Former Ranji champions bowled out for a record low total of 21 as Rajasthan’s debutant Deepak Chahar wreaks havoc in Jaipur.
Hyderabad batsman Srinivas Anoop Pai was almost half asleep when his captain screamed: pad up, fast.
Pai was not expecting to come out to bat till the end of the day. The pitch was flat, the sky was clear and the opposition was Rajasthan, the laggards of the league. But surprisingly, everyone in his dressing room seemed to have been trapped in the middle of a tsunami.
An 18-year-old debutant with a nippy action was wreaking havoc on the fancied opposition with his prodigious swing. And within 75 minutes, Deepak Chahar, the man working up the tsunami, destroyed Hyderabad with 8 for 10.
Hyderabad were bundled out for 21, the lowest in the history of the Ranji Trophy. The entire innings lasted just 15.3 overs and not one batsman could reach double figures. The scorecard read like a telephone number with an international code—6,1,5,0,0,2,4,2,1,0,0.
Just like the batting lineup, many records came tumbling down. The previous lowest was set in the first season (1934-35), when Southern Punjab were bowled out for 22 chasing 114 against Northern India.
The score also equalled the lowest in any first-class game played in India, a record that stood untouched for 95 years.
During the Bombay Quadrangular in 1915-16, the Europeans had bundled the Mohammedans out for 21. Chahar’s figures fell just short of the record effort on debut. Maharashtra’s Vasant Ranjane took 9 for 56 on first-class debut in 1956-57.
Chahar’s bowling led to pandemonium in the opposition camp. Some of the batsmen could not even pad up before the next wicket fell. A few reached the crease running to ensure they were there in time.
His prodigious swing made all batsmen dance at the crease. Not one, including their star skipper DB Ravi Teja, could figure out if the red cherry would swing in or out after landing on the placid pitch.
Unable to make up their mind, almost all batsmen kept hopping and skipping, shuffling their feet like blindfolded soldiers walking past landmines.
But the result was the same—complete annihilation. The ball either kissed the edge of the bat to end in the keeper’s gloves, thudded into the pads or rattled the timber, leading to a procession of batsmen.
Surprisingly, the game was played to empty galleries. There was not a single photographer to catch the action. A hand-held video camera, thankfully, captured all the action for posterity.
Brief scores: Hyderbad: 21 in 15.3 ovrs (DL Chahar 8/10) Rajasthan: 220/2 in 72 overs (HH Kanitkar 100*)
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