We often say “fortune favours the brave” but truth is, those who are brave by inhabit will never take decisions just for the sake of fortunes.

Shikhar Dhawan – Irani Trophy

Those who following cricket from the early 2000s can make of what is Parthiv Patel made of even at that young age of 17 when he first played for India. A brave hearted, determined mind, hard working attitude, childish faced and a short person. Before the first day of the match, report from media is “a green pitch”.  Even the Rajasthan Captain Kanitkar said the pitch has more grass than what we had in the last season and it will help the seamers lot but Parthiv Patel with clear mind did a loud call, wins the toss and without any hesitation opted to bat first. In the end, all is fair since both captains got what they wanted; Rajasthan wanted to bowl first and Rest of India (ROI) raring to test their batsmens skills.

From the outset of the day, Rest of India looked aggressive even with their team selection policy of going for 6 batsmen – 5 regular bowlers rather than more preferred tactics of 7-4. Rajasthan missing the services of experienced bowler Pankaj Singh had to largely depend on their last season star performer Deepak Charar to trouble the ROI line-up. But Charar who lost himself in the emotions of getting his name by rattling ROI team and a green track, sprayed the ball all over  the pitch and been largely on the shorter side allowed batsmen to smash him for runs on both sides of the wicket. The day got even worse for him as he dropped Dhawan at 80 in the last over before lunch and Dhawan went onto score 177 runs from just 165 balls on the first day of the so called “green track”.

Once the big expectation of Charar failed, ROI batsmens tormented Rajasthan toothless bowling as they scored at over 4 runs an over and finishing the day at 400/3. Rahane fresh from success of England continued his batting form as he added another century to his tally and Parthiv scored a solid fifty looks good to add more on the second day. Earlier, Mukund who struggled with seam movement was the first to go for just 18 runs. After Dhawan got dismissed for a superb 177 runs, Manish Pandey looked in great touch in his short stay on the crease but he perished after scoring just 16 runs.

Manish Pandey will be kicking himself for missing the chance since both the track and bowlers were easy to make runs but yet he failed. It possible that he might have got complacent but hope he learnt at the end of the day that compliancy has no place in cricket against any team in any kind of surface. Even after coming into the match on the back of good form, both Rahane and Patel showed good composure and determination on their game.

Score:

ROI: 400/3 (Dhawan 177, Rahane 117*, Patel 55*, Mathur 1/65)

Unless ROI batsmen do something stupid, it’s going to be long day on the field for Rajasthan bowler.

Tags: Cricket, Domestic Cricket, India, Irani Trophy, Rajasthan, Rest Of India, ROI, Shikhar Dhawan