Bihar defends wickets on last day for draw

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 20

It’s tough to hold on to crease for nearly five hours facing 102 balls and scoring only 21 runs, but Bihar’s middle-order rescuer Mohd Rahmat Ullah did this to stop Chandigarh from achieving an outright victory, on the final day of the Ranji Trophy match, at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium.

After routing Bihar for 115 runs, while defending 420 runs, city bowlers were confident of redoing the same as they put in the visors to follow-on. But Bihar did well to score 175/6 at the drawn of the stumps on the last day.

The visitors held on to their nerves in a better manner, if compared to first innings performance, to manage for a draw. Chandigarh bagged three points, while Bihar took home one from this outing. The last day of the match was nothing less than a real test of patience for both the teams.

The Chandigarh bowlers got to bowl 70 overs, which they were wanted to get bowled out the visitors, but Bihar batsman came out ideally with a mind set of taking no risks.

Resuming from overnight 4/1, Bihar openers were facing an uphill task of stopping the fall of wickets. The weather supported Chandigarh lads as the match started right on schedule. Bihar openers Indrajit Kumar and Nishant Kumar, who put on only six-run partnership in the first innings, were better this time.

The duo played well against city’s pace attack lead by Anirudh Kanwar, Shreshth Nirmohi and Jaskarandeep Singh.

As the match progressed, the duo turned out to be more comfortable with the bat. Having no other option city skipper Manan Vohra brought in Gurinder Singh, who claimed 6/24 to pack Bihar in their first innings, to the attack.

Gurinder took a little time to settle down but achieved success on the third bowl of his fifth over. The left-arm spinner accounted for Indrajit for 44 off 69 balls, with six boundaries. The opening pair raised a 101-run partnership to boost up the following batsmen.

Rathour thereafter joined Nishant but his stint remained short. Gurinder once again clicked to claim Rathour’s wicket for a duck on the team’s of 111.

After observing a good response from the pitch, Vohra played his card by introducing anther seasoned left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma.

As Gurinder-Sharma took command, the city skipper started getting some desired results. Both spinners made Bihar batsmen to open up their arms, so to lure them to commit mistakes. At one such incident, Nishant tried to play a cover drive off Gurinder’s over pitch delivery but ended up losing his wicket. Gurinder caught Nishant off his own bowling for 70 off 115 balls, studded with 12 boundaries.

At 127/3, last innings hero Babul Kumar, who had shown great skills in the first innings, joined Ullah.

The duo stayed at crease for nearly 15 overs but raised only 25 runs partnership for the 4th wicket. Raman Bishnoi, who bowled only two overs, claimed Babul’s wicket for 21off 66 balls (three boundaries) on the team’s total of 152.

Giving rest to Gurinder, who bowled 25 overs, and Sharma, who bowled 20 overs, Vohra put Jaskarandeep to attack. The right-arm pacer without delay brought a little relief as he claimed Vikash Ranjan (5) and Bihar skipper Ashutosh Aman (5) to reduce Bihar at 175/6.

However, Ullah remained on the crease to deny local bowlers from claiming further wickets.

He remained unbeaten along with Vivek (0) to ensure atleast one point for his side. Gurinder once again proved his worth with the ball as he accounted for 3/68, to take his match tally to 9/92, while Jaskarandeep (2/27) and Bishnoi (1/5) were the other main wicket takers.

Mission successful

Things were tough for Bihar but Ullah helped them to achieve the target of playing a calm cricket. “Considering past days weather conditions, we were expecting to play 50 to 55 overs today. But as the day progressed, we realised to stay on the crease for a longer period of time. We aimed only for straight delivers, rather taking risks. Even against spinners, we went for the same motive. There was no scope of winning the game,” said Ullah. The 35-year-old seasoned right-handed batsman further added, “We had a good chance of stopping the hosts on a decent total but we failed to capitalise chances. Facing the hosts bowling attack at their home turf was not easy and we took plenty of time to come out with a plan.” He made his List-A debut for Bihar in the 2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy and made his first-class debut for Bihar in last season’s Ranji Trophy. While discussing about Bihar’s previous match 10-wicket lost against Puducherry, he said the batsmen failed to play on a spinning track. “The conditions were different at Puducherry. The pitch was wet throughout the match and we completely failed to get play on that. Against Chandigarh, we did a decent job and I hope to improve it further,” said Ullah.