Bhuvi’s five-for keeps UP in hunt against Bengal in Ranji Trophy
While playing for Uttar Pradesh in a first-class match almost after seven years, Meerut’s bowler showed his class against Bengal on Day One
The entire team lined up and cheered for Bhuvneshwar Kumar as soon as he stepped towards the pavilion at the end of first day’s play of Elite Group ‘B’ Ranji Trophy between former champions and hosts Uttar Pradesh and Bengal at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur on Friday.
In fact, Kumar, 33, deserved this kind of appreciation by all as he turned out to be the biggest star for the day even though Uttar Pradesh’s show with the willow was pathetic on the home turf and they conceded 35-run first innings lead with Bengal’s score reading 5/95 after UP scored just 60.
Meerut’s Kumar, who took four wickets in a Test match against South Africa at Johannesburg in 2018, his last first-class match so far, was a treat to watch for the pace bowlers of the two sides as he showed what happens when you are disciplined in your attack and plan your game. While playing his 71st Ranji Trophy match with 218 wickets under his belt, Kumar recorded his 13th five-wicket haul on Friday.
For the first five overs of his uninterrupted spell, Kumar kept testing Bengal openers Sourav Paul and Sayan Ghosh with his accurate swings. Ghosh chose against trying anything extra against Kumar and stayed unbeaten on 37 (87b, 5x4), but Paul (13, 31b 2x4) fell into Kumar’s trap and edged a regulation catch to keeper Aryan Juyal in the 11th over.
The scoreboard then read 1/32 and Bengal batters had no clue about what was coming next from Kumar, who looked in vintage touch on Friday in whites, almost after seven years in a Ranji Trophy game as he last played for Uttar Pradesh in November 2016 against Mumbai at Mysore. He soon trapped Sudi Kumar Gharami (0) in-front of the wicket with a perfect inswinger before beating Anustup Mazumdar (12, 13b, 3x4) through the gap between his bat and the pad.
And just before snapping the day’s last wicket in the form of Abhishek Porel (8, 13b, 2x4) also by trapping him in-front of the wicket, Kumar almost teased Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary with a good bouncing swing outside the off stump. However, Tiwary couldn’t keep himself away from edging a straight catch to keeper Juyal while trying to play early.
Kumar, who took 24 wickets for Uttar Pradesh in the new domestic season, including 13 wickets in T20 games, didn’t get a bowling partner from the other end otherwise on a green top wicket, the picture of the first day’s play could have been different. Both pacers Yash Dayal and Ankit Rajpoot remained wicketless.
Earlier, Uttar Pradesh witnessed their worst batting performance against a disciplined bowling attack after Bengal chose to field after winning the toss. None of the batter showed commitment and lacked applications before being bundled out cheaply in just 20.5 overs. This was UP’s lowest ever score against Bengal in the first innings as in 2009 at the same venue they were shot out for 62.
Eight batters couldn’t even touch the double-figure mark and it was yet another failure of ‘outsider’ Nitish Rana, who has been leading the side yet again despite the team’s poor showing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy this season. He made just 11 before being bowled by Ishan Porel, who finished with 2/24. High-flying Sameer Rizvi too flopped with his maiden Ranji Trophy season, scoring just seven before being caught by Porel off Jaiswal. Samarth Singh scored highest with 13, whereas Aryan Juyal scored 11.
Besides Porel, two other pacers Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal (3/20) and Mohd Kaif (4/14) lived up to the expectations and exploited the conditions well even though the match started almost after the lunch session due to the bad weather.
