Bengaluru, Sep 21: India pacer Umesh Yadav took five for 55 as Rest of India put on a dominating show against 2011-12 Ranji Trophy champions, Rajasthan, on the opening day of the 2012 Irani Cup. Yadav’s five-wicket haul helped end Rajasthan’s innings at 253 despite a belligerent, unbeaten ton by Robin Bist (117*).
Earlier, Rest of India decided to field after winning the toss. The decision by Cheteshwar Pujara immediately paid dividends as Stuart Binny and Ishant Sharma combined to take the first three wickets to leave the Ranji champs wobbling at 46 for three in 24.1 overs. Vineet Saxena (0) and Hrishikesh Kanitkar (8) were among the wickets claimed by Sharma and Binny. Bist and Rashmi Parida then ensured there were no more immediate casualties as they struck a 35-run stand to take Rajasthan to 81 for three at lunch.
After lunch, Bist and Parida consolidated Rajasthan’s position. The two batsmen added a further 70 runs, before Parida (34) was bowled by Ishant Sharma with the score at 151. Bist, nevertheless, continued undeterred despite the loss of Parida’s wicket. The No.4 batsman was unbeaten on 84, with the Rajasthan score at 176 for the loss of four wickets when tea was taken at the end of the 66th over.
The final session saw Bist eventually get to his century. Although, Umesh Yadav removed Dishant Yagnik (40), Deepak Chahar (0) and Madhur Khatri (0) in the space of seven deliveries, Bist brought up his century with a boundary off the same bowler in the 78th over. Yadav, however, continued to wreak havoc on the Ranji Trophy champs as he accounted for Gajendra Singh (6) and Aniket Choudhary (0) to finish with a five-wicket haul. Bist tried his best to push Rajasthan’s score closer to 275, but remained unbeaten on 117 as last man Sumit Mathur (4) was run-out by Cheteshwar Pujara in the 87th over.
In reply, ROI began their first innings with Ajinkya Rahane scoring a couple of runs before stumps were called.
Brief scores:
At end of Day 1: Rajasthan 1st innings 253/10 in 86.3 overs (Robin Bist 117*, Dishant Yagnik 40, Umesh Yadav 5/55); Rest of India 1st innings 2/0 in 1.0 over (Ajinkya Rahane 2*, Murali Vijay 0*);
