Though it wasn’t really close to the Perth-like wicket where India battled against the Aussie speed battery today morning, the Wankhede Stadium provided conditions that seemed equally precarious for batsmen early on.

As the final of the Ranji Trophy Super League began here, with Delhi winning the toss and electing to field first, Uttar Pradesh found themselves walking up to a track that had a lot for the bowlers to take advantage from. There was considerable bounce, swing and the opportunity to bowl fast, traits that any batting side would hate to counter on Day One of such an important match.

As play progressed one could’ve easily switched from one television channel to the other— both, the India-Australia Test to the Ranji Trophy final. At Perth, India were 297/6, the last couple of dismissals giving Australia the edge, and in Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh were 292/7, again the last two dismissals - within a gap of 10 runs - giving Delhi a great deal of hope.

Even as fans at the Wankhede winced when Sachin Tendulkar got adjudged leg-before in another suspicious decision, costing him a possible century, they were served with an innings of rare aplomb from an 18-year-old here. Uttar Pradesh had promoted Tanmay Srivastava, who prefers to bat at either No 3 or 4, to the opening slot. And even as the youngster saw his partner Rohit Srivastava, captain Mohammad Kaif and Suresh Raina fall quickly at the other end, he showed enough determination to stick around.

Delhi bowlers Pradeep Sangwan and Sumit Narwal had kept the tempo high, riding on the bounce that the wicket provided. All that Tanmay needed to do—as Kaif indicated the day before in his list of dos and don’ts—was to wait until his chance came, till the ball lost a bit of shine and the bowlers tired.

... contd.