Chahar's calling card, and Delhi's deck dilemma

Is this a phone number? No, it isn't. But it could well become 18-year old Deepak Chahar's calling card. These were the scores of the eight Hyderabad batsmen who fell to Chahar, the Rajasthan right-arm medium-pacer, in his debut first-class innings. Hyderabad managed 21 runs in that innings at Jaipur, the lowest total in Ranji Trophy history. Chahar, the son of an Air Force employee, snapped up four more wickets in the match as his side won inside three days. After the heady debut, he's already drawing comparisons with Praveen Kumar and Manoj Prabhakar for his ability to swing the ball. There has even been talk of a possible IPL contract, already.

The secret of Sreesanth's success is out. It's in the shoes. Ask Sony Cheruvathur, the Kerala fast bowler, who took a five-wicket haul to help his side take the first-innings lead against Services. "Sree has been giving me his shoes since 2007 when he got his shoe contract. Whenever I have an important match like the first of a season, I wear them. We have different shoe sizes, but they have always fitted me perfectly. I think they are lucky for me," he told the Indian Express.

Cheruvathur also claims a karmic connection between the shoes, himself and Sreesanth. "Last year, I was playing against Jammu & Kashmir in Jammu. Sreesanth came all the way to Jammu and gave [me] another pair of spikes. I took ten wickets in that match and within a few days, Sree also took six wickets at Kanpur [against Sri Lanka]." He then adds ominously, "So New Zealand had better watch out."

The wicket came into play but not in the manner in which the home team wanted. Delhi's game against Bengal was the first four-day match in over a year at the Feroz Shah Kotla. The Delhi & Districts Cricket Association's poor track record encompasses both the animate and the inanimate: selection procedures, ticket procurement, spectator comfort and only then does the wicket come into the picture. But the abandonment of the ODI against Sri Lanka in December last year spotlighted the DDCA's shortcomings all around the world. As one of the World Cup venues, the heat is now on the association to put the pitch back in order. With the home team dreaming of grass for their pace bowlers, the curators hoping for the fates to be kind to them and the officials looking over their shoulder for ICC approval, the Kotla wicket held together for four whole days and produced the runs, though the ball kept low and didn't exactly come onto the bat. The Delhi players hope for the wicket to 'settle down' after a few matches. 'Settle down' in Kotla language actually means the bowlers want it to lighten up.

Delhi play five matches at home this season and already there is mass grumbling whether the Kotla wicket is going to work for their fast bowlers. Their fixtures get tougher as the season goes, and while the next two visitors Gujarat and Assam, are far from being the gold standard in the eight-team group, Delhi's last two ties are against Railways and Mumbai. After the Bengal game, the Delhi management is going to decide whether to ask for a shift of venue from Kotla to the Roshanara Club Ground, where the members may be snobbish, but for Delhi's pacers the pitch is pure hospitality.

Ambati Rayudu has had an eventful career so far. He started on a high with Hyderabad, moved to Andhra and then returned to Hyderabad. He's been to the ICL and back. He's had a successful stint with the Mumbai Indians in the previous IPL. He was also part of the Hyderabad side that got relegated to the Plate League last year. He then decided to switch to Baroda, a decision that did not please Venkatapathy Raju, the Hyderabad coach.

Good for Rayudu that he did, for he could have ended up as another single-digit number on Chahar's calling card in Jaipur. However, he was in another part of the country, in Cuttack, where he made an unbeaten second-innings 200 against Orissa - of which 126 runs came in boundaries.

In these times, to spot a celebrity at a domestic match in India is like finding yourself in the same restaurant as Sachin Tendulkar. Both happen rarely. So when Shaun Tait, the fastest bowler in cricket, wandered into the Bandra-Kurla Complex grounds, the club members, otherwise happily enjoying the club's recreational facilities, thronged the Australian and added some glamour to Mumbai's season opener against Saurashtra.

When Bengal took three first-innings points off hosts Delhi in their opening game, they wanted it to be an omen that the good days were back. Bengal fast bowler Ranadeb Bose, the first-class cricket veteran, said he had never witnessed such "body language" and "attitude" in his team. Even when Virat Kohli was munching through the Bengal bowling, and catches were being dropped off Bose and his bowling partner Ashok Dinda, the visitors "didn't panic". It took them 148.1 overs to get ten Delhi wickets, which ultimately happened because the team was like its bowlers - disciplined and patient. At key moments, like the run-out of Kohli, Bengal didn't choke. Now, the proof in this particular pudding is seeing whether it can hold together when Mumbai comes calling in the second round.