Bist wages lone furrow for Rajasthan

BANGALORE: On the evidence of the opening day's play in the Irani Cup, Rajasthan's Robin Bist will go far. In the case of Umesh Yadav, statistically the other outstanding success of the day, the question, based on Friday's showing at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here, should be, 'how did he get this far'. The fast bowler may have been Rest of India's spearhead but if he is among the best in India, then the country has a lot to worry about as far as the fast bowling reserves go.
It was that sort of a day — Bist, last season's highest run-getter in the Ranji Trophy, getting a richly deserved ton even as Yadav picked up a most undeserving five-wicket haul, just one of those wickets being that of a proper batsman.
Still, it was the fact that Yadav (five for 55) struck when he did, all his strikes coming in a fourth spell of 7-2-18-5, was what saved the day for the Rest of India after their skipper Cheteshwar Pujara strangely chose to bowl first. Rajasthan, who should have punished that decision by piling it on, on a day and pitch perfect for batting, were dismissed for a modest 253, to which RoI replied with two for no loss in the lone over to stumps.
Even that total was owed almost solely to the classy, unconquered 117 by Bist, who for most part of his 262-minute tenure in the middle (187b, 14x4, 2x6), was a picture of composure and concentration. Neither pace in the form of the returning Ishant Sharma, who bowled better in comparison to Yadav but picked up only two wickets, or left-arm spin twins Pragyan Ojha and Harmeet Singh caused Bist any discomfort.
An old school batsman, the 24-year-old was willing to bide his time. But as and when the bowlers erred, and all of them did, especially the two spinners who in any case were not expected to do too much on the first day, Bist was quickly in position to put the ball away.
How different it was with Yadav. A first spell of 6-5-6-0 may look good on paper but in reality it wasn't. Wide and short is certainly not the way to go with the new ball at any time and certainly not when your captain has given you first use of a fresh track. The batsmen just didn't need to play at him at all.
Ishant was somewhat better and bowled a little more up, which got him the wicket of opener Vineet Saxena first and Ranjan Parida later. Parida (34) and Bist had raised 105 for the fourth wicket when he shouldered arms to Ishant and had his off stump shattered.