Mongia (208), Sodhi (137) make the most of lifeless pitch

By Vijay Lokapally

NEW DELHI, JAN. 26. A perfect batting strip and the same old tale of tall scores and flattering performances. Of course, Dinesh Mongia's was a disciplined achievement (208) and so was Reetinder Singh Sodhi's (137) on a day when the focus remained the surface as domestic cricket biggest bane, a lifeless pitch, took away the competitive flavour from this Duleep Trophy contest between North and Central.

Two more days remain in this match but few would back the possibility of an outright result, unless, of course, Central adopts a suicidal course after being confronted with a target of 691 for the first innings lead. An uphill task no doubt as Central finished the dull day's cricket at 81 for one with skipper Amay Khurasiya showing early signs of taking the fight to the North camp.

Mongia took off in the right earnest, whipping the ball in style as he demonstrated his ability to build an innings. Resuming at 78, with North on 391 for four, the Punjab left- hander increased the pace of run-making in the afternoon with a flurry of shots square of the wicket. The effortless ease with which he found the gaps highlighted his excellent form.

The 23-year-old Mongia, who hit 201 against South in the first match, was playing only his sixth Duleep match in three seasons and capitalised on the attack which lacked purpose the entire day. The Central bowlers did little of note and looked extremely mediocre when Mongia, a batsman of high calibre, and Sodhi decided to play their strokes.

Sodhi believes in playing within his limitations and was rewarded for his attitude with a century which kept him in the reckoning for a place in the probables list for the forthcoming series against Australia. Mongia would have booked his seat with his superb show in this year's Duleep Trophy and it was a performance which made an impression on National selectors Chandu Borde and Madan Lal.

Mongia, who batted 319 minutes, hit 27 fours and two sixes - one each off Rahul Kanwat and Murali Kartik, the latter proving most expensive in his attempt to look for a breakthrough. Sodhi cracked 13 fours and three sixes. He hit Murali over midwicket and then reached his century by hoisting Mohammad Kaif to the same spot and celebrated his feat by slamming left-arm seamer Salabh Srivastava straight. The Mongia-Sodhi stand of 316 runs ended when the former fell in trying to force the pace on instructions. Sodhi too went the same way.

North dragged its innings in the last session, waiting for Harbhajan Singh to notch up a half century. Harbhajan clouted the bowlers around but what stood out in that session was the firm supervision by umpire, Mr. Tej Handu. He first saw through the ploy of Rajeev Nayyar wanting to change his boots and warned the batsman of dire consequences if he tried `running' on the pitch. Nayyar preferred not to change his boots. And then Mr. Handu turned back the North 12th man Gagandeep Singh for constantly running in with water without the batsmen making any request. It was good to see a stern umpire in domestic cricket.

In the 13 overs that it batted, Central rattled the runs at a rapid pace, thanks to Khurasiya playing some robust shots. Amit Pagnis had fallen to left-arm Surinder Singh Bagal, who bowled a bouncer and then pitched one up to entice a drive. But Khurasiya made light of the loss and smashed eight boundaries in a 28-ball knock of 45, which included a six off Harbhajan too. The ominous form of Khurasiya, not to forget Jai Prakash Yadav, promises fireworks on Saturday but Central would do well remember that even if the docile pitch holds no threat the team still has a long way to go.

The scores:

North Zone - 1st innings: Vijay Dahiya c Abhay Sharma b Kanwat 81, Vikram Rathour c Abhay Sharma b Yadav 94, Yuveraj Singh b Kanwat 34, Dinesh Mongia c Abhay Sharma b Srivastava 208, , Virender Sehwag b Bundela 43, Reetinder Singh Sodhi c Rohit Jhalani (sub) b Bundela 137, Harbhajan Singh c Yadav b Kanwat 42, Rahul Sanghvi c Abhay Sharma b Bundela 0, Rajeev Nayyar (not out) 12, Extras (b-8, lb-5, nb-26) 39, Total (for eight wkts decl) 690.

Fall of wickets: 1-188, 2-197, 3-226, 4- 304, 5-620, 6-639, 7- 639.

Central Zone bowling: Salabh Srivastava 36-5-146-1, Jai Prakash Yadav 23-4-91-1, Devendra Bundela 19-1- 108-3, Murali Kartik 53-5-178-0, Rahul Kanwat 26.2-2-122-3, Mohammad Kaif 7-0-32-0.

Central Zone - 1st innings: Jai Prakash Yadav (batting) 23, Amit Pagnis c Dahiya b Surinder 8, Amay Khurasiya (batting) 45, Extras (nb-5), Total (for one wkt) 81.

Fall of wicket: 1-16.

North Zone Bowling: Ashish Nehra 6-0-37-0, Surinder Singh Bagal 4-1-26-1, Harbhajan Singh 2-0-18- 0, Rahul Sanghvi 1-1-0-0.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Close call for Anand
Next     : South Zone-East Zone tie interestingly poised