Capital gains

Gambhir presses Delhi’s advantage home after seamers dismiss Mumbai for 166 on Day One

MUMBAI: Wankhede stadium saw a light smattering of spectators take in a dramatic first day in the Ranji trophy’s traditional heavyweight clash on Friday. What crowd there was, when not busy checking the India Pakistan score and spreading rumours of variable accuracy around the stands had a firm idea of what they wanted to see.

Children for the most part, they nonetheless showed a keen enough comprehension of the facts surrounding Mumbai’s and Delhi’s Ranji teams. Of course the spinners would be the ones doing all the damage, and Delhi’s three grand openers Virender Sehwag, Aakash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir were sure to fire. In the end, all but one of those presumptions proved founded on shaky ground.

Delhi’s Gautam Gambhir would have been a satisfied man after the day’s play. He all but tamed a wicket that proved a challenge too far for the other batsmen on display, and despite being occasionally beaten, showed a wilfulness and confidence that would serve him well in the Indian test squad. That India’s top order were busy failing while he was excelling will add to the warm feeling, as he resumes on Saturday 81, alongside Rajat Bhatia. The rest of the day’s action, however, belonged to the bowlers.

Having elected to bat, somewhat disappointing the juvenile hordes baying for a view of Sehwag (they did get a brief one later in the day, before he fell for 16), Mumbai set about the task of self destruction with notable application. The savagers from Delhi’s side turned out to be the inexperienced pair of Ishant Sharma and Pradeep Sangwan, who generated good pace, but more importantly the type of swing that would warm bowling consultant Manoj Prabhaker’s heart.

Both ended with three wickets, and despite spinners Sehwag and debutant Narinder Singh chipping in, there was no question of who Delhi’s bowling heroes were. Mumbai recovered slightly from 67/5, but in the end 166 all out just about did justice to their assortment of loose shots and inapt defence.

With Delhi seven runs behind Mumbai’s total with six wickets in hand, the first innings lead points are in the bag, and all available evidence points towards Mumbai struggling to achieve anything from this match. Vijay Dahiya spoke afterwards of his pride in his team.

“It is always very tough to come to Mumbai, but I was pleased with their effort,’ he said. He went on to single out Sangwan, at all of 17-years old. ‘He obviously has great bowling talent, but the best thing is he is mentally very strong.” With India’s domestic version of El Clasico one day old, the psychological battle would always loom large, and Delhi have struck a firm blow already.

 Scorecard
Mumbai (1st innings):
S Kukreja b Sangwan 4, A Rahane b I Sharma 8, R Sharma lbw Sangwan 10, A Muzumdar c Kohli b Bhatia 8, P Naik c Sangwan b N Singh 40, A Nair c Manhas b Sehwag 2, A Agarkar c Nanda b N Singh 32, V Samant c I Sharma b Sangwan 12, R Powar c Sangwan b I Sharma 20, B Patel not out 4, A Salvi b I Sharma 0

Extras: (lb-12, w-7, nb-7) 26; Total (all out in 44.3 overs) 166

FoW: 1-4 (Kukreja, 0.4 ov), 2-23 (Rahane, 5.1 ov), 3-32 (Sharma, 6.6 ov), 4-64 (Muzumdar, 14.5 ov), 5-67 (Nayar, 17.6 ov), 6-120 (Agarkar, 35.3 ov), 7-133 (Samant, 38.6 ov), 8-159 (Powar, 42.3 ov), 9-165 (Naik, 43.1 ov), 10-166 (Salvi, 44.3 ov)

Bowling: Sangwan 12-4-38-3, I Sharma 10.3-1-60-3, Bhatia 7-2-7-1, Sehwag 6-0-21-1, Nanda 4-2-2-0, Narinder Singh 5-2-26-2

Delhi (1st innings):

A Chopra lbw Salvi 12, G Gambhir batting 81, V Sehwag c Samant b Nair 16, V Kohli c Samant b Salvi 19, M Manhas run out 4, R Bhatia batting 18

Extras: (lb-6, nb-3) 9; Total: (for 4 wkts, in 43 overs) 159
FoW: 1—42 (Chopra, 11.1 ov), 2-76 (Sehwag, 18.1 ov), 3-127 (Kohli, 31.5 ov), 4-133 (Manhas, 33.4 ov).
Bowling: Agarkar 7-1-36-0, Salvi 12-2-28-2, Nair 15-5-39-1, Powar 7-0-37-0, B Patel 2-0-13-0