Saini strikes early after Rest of India posts 484

GWALIOR: A fit-again Navdeep Saini bowled a brisk first spell to rattle the Madhya Pradesh top-order after Yash Dhull’s quick half-century took Rest of India to a commanding total of 484 on the second day of the Irani Cup here on Thursday.

Saini (2/15) looked in good rhythm and generated a fair bit of pace to peg Madhya Pradesh back while Yash Dubey (53 batting off 110 balls, 11 fours) and Harsh Gawli (47 batting off 125 balls, 8 fours) added 97 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket to take the host to 112 for three in its first innings at stumps.

Asked to bowl in the second session of the day, Saini did hurry the Madhya Pradesh batters with pace and movement off the track. But, it was Mukesh Kumar (1/27) who got the first breakthrough for Rest of India as he angled one across for debutant Arham Aquil (0). The southpaw did not look pleased with the caught-behind decision, but had to trudge back without troubling the scorers.

Saini then got into the act as he bowled beautifully on the off-stump channel and just got enough movement to force the batters to play his deliveries. A hint of away movement saw Madhya Pradesh skipper Himanshu Mantri (1) jab at a delivery and Dhull, warmed up and alert at second slip, pulled off a good catch.

Shubham Sharma (4) struck a boundary but never looked comfortable against Saini, whose nip-backer was good enough to find him plumb in-front. Once the ball started getting older, Dubey and Gawli did not face many problems in negotiating the other bowlers. Earlier in the day, among the Rest of India batters, only Dhull showed positive intent with a knock of 55 off 71 balls, an innings that included eight fours.

BRIEF SCORES: Rest of India 484 in 121.3 overs (Y Jaiswal 213, A Easwaran 154, Y Dhull 55, Avesh 4/72) vs Madhya Pradesh 112/3 in 43 overs (Y Dubey 53*, H Gawli 47*)