Healing drive by Delhi duo

MUMBAI: Opener Aakash Chopra was hospitalized following a bout of vertigo during the semifinal against Baroda, while all-rounder Rajat Bhatia aggravated a hairline fracture when he was hit on the left wrist during a practice session at Indore.

On Thursday, their unbeaten 160- run partnership for the fifth wicket was what the doctor had ordered.

By lunch, Delhi’s innings needed a revival after Uttar Pradesh swing bowler Praveen Kumar took three wickets for just five runs to leave Delhi tottering at 15 for three. Gautam Gambhir, Shikar Dhawan and Mithun Manhas failed to comprehend the extent of swing Kumar generated and were back in the hut by the seventh over.

Shortly, Sudeep Tyagi, in his rookie year, became the joint-highest wicket-taker when he had Aditya Jain caught at second slip by Suresh Raina. Delhi were 36 for 4 after Uttar Pradesh were bowled out for 342.

Skipper Kaif, ever the busy-body on the field, had things going his way. Delhi in a spot of bother, were staring down the barrel; a humiliation imminent. Bhatia joined Chopra in the middle. Being roommates on the tour for a while, Chopra and Bhatia are no strangers to sharing space.

At the Wankhede they shouldered the burden of keeping Delhi alive in this final. At stumps, Chopra remained unbeaten on 85. Bhatia, who scored runs at a faster rate, was on 81.

On the eve of the game, Chopra, who owns the finest technique but has taken flak for his poor strike rate, spoke of his desire to express himself by letting his hair down while at the crease and getting over his obsession of making big scores in search of an India spot, which has been elusive for a while. Chopra even pointed out that he hit a six to reach a double century this season, though he denied being influenced by the T20 game.

But with wickets falling at the other end, Chopra had to play according to the need of the hour and had to shackle himself. He took 19 balls to get off the mark with a push to mid-on but it was soon evident that the experienced opener had a game-plan in place.

Chopra comfortably moved out of the way and drove anything slightly off the mark to the boundary.

Bhatia carrying the hairline fracture into this match played with a strapped wrist and took a muscle relaxant before going out to the middle. When he played the sweep shot it hurt, but his affair with injuries, including a stress-fracture to the back a couple of years ago, has taught him how to play with pain.

Bhatia smashed a long-hop from leg-spinner Piyush Chawla for a six over mid-wicket, one of his three sixes while Chopra preferred to play along the ground with most of his runs coming through drives on the off side. Both Piyush and the left-arm spinner Praveen Gupta went wicket-less as the fast bowlers tried, Kaif didn’t have too many options as Chopra and Bhatia grinded away patiently.

Both the overnight batsmen are within touching distance of the three-figure mark, but that will only be a small personal milestone as they go into Day Three with a deficit of 146 runs.

 Scorecard
UP 1st innings: (overnight 292/7): R Shukla c M Manhas b R Bhatia 96, B Kumar c A Jain b S Narwal 10, P Gupta c R Bhatia b P Sangwan 27, S Tyagi not out 0. Extras: (b 1, lb 13, nb 5, w 4) 23. Total: 342 in 110.1 overs. Bowling: Sangwan 27.1-7-80-4; Bhandari 21-3-79-0, Narwal 26-5-81-4, Bhatia 19-3-41-1; Nanda 16-2-39-1, Manhas 1-0-8-0.

Delhi (1st innings): A Chopra batting 85, G Gambhir c S Raina b P Kumar 0, S Dhawan b P Kumar 14, M Manhas lbw b P Kumar 0, A Jain c S Raina b S Tyagi 8, R Bhatia n.o. 81, Extras: (lb 2, w 2, nb 4) 8. Total: 196/4 in 67 overs. FoW: 1-1, 2-15, 3-15, 4-36. Bowling: Kumar 21-6-44-3; Tyagi 15-4-44-1; Kumar 12-4-30-0; P Chawla 10-2-47-0; P Gupta 7-2-22-0; R Shukla 2-0-6-0.