The Hindu : Sharath hits century

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 16, 2002

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Sport - Cricket

Sharath hits century
By Our Sports Reporter

FARIDABAD, MARCH 15. S. Sharath compensated for his first inings failure with a strokeful 102 here on Friday. The left-hander, who had failed to get off the mark earlier, had a satisfying outing as he helped South Zone salvage a draw against North Zone on the final day of the Duleep Trophy league match at the Nahar Singh Stadium here.

South Zone, which had conceded a 390-run lead in the first innings, benefitted from Sharath's effort as he not only enabled his side score 422 for six but also held the innings together with his 178-minute effort. South had resumed on 126 for one on the final day.

North, which raised hopes of a victory when it took two wickets in a quick succession just after lunch, leaving South in a spot of bother at 280 for four, was frustrated by a 95-run stand for the fifth wicket between Sharath and wicketkeeper M.S.K. Prasad (20). Prasad came up with a gritty performance as he supported Sharath for 102 minutes.

Sharath, who was bowled by Ashish Nehra in the first innings, was once again troubled by the same bowler early on. Nehra showed fine control as he managed to beat Sharath on several occasions with his seam movement. But to Sharath's credit, he did not lose patience and grafted well to reach 50.

Sharath, who scored his second fifty only in 61 balls, was dropped by Vijay Dahiya off medium-pacer Vineet Sharma. Sharath was on 52 then. North, which messed up this opportunity just after tea, was made to suffer further as Sharath cracked 10 boundaries and a six after that hiccup.

Sharath collected two boundaries off successive deliveries on two occasions. The bowlers to suffer were Vineet and Ashish Nehra. Thereafter it was the turn of Sanghvi to be at the receiving end as Sharath progressed at rapid pace towards his hundred.

Decisive in his footwork, Sharath smashed the left-arm spinner for three fours apart from a six over mid-wicket to reach 98. The deserving century was completed when he guided Nehra's delivery to the vacant third man region.

Prior to Sharath's effort, South was in danger of spoiling the first session's hard work by D. Vinay Kumar (76, 214 minutes) and Hemang Badani (59, 111 minutes).

On a pitch, which gave no reason to panic, three of South's top order batsmen failed to score a hundred after managing to stay in the middle for a considerable period. Opener S. Sriram (77, 13 fours) was stumped off Rahul Sanghvi. D. Vinay Kumar, who struck a six and nine boundaries, was trapped leg before by Nehra.

Badani looked more comfortable as he struck Sanghvi for two sixes. But he perished after playing a loose stroke off off-spinner Mithun Manhas. Badani also managed seven boundaries.

North next plays West in Pune, while East will meet Central in Kolkata from March 19 to 22.

The scores:

South Zone - 1st innings: 168.

North Zone - 1st innings: 558 for nine decl.

South Zone - 2nd innings: S. Sriram st. V. Dahiya b Sanghvi 77, S. Ramesh c Dahiya b Nehra 31, D. Vinay Kumar lbw b Nehra 76, H. Badani c Vikram Rathour b Manhas 59, S. Sharath c Dahiya b Nehra 102; M.S.K. Prasad c Manhas b Sanghvi 20, R.V.Ch. Prasad (not out) 14, K.S. Shahabuddin (not out) 3. Extras (b-18, lb-8, nb-11, w-3) 40. Total (for six wkts) 422.

Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-154, 3-268, 4- 280, 5-375, 6-407.

North Zone bowling: Vineet Sharma 23-3- 61-0; Ashish Nehra 40-19-92-3; Rahul Sanghvi 30-8-119-2; Vishal Bhatia 17-4-76-0; Mithun Manhas 15-3-48-1.

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