armoury which looks to have
been copied from Ajantha Mendis. Delhi got bowled out for 177
in 57 overs with all the bowlers except RP Singh chipping in
with the wickets. Munaf's anger certainly was the turning
point of the day as he ended up with a destructive 9-0-41-4!
With already a lead of 174 and 9 second
innings' wickets standing, Rest are clearly in the driver's
seat. Batsmen like Dravid, Laxman know very well how to
convert any advantageous position to winning ones. With the
wicket starting to show signs of big turn and bounce, playing
Kumble and Harbhajan in the second innings will be very
difficult for Delhi.
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