Jharkhand find hopes weathered

Dhanbad: It was a curious case of ignoring the conditions and deciding to go with the preconceived notion of ‘batting first’ that saw hosts Jharkhand on the backfoot at stumps on Day 1 of their first Ranji Trophy home match of the 2014-15 season here at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at Jealgora in Dhanbad on Sunday.
The calculated risk of batting first under overcast conditions backfired for the home side as they were bundled out for a paltry 142 in 55.5 overs, 40 minutes before scheduled time for tea.However, the innings break forced the umpires to go for an early tea. At the close, Tripura were 72 for two in 31 overs with Bishal Singh (25) and Rakesh Solanki unbeaten at the crease.
Jharkhand team management’s decision to opt for bat ignoring the weather seemed too premeditated as three spinners and only a pacer were kept in the playing XI. It was evident from the team selection that the thinktank went by the general slow, turning nature of the track and took lightly the greenish tinge and overcast conditions.
Tripura were pleasantly surprised to be asked to bowl first as their attack was predominantly dependent on medium pacers Rana Dutta, Manisankar Murasingh and Abhijit Sarkar. Their chief tweaker Tushar Saha was ruled out with a calf-muscle injury on the match eve.
The pacers accounted for nine Jharkhand wickets with Dutta being the wrecker-in-chief for the visitors as he claimed five for 64 runs from 19.5 overs. Murasingh and Sarkar took two apiece. Ajay Yadav was the last one to fall when Murasingh’s direct hit from mid-off caught him short of the crease.
It was a beautiful display of disciplined bowling where the pacers didn’t try too hard for wickets and relied on good line and length to fool the batsmen. The fact that all the catches went either behind the stumps or in the slips bears testimony to it.
Notwithstanding Tripura bowlers’ presence of mind, Jharkhand batsmen were also lacking in their application.
Deobrat showed patience and some application on a pitch that was conducive to seam bowling for most part of the day. In spite of being dropped twice in the slips, he was the one who helped Jharkhand cross the 100-run mark.
With the top order back in the pavilion inside the first hour, Deobrat and Ishank Jaggi batted together for close to an hour and a half to stop the fall of wickets. However, when the pair was raising hopes that they will go into the lunch together, Jaggi was done in by a Dutta delivery which swung in to take the edge before going into the hands of wicketkeeper Yogesh Takawale.
Deobrat took his chances after the fall of seventh wicket to gather some runs for the bowlers. In the process he hit three sixes and 10 boundaries in his 121-ball stay in the middle.