Ranji Trophy: Too early to consider Imtiaz for national team, says Prasad

New Delhi: The star-studded Delhi team disappointed the 10,000 cricket fans that gathered at the Nehru Stadium in Ghaziabad, as Imtiaz Ahmed stole the show with his maiden 5-wicket haul.

Speaking to media persons after Day 1, a jubilant Imtiaz Ahmed said that he was satisfied with the day’s work and he aimed at bowling an accurate line and length which produced good results. The right-arm medium bowler said that his skipper Suresh Raina asked him to stick to line and length and it worked as he single-handedly wrecked the Delhi batting order. Delhi were bundled out for just 235 as Ahmed scalped the crucial wickets of Gambhir (32), Manhas (42) and played a major role in cleaning the tail. Puneet Bist was the highest scorer for the Delhi side with 52 runs and he too was dismissed by Ahmed. UP coach Venkatesh Prasad also hailed Ahmed for his accurate line and length however said that it would be too early to consider him for the national side. When asked if they had come up with a special strategy against Gambhir and Sehwag, Prasad said that wasn’t the case and the bowlers bowled well which produced wickets at regular intervals. Ahmed also informed that he has learned the basics of bowling from Ashish Winston Zaidi, another veteran who played for Uttar Pradesh. At the end of the day, the crowd gathered at the Jawahar Lal Nehru stadium went home with a lot of satisfaction seeing their home team put up a fine show against some quality players. At stumps, UP were 40/1 with Mukul Dagar (18*) and Mohd Kaif (3*) at the crease.