Mohammed Shami’s third spell in the post-lunch session against North Zone, when he showed glimpses of his old self, was the highlight of Day 1 of the Duleep Trophy that kick-started the new domestic season at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Having made to bat first by East Zone, North overcame testing conditions to finish at 308/6 at stumps on Day 1 as all their batsmen got starts, but none of them went on to a big score.
Playing his first first-class match since his outing for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy last November, Shami had only one wicket to show at the end of the day – that of Sahil Lotra with the old ball, but it was overall an impressive outing for the 34-year-old. In the first two spells, Shami searched for rhythm and his sharpness was clearly missing, which made life a bit easier for North Zone openers Shubham Khajuria and captain Ankit Kumar, who put on 49 for the first wicket.
In the first session, Shami had two spells — 5-2-10-0 and 3-0-10-0. But after lunch, when he started proceedings, Shami was in his usual element, getting the ball to curve both ways. That spell (4-2-9-0), even though it didn’t bring him any wickets, showed Shami still had gas for the longer format.
Hoping to make a comeback to the Test squad after a long hiatus, more than the wickets, the fact that Shami sent down 17 overs on the day, showed he is in good physical condition. He shifted through spells of varying intensity without much discomfort, something that might prompt him to go even harder in the days to come. The pacer with 229 Test wickets to his name wasn’t considered for India’s last two away tours to Australia and England.
Shami aside, there was some concern around fellow Bengal seamer Mukesh Kumar, who had to spend nine overs off the field to tend to his hamstring. But Mukesh returned to the field in the middle session to ease East Zone’s concerns. Their bowlers leaked plenty of runs in the first phase as North made 139 in 34 overs despite losing three wickets.
All the three wickets were taken by 21-year-old Manishi from Jamshedpur, who was accurate enough to take advantage of the batters’ false shots.
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For North, Delhi’s Ayush Badoni top-scored with 63 as the likes of Nishant Sindhu (47) and Yash Dhull (39) couldn’t make use of the start they got.
There were no big partnerships for North Zon on the day, with the 67-run stand for the third wicket between Dhull and Badoni the highest. At stumps, Kanhaiya Wadhawan (42) and Mayank Dagar (28) were the unbeaten batsmen, having already put on 36 runs for the seventh wicket.
In the other quarterfinal, Central Zone’s Danish Malewar (198 batting) and Rajat Patidar (125) feasted on North-East Zone’s attack as the team finished the day at 432/2. Aryal Jurel retired hurt on 60.
Brief scores:
- North Zone 308/6 (Ayush Badoni 63, Nishant Sindhu 47; Manishi 3/90) vs East Zone.
- Central Zone/ 432/2 (Danish Malewar 198 (n.o) and Rajat Patidar 125) vs North-East Zone.
