Delhi attack bamboozles TN
Delhi took a big risk by opting for a rather inexperienced attack against the seasoned Tamil Nadu batting line-up. Amongst the three new bowlers drafted in, one's making his debut and the other two have just a couple of matches under their belts. Subhash Rajta reports.
Delhi took a big risk by opting for a rather inexperienced attack against the seasoned Tamil Nadu batting line-up. Amongst the three new bowlers drafted in, one's making his debut and the other two have just a couple of matches under their belts.
Surprisingly, the new-look attack punched much above its weight to have Tamil Nadu reeling at 122 for 5 in reply to Delhi's 318 all out at draw of stumps on Day Three. Delhi management would be both happy and relieved at their performance, for the decision to field a largely inexperienced attack could easily have boomeranged.
The newcomers, however, kept the faith. Left arm spinner Vikas Mishra, in particular, bowled really well to finish the day with three wickets. He bowled a steady line and length, and forced the batsmen to make mistakes. But before he got down to business, Parvinder Awana and Pawan Suyal gave Delhi a bright start. Suyal, forced a return catch early on from Abhinav Mukund to push the hosts on the back foot.
The TN batsmen looked ill at ease as both Awana and Suyal bowled quick, with the occassional short-pitched deliveries.
Mishra then tied down the batsmen further. He had S. Anirudha caught by Sharma and soon after Awana induced an edge from Arun Karthik.
Mishra struck again twice to get rid of skipper Dinesh Karthik and R. Sathish to leave the hosts at 82 for 5. S Badrinath and C Ganapathy, however, saw the day out without any further damage. Interestingly, the day didn't start off as well as it ended for Delhi.
The overnight batsmen Virat Kohli and Puneet Bisht had added 37 runs to the total when R Ashwin lured Kohli into a drive that went straight to the fielder at midwicket. And once Kohli was dismissed, Ashwin didn't take long to wrap up the innings with a five-wicket haul. Rajat Bhatia wasn't available due to a fracture.
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