Jammu and Kashmir 21 for 2 (Iqbal 12*, Choudhary 1-3, Akash Deep 1-9) trail Rest of India 237 (Smaran 68, Mohan 60, Sunil 3-36, Nasir 3-59) by 216 runs
Fast bowlers had a ball on a lush green surface at the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar, picking up ten of the 12 wickets that fell on the opening day of the Irani Cup.
After opting to bowl, J&K found early success when Sanant Sangwan’s tentativeness made him feather an edge to the wicketkeeper. But there was a sense that the hosts were letting favourable conditions go to waste. Mir and Sunil took a little time to get their lines right. They kept switching angles every over. Mir’s struggle extended to his front foot landing where it shouldn’t, bowling three no-balls in his first 19 deliveries. That would be a theme throughout the day. J&K bowled 14 extras, 12 of them front-foot no-balls; Mir bowled seven of them.
Yet when they got their lengths right, the swing and seam movement on offer made it tough for the batters. Like when Nasir struck with his second legal ball – he had started his spell with a no-ball. He got a length ball outside off to rear up while swinging away, and Sudip Kumar Gharami edged it straight to second slip.
Shikhar Mohan, who opened the batting for RoI, was spot-on with his judgement of length for a large part of his innings. He was happy to let the ball come to him and play the waiting game, and yet did not let the scoreboard stall. By the time he reached his half-century in 78 balls, he had hit nine fours. Sunil, though, kept putting pressure on J&K. The left-arm seamer got the ball to move both ways and often had Mohan fishing at deliveries he could have easily left.
At the other end, Sarfaraz, RoI’s vice-captain, was a picture of confidence. He seldom poked at deliveries outside off, played as late as he could and had impeccable judgement of deliveries to leave. He hit five fours in his stay and built a 76-run partnership with Mohan, offering the 21-year-old a word of advice whenever he needed it.
Soon after lunch, though, Mohan was double-bluffed by Nasir and a promising knock was cut short. When at the top of his bowling mark, Nasir asked deep square leg to move to his left, and then dished out a full and wide ball outside off. Mohan went chasing at it sans any footwork and was caught behind. Ten minutes before the break, he had got a reprieve using DRS after being given out lbw.
RoI lost 4 for 22 in an 11-over phase in the middle session, allowing J&K to claw back. Only a rearguard from Smaran helped them breach the 200-run mark. He was on 13 off 30 when Akash Deep walked out to bat at No. 9 and raced to 50 off 69 balls. He added 39 for the eighth wicket with Akash Deep and then contributed 38 off 32 balls in a 43-run ninth-wicket stand with Mukesh Choudhary that took 45 balls.
With about half an hour to survive, J&K had to tweak their opening combination. Shubham Khajuria went off for about ten minutes but RoI were bowled out in seven minutes after he came on.
Choudhary then drew first blood when he had Shubham Pundir caught behind upon review. Replays shows his bat grazing his front pad while being close to the ball, a decision that did not please him. Mir’s stay as a nightwatch was as painful as it was brief with Akash Deep’s sharp short ball accounting for him. Despite being 216 behind, J&K would be quietly happy about their opening day shenanigans in Srinagar.
S Sudarshanan is a sub-editor at Cricinfo. @Sudarshanan7
