Monday, Feb 18, 2002
Monday, Feb 18, 2002 |
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Cricket
RICH HAUL: Board President's XI wicketkeeper M.S.K. Prasad (left) is delighted as Amit Mishra catches Zimbabwe's Raymond Price off his own bowling on the final day of the tour match at Vijayawada on Sunday. Mishra finished with six wickets. - Photo: N. Balaji
VIJAYAWADA, FEB. 17. It is difficult to describe the feeling. One can only tell 20-year-old Gautam Gambhir that in sport, like everything else in life, if you do not put the disappointments behind and move on, you will never taste the joys. The left-handed opener's 218 for the Board President's XI against the Zimbabweans was by far the highpoint - from India's angle - of the three-day tour opener which ended in a draw at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Stadium here on Sunday. One had expected Gambhir to find a place in the side for the forthcoming Test series on the strength of his performance here. Coming to think of it, there can be no better way to blood a youngster than against a team whose attack he has torn to shreds. Incidentally, Gambhir's double hundred was his second consecutive one this year in first class cricket. It is important that at least one of the four National selectors witness contests of such significance. Why no selector made the trip here remains a puzzle. The chairman of the National selection committee Mr. Chandu Borde's reasoning for not picking Gambhir (``very promising with a good future, but where's the place for him in the team?'') in the squad is not in the least convincing. And so the trend of a make-shift opener continues with the selectors worried about the balance of the side even when it plays a relatively weaker opponent at home. If this is not the right occasion to blood a youngster, pray, which is? Coming back to this contest, the Zimbabwe batsmen, with four of them notching up half-centuries and Alistair Campbell batting long enough to get a feel of the conditions, seemed to have warmed up sufficiently for the two-Test series, the first of which begins at Nagpur on February 21. But the Zimbabwe bowlers, the spinners to be more precise, were battered for the second time, with Maharashtra's Abhijit Kale (90, 12x4, 3x6) and Orissa's P. Mullick (62 not out, 6x4, 2x6) rattling up 153 for the opening wicket. Each had a reprieve, though. Board President's XI was 154 for one in its second essay when play was called off. As Zimbabwe heads to Nagpur (the visiting side left for Hyderabad after the game), its failure to overhaul the home team's first innings total of 361, being bowled out for 340, and the pummelling its bowlers received is sure to play on its mind. Magic delivery Along with that will linger the memory of Amit Mishra's huge leg-break which, after pitching well outside off-stump, spun a mile to hit the middle and leg stumps even as Campbell shouldered arms. The leg-spinner from Haryana finished with a six- wicket haul, his spell today reading 4.3-1-7-3 as Zimbabwe, resuming at 292 for six, was bowled out after an hour and 20 minutes. A game trier, Mishra definitely has a future. Off-spinner Sarandeep Singh was brought on in the seventh over of the day and he immediately had Andy Flower (89 overnight) caught at silly point, while playing forward, for 94. Campbell farmed the strike until he succumbed to the Mishra magic. The scores: Board President's XI - 1st innings: 361 for three decl. Zimbabwe - 1st innings: Stuart Carlisle c Prasad b Sarandeep 20, Trevor Gripper c Yohannan b Sarandeep 52, Gavin Rennie c Mullick b Mishra 52, Andy Flower c Mullick b Sarandeep 94, Tatenda Taibu c Kale b Mishra 2, Heath Streak c Khoda b Mishra 0, Travis Friend c Gambhir b Yohannan 52, Alistair Campbell b Mishra 25, Raymond Price c & b Mishra 0, Mpumelelo Mbangwa (not out) 0, Brighton Watambwa c Sarandeep b Mishra 8; Extras (b-10, lb-6, nb-19) 35; Total 340. Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-122, 3-165, 4- 169, 5-169, 6-279, 7-310, 8-313, 9-328. Board President's XI bowling: Nehra 25-6-64-0, Yohannan 20-8-65-1, Sarandeep 39-9-81-3, Mishra 29.3-4-94-6, Venugopala Rao 4-0-20-0. Board President's XI - 2nd innings: P. Mullick (not out) 62, Abhijit Kale b Friend 90, Venugopala Rao (not out) 1; Extra (lb-1) 1; Total (for one wkt.) 154. Fall of wicket: 1-153. Zimbabwe bowling: Streak 4-0-11-0, Friend 11-1-39-1, Watambwa 8-1-19-0, Mbangwa 5-1-16-0, Price 10-2-43-0, Gripper 4-0-25-0.
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