With shouts of India stage ka bowler hai bhai from Delhi’s slip cordon, Harshit Rana rocked Assam’s prime order and picked up 4 wickets on a greenish Kotla floor on Saturday. The Delhi speedster, who has earned his maiden Take a look at name for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, justified his choice with a fiery opening spell that learn: 5-3-5-2.
Rana, who was taking part in aggressive cricket after a spot of one-and-half months, acquired the additional zip from the floor, made the many of the new ball and troubled Assam’s top-order within the morning session. He may have taken extra wickets as he constantly beat the surface edge in his first spell. It took him fifteen balls to get his first wicket. He discovered the surface fringe of Assam opener Subham Mandal, with Yash Dhull taking a pointy catch at first slip. Two balls later, Rana bagged his second wicket as Abhishek Thakuri, one other left-hander, departed with out scoring after he was caught on the slip cordon.
Rishav Das (33) and Assam captain Denish Das (18) placed on a 49-run stand for the third wicket. Delhi skipper introduced Rana again simply earlier than lunch and the pacer troubled each the batters along with his short-pitch ploy. The plan labored as Rishav was strangled down the leg facet after he didn’t hold his pull shot down.
Nonetheless, as soon as the ball misplaced its shine and the pitch grew to become higher for the batting, Rana confronted his first resistance. In his third spell, he was hammered for 2 sixes in a single over by Sumit Ghadigaonkar, who remained unbeaten on 120 as Assam ended Day 1 on 264 for six. Rana picked up his fourth wicket in his fourth spell, the place he bowled with the identical accuracy as in his opening spell and acquired the wicket of Swarupam Purkayastha, who nicked one to Himmat Singh on the first slip.
The 22-year-old was additionally making a return to the Delhi facet after lacking the 2023-24 season as a result of a hamstring harm. Rana’s shares skyrocketed, following his IPL exploits with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the place he picked up 19 wickets. He impressed Gautam Gambhir and Abhishek Nayar, who’ve now moved from the KKR dressing room to India’s. Rana was picked for the three-match T20I collection in opposition to Bangladesh however didn’t get the possibility to play and was among the many reserves, who joined India’s Take a look at staff forward of the primary Take a look at in opposition to New Zealand in Bengaluru.
4-pronged tempo assault
Delhi, who had gone with solely two entrance line pacers Navdeep Saini and Himanshu Chauhan in opposition to Tamil Nadu overcompensated in opposition to Assam with a four-pronged tempo assault spearheaded by Harshit Rana and Himanshu Chauhan. Left-arm pacer Siddhant Sharma, who impressed in his two outings final season made a comeback and 24-year-old Cash Grewal was handed a debut. The all-pace assault price Delhi massively as they solely managed to bowl 76 overs on the opening day with their left-arm spinner Sumit Mathur bowling 20 overs.
Siddhant bowled superbly in tandem with Rana whereas Himanshu Chauhan, Delhi’s lone shining knight within the final season, struggled along with his size. The debutant Grewal was unfortunate as he may have gotten a few extra wickets had the slip cordon been extra proactive. Two catches had been dropped, one every by Yash Dhull and Sanat Sangwan off Grewal’s bowling.
Temporary Scores
Assam: 264 for six in 76 overs (Sumit Ghadigaonkar 120 not out, Sibsankar Roy 59; Harshit Rana 4/62)