Gujarat push Rest on backfoot

Gujarat opener Samit Gohil has had a quiet run since his record-breaking 359 not out in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Odisha in the last week of 2016. Even on the opening day of the Irani Cup here on Friday, he fell for a nought in the match’s first over, playing across to Pankaj Singh and trapped leg before with the ball heading towards leg stump.

Having watched his team post 358 in 12 minutes shy of eight hours, Gohil made himself counted by pulling off a spectacular one-handed catch, diving to his left at wide first slip to remove Rest of India opener Abhinav Mukund in the innings’ ninth over.

The catch assumes significance as the Tamil Nadu left-handed opener is known to play long innings and tire the opposition out. Gohil was alert in holding on to the offering off the bowling of medium-pacer Chitan Gaja, his reflexes sharp even as the ball was travelling fast.

The catch also paved the way for Ranji Trophy champions Gujarat to take wickets at regular intervals, restricting a strong Rest of India to 206/9 at Day 2 stumps on Saturday. Gujarat have a 152-run lead with one wicket to take.

Catching made the difference and Rest of India fielders will do well to learn a lesson or two from Gujarat as regards slip catching. Mukund himself and Shahbaz Nadeem floored easy offerings earlier in the morning to let Gujarat add crucial runs and go past 350. Mukund dropped a regulation catch to his left off Ishwar Chaudhary at third slip when Gujarat were 343/9. Siddharth Kaul had to wait longer for his fifth wicket.

In the next over by Pankaj Singh, Nadeem at gully spilled a face-high chance off No. 10 Hardik Patel. These drops added to Friday afternoon’s lapse when Test batsman Karun Nair missed a simple chance at first slip offered by Mohit Thadani even before Gujarat touched 250.

All the three easy chances cost Rest of India at least 75 runs as Rest of India bowlers struggled to dismiss overnight centurion Chirag Gandhi, who added 72 for the ninth wicket with Hardik.

Resuming at 136, and Gujarat at 300/8, Gandhi went after the bowlers, particularly Pankaj and chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, throwing his bat at almost everything and connecting a majority of the time. On the occasion that he failed to connect, a leading edge went back to Siddharth Kaul (5/86) for the right-armer’s ninth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.

So dominating was Gandhi that in the first 50 minutes that he was in the crease in the morning, he scored all of Gujarat’s 33 runs. After a frustrating wait, Manoj Tiwary held on to a skier at second slip to end Gujarat’s first innings at the drinks break.

Gujarat made no mistake with catches that came their way. After Gohil’s stunning catch, Dhruv Raval came with a good reflex catch at forward short leg to dismiss Mumbai’s Akhil Herwadkar off Hardik, who bowled unchanged from the 21st over for a spell of 25-5-73-3.

Much was expected from India’s second Test triple centurion, Karun Nair. Having shown promise of playing a long innings, he failed to read the line against Gaja and inside-edged to wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel.

Rest skipper Cheteshwar Pujara made the most of the batting conditions as the pitch began to dry. He has excelled on such conditions and has played one big knock too many. This was an ideal setting for him to get Test match preparation and continue his roaring form this first-class season, beginning with 166 in Duleep Trophy and continuing into the Test series against New Zealand and England.

It was here that Nair missed out on a big knock. While Pujara looed firm, driving when the ball was in the area and giving it the respect when needed, he watched helplessly wickets fall at the other end before bringing about his own downfall, edging a hook off Ishwar Chaudhary to wicketkeeper.

Debutant right-arm medium-pacer Mohit Thadani worked the worn-out SG ball inwards, trapping Bengal twins Manoj Tiwary for 12 and first-choice Test wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha for nought in the space of three overs in his third spell that read 7-3-12-2.

Rest looked like batting for two days and put up a total beyond Gujarat’s reach when Nair and Pujara were in the middle. That they slid from 136/3 to 206/9, including a phase where they lost four wickets for one run has handed Gujarat the initiative.