Harmeet bags four in big RoI Irani victory

Harmeet Singh, one of the architects of India U-19 World Cup win, passed the first big test with good returns.

Harmeet Singh, one of the architects of India U-19 World Cup win, passed the first big test with good returns.

HT Image

The Mumbai left-arm spinner was, according to him, 'playing the biggest match of his career' and picked four wickets to bundle out Rajasthan for 275 and hand Rest of India an innings and 79-run win in the Irani Cup.

"I didn't bowl much in this match but being in the team was in itself great," said the spinner who rated his dismissal of RR Parida the best of the match.

"I loved the way I beat him in the air and induced an edge."

Although Rajasthan, staring at a huge deficit, were slowly gnawing away at the massive RoI lead with Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Robin Bisht putting on 95 for the third wicket, a run out started the downfall.

After Kanitkar was caught short, Bisht misread the line of a flighted Pragyan Ojha delivery and was bowled. Harmeet then mopped up the tail to beat his senior mate Ojha in wickets tally.

"Ojha was very helpful. When I was struggling briefly in the first innings, he came up to me and told me a few things," said Harmeet.

"He is in that classical mould, like Murali Kartik and Maninder Singh and suited for the longer version. But he still has some way to go."

For Rajasthan, the good thing was Robin Bisht's form. After scoring a hundred in the first innings, he followed up with an impressive 67 in the second innings.

Brief scores: Rajasthan 253 and 275 (H Kanitkar 73, R Bisht 67; Harmeet 4/45, P Ojha 2/83, Ishant 1/38) vs Rest of India 607/7 decl