PUNE: Young Yash Dhull had a tough initiation into first-class captaincy as Delhi wilted under overcast conditions to be bowled out for 191 before Ishant Sharma-led pace attack left Maharashtra reeling at 80 for 5 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match on Tuesday.
While the sun did peep in time and again but the ball nipped around a fair bit throughout with pacers Manoj Ingale (5/43), Rajvardhan Hangargekar (3/58) and Ashay Palkar (2/67) bowling fast and full in the corridor to cause the damage.
Delhi, though, had started off well with senior opener Dhruv Shorey (41) and Anuj Rawat (24) adding 54 runs for the first wicket before Maharashtra drew first blood.
Palkar bowled deliveries that moved in the air and straightened after pitching in as batters were forced to jab at the deliveries.
Ingale, in fact, brought the ball back into the left-handers as both Rawat and veteran Vaibhav Rawal were bowled through the gate.
In case of Dhull, his former India U-19 teammate Hangargekar got one to rear from back of length as he tried to drive on the backfoot.
There was no footwork and he tried to only use his hands and the ball flew to the slip cordon where Kaushal Tambe did the rest of the job.
Hangargekar also got the prized scalp of IPL specialist Nitish Rana, who edged one behind after looking ill at ease in bowler-friendly conditions.
Himmat Singh (49) played some audacious pull shots and also hit a beautiful down the ground six but was also caught napping in the corridor of uncertainty.
When Maharashtra batted, Simarjeet Singh (2/16) quickly got rid of Pavan Shah (3) and Kaushal Tambe (0) before Ishant Sharma (1/21)bowled a delivery to Rahul Tripathi, that he had often bowled during his heydays to the best in the world.
It was fast and full angled on the off-stump and Tripathi pushed hard at it to give Lalit Yadav a regulation catch in the third slip. Ishant though seemed to have gained a bit of weight having been out of competitive cricket for a long time.
Debutant Mayank Yadav also bowled at a brisk pace and got a wicket while Dhull's acrobatic fielding accounted for a run-out off the last ball of the day.
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