For all practical purposes, the final day’s play in the Delhi-Baroda match ended within 34 minutes and 6.3 overs into the day. Sumit Narhwal had taken his second five-wicket haul in first class cricket, wicketkeeper Punit Bisht had taken his tally of dismissals to seven for the innings, and having bowled Baroda out for 326, had logged three points for taking the first innings lead.

The two-and-a-half sessions that followed before the captains decided to call off play were only about scoring brownie points. Delhi enforced the follow-on with optimism, but Baroda’s batsmen, led by a 91 by Azhar Bilakhia, finished their second innings at 233 for 4 when stumps were drawn.

And, of course, a bowler was called for chucking once again. Baroda’s Salim Veragi and Rajesh Pawar were no-balled on days one and two respectively, while it was Delhi’s Yogesh Nagar who was pulled up by umpire Anil Dandekar on Friday. The BCCI has come down hard on chucking this season, in Nagar’s case some blame must be copped by the Delhi management.

Nagar had been called for chucking in the previous T20 game he figured in, and with this one, his tally has gone up to to four calls in two seasons. Skipper Aakash Chopra and coach Vijay Dahiya had been informed in a pre-match briefing by match referee Sunil Chaturvedi that since Nagar’s name figured on the list of bowlers with suspect actions, he might be called during the match. Nagar bowled seven overs and picked up a wicket in the first innings, but was called in the second. Chopra feels the issue needs to be addressed. “It’s sad that Nagar has been called, because as a player he really doesn’t know where he stands. There needs to be more clarity on the issue. We had umpires at the nets watching and he looked okay. He bowled around 12 overs in the match and only one ball was called,” Chopra said.

... contd.