Thursday, Apr 04, 2002
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Cricket
By Our Special Correspondent
Earlier, Devendra Bundela's stylish 116 not out (20x4, 2x6) was the high point of Central's first innings. His effort came in less than four hours after the top four batsmen had been sent back to the pavilion. Bundela had not even scored a run off the bat when North consumed his partner Sanjay Pandey. But after Hirwani had played out a few balls, Bundela got into the thick of action as he square drove and then celebrated his milestone with a straight six off seamer Shakti Singh. He returned to an ovation after Hirwani, top edged an intended hook off Vineet Sharma, Sangram Singh at short leg taking an easy catch. North's reply began 40 minutes into the first session. And Akash made Central sweat in hot and humid conditions with the temperature soaring to more than 40 degrees. Akash, who became the third batsman in the history of Duleep Trophy to carry his bat (he remained undefeated on 119 in the second innings against West at Pune), remained unperturbed despite seeing his inexperienced middle order batsmen leave without putting up a fight apart from being distracted by the Central fielders who appealed excessively. Akash batted for six hours and 24 minutes, showing good defence and driving well off both front and backfoots. He played quite a few forcing shots off Hirwani and Parida in the arc between mid-on and midwicket. He was in some discomfort in the initial stages while facing Hirwani whose first over lasted 10 deliveries as he sent down four no-balls. North made a confident start through Akash and the in-form, Rathour. And it took a fine fielding and throwing effort from Sanjay Pandey to separate the opening pair at the stroke of lunch off the first ball bowled by off-spinner Kulamani Pardia. An edge that did not carry and went wide of Gagan Khoda at slip, resulted in the run out of Rathour, who struck half a dozen fours in his 33. After lunch, the seamers, notably Pandey, produced the breakthroughs for Central. North's middle order, which looks vulnerable in the absence of Dinesh Mongia and Yuveraj Singh, lost Sangram and Shafiq Khan leg before and captain Mithun Manhas caught in spectacular fashion by wicketkeeper Rohit Jhalani on the leg side. Central had more reasons to celebrate when Harvinder Singh beat the forward push of Yahspal Singh immediately after tea. Half the North side had gone cheaply, leaving it to Akash to shoulder responsibility. There were a few close calls for Akash and Vijay Dahiya, who had hurt his leg on Tuesday and came to bat with a runner. Sparks flew as the umpires did not respond to orchestrated appeals, Jhalani leading the small party in the close-in cordon. Akash and Dahiya, who stepped out and lifted Parida for a six and four, added 50 for the sixth wicket before Pandey returned for his last spell of the day and knocked back Dahiya's stumps. If the partnership between Akash and Dahiya helped North recover, Sarandeep Singh made the rearguard action more fascinating to watch. He did not believe in playing second fiddle and went for the bowling. He went on to dictate terms against a frustrated and tired Central bowling with the seventh-wicket pair severe on Hirwani and Parida. The pair has so far raised 90 runs in 85 minutes and taken their side 80 runs short of Central's first innings score of 368. Akash has hit 18 fours in his 242-ball knock while Sarandeep is two short of his half century. A cover drive off Yere Goud off the last ball of the day reflected the mood Sarandeep was in. Central will be fresh on the morrow and look to the second new ball to do the trick. The scores: Central Zone — 1st innings: Jyoti Yadav c Yashpal b Sarandeep 80, Gagan Khoda b Sharma 0, Paresh Sutane b Sharma 9, Yere Goud c Rathour b Sarandeep 2, Jaiprakash Yadav c Shafiq Khan b Sanghvi 68, Devendra Bundela (not out) 116, Rohit Jhalani c Manhas b Sarandeep 11, Harvinder Singh lbw b Manhas 31, Kulamani Parida c Sangram b Sarandeep 0, Sachin Pandey lbw b Sharma 13, N. Hirwani c Sangram b Sharma 4; Extras (b-2, lb-10, nb-22) 34; Total 368. Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-15, 3-38, 4-149, 5-175, 6-217, 7-303, 8-304, 9-342. North bowling: Sharma 20-4-54-4, Shakti 14-4-52-0, Sangram 2-0-9-0, Sarandeep 31-3-142-4, Sanghvi 25-6-78-1, Manhas 7-2-21-1. North Zone — 1st innings: Akash Chopra (batting) 113, Vikram Rathour (run out) 33, Sangram Singh lbw b J.P. Yadav 10, Shafiq Khan lbw b Pandey 28, Mithun Manhas c Jhalani b Pandey 0, Yashpal Singh b Harvinder 1, Vijay Dahiya b Pandey 33, Sarandeep Singh (batting) 48; Extras (lb-5, nb-17 ) 22; Total (for six wkts.) 288. Fall of wickets: 1-62, 2-76, 3-127, 4-137, 5-148, 6-198. Central bowling: Pandey 15-1-50-3, Harvinder 11-3-49-1, Hirwani 23-9-65-0, Parida 11-0-57-0, J.P. Yadav 14-2-51-1, Jyoti Yadav 3-0-5-0, Bundela 2-2-0-0, Goud 1-0-6-0.
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