The Hindu : East Zone takes 51-run lead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 22, 2002

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Sport - Cricket

East Zone takes 51-run lead
By Our Special Correspondent

KOLKATA, MARCH 21. Bangalore-based mechanical engineer Yere Goud waged a grim battle in the company of No. 11 batsman Narendra Hirwani to save Central Zone from conceding the first innings lead. But his herculean effort went in vain at the Eden Gardens here on Thursday.

The 30-year-old senior section officer of the Wheel and Axle Plant of Railways in the capital of Karnataka added 95 runs for the last wicket in 22.4 overs against East Zone. In the process, Goud, the highest run-getter in domestic cricket last season with 901 runs, compiled an unbeaten 125 - his second century in this tournament - to take the team's total to 314 all out.

Finally it was the nippy Mark Ingty who broke the partnership and gave East a crucial 51-run first innings lead. At close, East was 102 for two after being two down for 29. Both Shiv Sundar Das and Deep Dasgupta, named to the Indian team to tour the West Indies, were sent back by Harvinder Singh, another India discard, rather cheaply.

No. 3 Reshmi Ranjan Parida and captain Sanjay Raul remained unseparated till the end of the third day of the four- day game on 53 and 32 runs respectively.

In was indeed a rare coincidence that Goud, who played for Karnataka for one season in 1993-94 before switching over to Railways, got both the Duleep centuries in the company of No. 11 batsmen. If it was Salabh Srivastava last season against North Zone at Delhi with Goud on 61, it was the turn of Hirwani today with Goud on 72.

Central, resuming at the overnight 136 for five, did very well to reach 314, thanks mainly to Goud's knock. The Railway mainstay, one of the key batsmen in helping Railway win the National championship for the first time this season, took a lot of time to get to his half century (280 minutes, 219 balls 7x4) and 100 (400m, 311b, 16x4). He lost Raja Ali and Harvinder Singh, both for 11 at the team's score of 143 and 169, and Kulamani Parida for 8 after the team's total crossed the 200 mark.

The day saw seven wickets falling out of which six went to pacemen. Assam pacer Mark Ingty picked up two to finish with three for 57 in 20.4 overs while Orissa's Ajay Barik took one to end with two for 74. Bengal speedster Laxmi Ratan Shukla got his wicket for 39 while Bengal off-spinner Sourasish Lahiri added one to end with three for 57.

Disaster struck East in the second innings quickly. The two openers Das and Dasgupta were sent back by Harvinder Singh in his second and sixth overs in the eight-over spell. Das was bowled by a sharp incoming ball and Dasgupta was caught plumb.

Parida and Raul weathered some anxious moments before putting on an unfinished 73 runs to give East an overall lead of 153 runs.

The scores:

East Zone - 1st innings: 365.

Central Zone - 1st innings: Jyoti Yadav c Parida b Lahiri 48, Gagan Khoda b Ingty 14, Rohit Jhalani b Barik 1, Yere Goud (not out) 125, Rahul Kanwat c Subhomoy Das b Lahiri 9, J.P. Yadav c Dasgupta b Utpal 5, Raja Ali c Shukla b Ingty 11, Harvinder Singh b Barik 11, Kulamani Parida c Dasgupta b Shukla 8, Sanjay Pandey c Ingty b Lahiri 2, N. Hirwani c Mallick b Ingty 38. Extras (b-2, lb-7, nb-32, w-1) 42. Total (all out in 116.4 overs) 314.

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-32, 3-103, 4- 114, 5-119, 6-143, 7-169, 8-202, 9-219.

East bowling: Barik 16-1-74-2, Ingty 20.4-5-57-3, Shukla 17-6-39-1, Chatterjee 35-11-69-1, Lahiri 26-7-57-3, Raul 2-1-9-0.

East Zone - 2nd innings: Shiv Sundar Das b Singh 6, Deep Dasgupta lbw b Singh 8, Reshmi Ranjan Parida (batting) 53, Sanjay Raul (batting) 32. Extras (lb-1, nb-2): 3. Total (for two in 30 overs): 102.

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-29.

Central bowling: Pandey 8-1-35-0, Singh 8-3-27-2, Yadav 4-1-13-0, Parida 5-0-16-0, Hirwani 4-0-6-0, Kanwat 1-0-4-0.

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