It was surprising to see Rajasthan choosing to bat first on a pitch with good grass covering on an overcast morning in Delhi's winters. But when their batsmen struggled to cope with the ball movement, no one was surprised.
The pitch and heavy weather provided so much assistance that the modest Delhi pace attack looked menacing as Rajasthan's inadequately equipped batting line-up was dismissed for 141 in 64.1 overs at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium on Sunday.
In reply, Delhi were 10 for 1 in four overs losing the wicket of skipper Gautam Gambhir before bad light, which also delayed the start of the match by one hour in the morning, forced the umpires to call the day off.
Such was the struggle of Rajasthan that one of their openers, Siddharth Saraf, played 37 balls before getting out for zero in the 11th over with their score reading just 8 runs. The only batsman who put up some resistance was Rajesh Bishnoi. Barring him, no other batsmen could cross 30-run mark and only four achieved the double-figures.
On a wicket that demanded intense focus and courage, and some luck too, Bishnoi batted with confidence cashing on every loose ball that came his way. The well-built 27-year-old from Bikaner was severe on the bad balls while showing respect to the good ones - the right strategy on a bowler-friendly pitch.
Parvinder Awana, easily the best bowler in Delhi line-up in this match, lived up to his stature by picking up four wickets for just 15 runs. In his first spell of five overs, he gave just one run. Young pacer Navdeep Saini also supported Awana well from the other end with three wickets.
While wickets around Bishnoi kept falling, he remained rock-solid at one end trying to forge a meaningful partnership with every incoming batsman. But, to his disappointment, no one showed enough resolve to fight the conditions. And when Bishnoi finally got out at 141, the next three batsmen followed him without adding a single run.
The Delhi bowlers were also guilty of using the short ball too much, especially the inexperienced Saini. He beat batsmen with his pace and movement whenever he pitched the ball a couple of feet short of the driveable length. With one such delivery he dismissed Robin Bist, Rajasthan’s mainstay, as the ball straightened after coming in with the angle.
But the apparent misuse of the short ball let two partnerships, small yet potentially significant for Rajasthan, flourish between Bishnoi-Ashok Menaria and Bishnoi-Dishant Yagnik.
Delhi, who returned to their home ground after a long time, have a chance to build on the platform provided by their bowlers on Monday. Although pitch still has some help for the bowlers.
Brief Scores
Rajasthan: 141 in 64.1 overs (Rajesh Bishnoi 57, Aristh Singhvi 28; Parvinder Awana 4/15, Navdeep Saini 3/31) lead Delhi: 10/1 in 4 overs (Gautam Gambhir 0, Unmukt Chand 4 not out, Varun Sood 4 not out; Aniket Chowdhary 1/4) by 131 runs.