Delhi left-arm spinner Manan Sharma bagged a five-wicket haul to steal the limelight from Virender Sehwag, who failed to make a big contribution against his former team, as Haryana were bundled out for 195 on Day 1 of the Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match on Thursday.
In reply to the visitors' first innings score, Delhi ended the day on 22 for no loss with Unmukt Chand (9) and skipper Gautam Gambhir (13) at the crease. Put into bat at Feroz Shah Kotla, Haryana were kept in check from the very start as pace spearhead Ishant Sharma (2-29) provided the early breakthrough and wickets kept coming in for the hosts.
Visiting skipper Sehwag (37) though enjoyed his outing at his once home venue when the swashbuckler started to teach the Delhi boys a tough lesson only to be run out in a disappointing fashion.
Showing glimpses of his vintage self, Sehwag belted the ball all around the park, hitting 5 fours and a six in his 61-ball stay. His two trademark cuts in and a six off Manan were a treat for the handful of vociferous supporters that cheered their favourite player from the first-tier balcony above the sight screen.
The entertainment though was short-lived as Sehwag ran himself out when he was unable to drag his bat at the non-strikers end and Ishant did not miss the furniture. The 24-year-old Manan (5-57) then spun into action to help reduce the visitors to 85 for five.
The Haryana and middle-order then got together to try and bring some respectability to the score as wicket-keeper batsman Nitin Saini and Jayant Yadav made 32 and 41 respectively. Manan accounted for both the wickets and that of Harshal Patel (8) to bag his third fifer in first-class cricket.
"It is a wicket where you have to keep the batsman in check. The batsman will always think that he can score runs on this wicket, but it is the bowlers job to use the slowness of the track to his advantage," Manan said after the day's play. "It was an honour to bowl to Sehwag in a match. I have bowled a lot to him in the nets. It is very difficult to contain him, he never gives the spinners a chance if he gets going. I just to tried to keep it simple against him and bowl in the corridor," he added.
Brief Scores:
Haryana 195 all out in 78.1 overs (Virender Sehwag 37, Nitin Saini 32, Jayant Yadav 41; Manan Sharma 5-57, Ishant Sharma 2-29)
Delhi 22/0 in 9 overs (Unmukt Chand 9 not out, Gautam Gambhir 13 not out; Harshal Patel 0-11).
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