Karim, Haldipur once again to the fore, Kotak's knock in vain

By Our Sports Reporter

AHMEDABAD, JAN. 28. Saba Karim and Nikhil Haldipur were once again the architects of East Zone's victory, chasing 263, with four wickets to spare in the Deodhar Trophy match against West at the Motera here on Friday.

Saba Karim missed his second century of the tournament by two runs, but virtually guided East to its second win. Haldipur's 67 (62b, 7x4) was equally important.

A twin-strike by seamer Iqbal Siddique - Shiv Sundar Das caught at cover point and Rohan Gavaskar bowled off the next delivery - did not push East on the back foot with the stylish left-hander Haldipur in full flow. He scored at a brisk rate, yet cut down on the risks. Haldipur's partnership of 71 for the third- wicket with Rashmi Ranjan Parida (32) really set the ball rolling. Haldipur was caught at long on by Siddique off left-arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni.

Saba Karim was a picture of confidence like Haldipur, finding the gaps with ease and playing just about every shot. He hit eight boundaries and two sixes - Nilesh Kulkarni over long on and seamer Garsondia over mid-wicket - before he was stumped off part-time bowler Sitanshu Kotak. His association with Haldipur was 63 and added 69 with Sanjay Raul (24).

For West, put in to bat, the third-wicket partnership of 162 between left-handers Kotak (100, 143b, 8x4) and Vinod Kambli (82, 91b, 8x4, 1x6), which came off 31.4 overs, was the most valuable, but the pace could have been better.

Kambli, looking for his third consecutive century in the tournament, was bowled by seamer Laxmi Ratan Shukla, while Kotak was caught at mid off when he tried to attack the same bowler. Shukla thus was the most successful bowler for East with three wickets.

East thus completed its engagements with two wins, while West lost its second match in three.

The scores:

West Zone: Sitanshu Kotak c Chatterjee b Shukla 100, Nilesh Modi lbw b Zaman 2, Iqbal Siddiqui c Jayachandra b Shukla 17, Vinod Kambli b Shukla 82, Amol Muzumdar b Chatterjee 7, Abhijit Kale (not out) 28, Nayan Mongia (run out) 5, Zaheer Khan st Karim b Chatterjee 9, Ajit Bohite (not out) 4. Extras (lb-4, w-4) 8. Total (for seven wkts in 50 overs) 262.

Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-42, 3-204, 4- 215, 5-218, 6-229, 7-242.

East bowling: Laxmi Ratan Shukla 10-0-46-3, Jabed Zaman 7-0-31-1, P. Jayachandra 8-0-40-0, Sanjay Raul 10-0-55-0, Utpal Chatterjee 10-0-44-2, Rohan Gavaskar 5-0-42-0.

East Zone: Shiv Sundar Das c Kambli b Siddiqui 11, Nikhil Haldipur c Siddiqui b Kulkarni 67, Rohan Gavaskar b Siddiqui 0, Rashmi Ranjan Parida b Garsondia 32, Syed Saba Karim st Mongia b Kotak 98, Sanjay Raul (run out) 24, Rajeev Kumar (not out) 17, P. Jayachandra (not out) 6. Extras (lb-2, w- 2, nb-2) 8. Total (for six wkts in 48.2 overs) 263.

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-11, 3-82, 4- 145, 5-214, 6-250.

West bowling: Zaheer Khan 10-0-51-0, Iqbal Siddiqui 6-0-39-2, Rajesh Garsondia 10-1-54-1, Nilesh Kulkarni 10-0-58-1, Ajit Bohite 10-0-46-0, Sitanshu Kotak 2-0-11- 1, Vinod Kambli 0.2-0-2- 0.

Saba Karim, who was the central figure in East Zone's win, lofts Nilesh Kulkarni over extra cover in the Deodhar Trophy match against West at Motera on Friday.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Sharath guides South to narrow win
Next     : Time for radical changes