Ishant claims 5, Delhi bowls out Baroda for 244

New Delhi, Dec 9 (UNI) Ishant Sharma's five-wicket haul broke the back of the Baroda innings before Rakesh Solanki's grity 62 propped up the visitors who were 244 all out in their first innings of the Elite Ranji Trophy Group A match here today.

Delhi were six for no loss when bad light forced suspension of play, with Aakash Chopra (2) and Shikhar Dhawan (4) in the middle.

The day clearly belonged to gangly Ishant who maintained as perfect line and length and swung the ball to torment the visiotors.

Baroda were made to rue the decision to bat first on the pitch as the lanky pacer, in his third Ranji match, struck early double blows by removing veteran Connor Williams (1) and Rishikesh Parab to reduced the visitors to seven for two and before Baroda could stem the rot, Ishant came up with another two-wicket burst, castling rival captain Jacob Martin (25) and trapping Ajit Bhoite for a duck.

With senior new ball coleague Ashish Nehra feeling giddy and taken off the attack, Ishant found some support from Kunal Lal, who claimed three.

Amid the Baroda ruins, Rakesh Solanki thrived on a dropped catch and scored a 168-ball knock of 62 with seven boundaries in it, while Ketan Panchal (45) also chipped in at a time when the chips were down.

Later, Delhi coach Chetan Chauhan and his Baroda counterpart Ashok Mankad heaped praise on Ishant and tipped the youngster as a Team India prospect.

''He bowled like a tiger today, putting his heart and soul. He was immaculate with his line and length and everything was perfect about him today.

''He had additional pressure on his tender shoulders after Ashish started feeling unwell but he took it in his stride and played like a champion. His accuracy reminded me of (Gloenn) McGrath,'' Chauhan said.

Mankad, meanwhile, hailed Ishant as a future prospect but warned he should wait for his time and should not rush things.

''Definitely, he has all the ingredients to play for India. He has got the height, a good high-arm action and the stamina as well.

But my advice would be not to be hasty and go through the grind of domestic cricket.

''He is a youngster and would get more and more matured with every season. Let him find his feet and I hope he continues the good work,'' he said.

Baroda 1st innings: Rishikesh Parab c Bhist b Ishant 1 Connor Williams c Bhatia b IShant 1 Rakesh Solanki c Nehra b Sachdeva 62 Jacob Martin b Ishant 25 Ajit Bhoite lbw b Ishant 0 Pinal Shah c Chopra b Kunal Lal 15 Ketan Panchal c Chopra b Manhas 45 Yousuf Pathan b Kunal Lal 30 Rajesh Pawar b Kunal Lal 24 Rakesh Patel b Ishant 8 Irfan Pathan Sr not out 0 Extras (B-7, LB-10, W-1, NB-15) 33 Total (All out in 78.1 overs) 244 Fall of wickets: 1/2 2/7 3/63 4/55 5/86 6/166 7/198 8/212 9/233 Bowling: Ashish Nehra 8-3-22-0 Ishant Sharma 23-9-35-5 Kunal Lal 21.1-2-89-3 Rajat Bhatia 10-3-23-0 Yogesh Sachdeva 11-3-34-1 Mithun Manhas 5-0-24-1 Delhi 1st innings: Aakash Chopra not out 2 Shikhar Dhawan not out 4 Total (For no loss in 1.5 overs) 6 Bowling: Rakesh Patel 1-0-4-0 Irfan Pathan Sr 0.5-0-2-0 UNI AY SAM RAI1835