Thursday, Aug 29, 2002
Thursday, Aug 29, 2002 |
| Sport | ||
|
News:
|
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Sport
-
Cricket
Indeed, Sriram (109, 120b, 13x4, 1x6) and Badani (127, 149b, 13x4, 1x6) sent the hapless Airlines side on a leather hunt with MAC-TNCA XI, electing to bat, reaching a daunting 437 before being bowled out in the 88th of the allotted 90 overs in its first innings. There was a fine contribution from yet another left-hander, skipper Sridharan Sharath (71, 80b, 6x4, 1x6). The visitors were one without loss at close, openers Ravneet Ricky and Munish Sharma yet to open their account. On a pitch, where only the occasional delivery stopped before coming on, openers Sadagopan Ramesh (20) and Anand George (33) raised 52 in 14.2 overs, before missing out on bigger feats, Ramesh being picked up at square-leg off left-arm spinner Bablu Kumar, and George too perishing to the same bowler, lobbing a catch to covers off the leading edge. Badani joined No. 3 Sriram, and the two unsettled the steady but stingless Airlines spin attack with strokeplay that was both innovative and intelligent. Sriram produced some well-timed sweeps, revealed he could unleash the reverse sweeps too, and the spinners were forced to shift their line. Badani, dancing down the track, dished out some lovely drives straight down the ground, pierced the off-side field with ease. Sriram, stepping down and driving left-arm spinner Sonu Sharma, found the gap between cover and extra cover to reach his fifty. Runs came in a torrent, and when the players went in for lunch, MAC-TNCA XI was galloping at 186 for two in 40 overs, Sriram on 73 and Badani, 46. The two continued in the same vein after the interval, Bablu Kumar, Sonu Sharma and off-spinner Ishan Ganda receiving the treatment from the dashing duo in the middle. Sriram did not take long to reach a well-deserved hundred, flicking Ganda to wide mid-on and completing a single. The third-wicket pair had gathered 199, in just 33.4 overs, when Sriram's attempted pull off medium pacer Rajat Bhatia ballooned up for 'keeper Pradeep Chawla to pouch the catch. However, there was no let-off for Airlines, as Badani and the in-form Sharath continued to plunder runs. At a stage when run-making was becoming rather monotonous, two strokes from Badani stood out for their ingenuity. On the first occasion, with Bhatia operating to an off-stump line with eight fielders on the off-side, Badani's rasping cover-drive found a way through the cordon. Then, when left-arm spinner Bablu Kumar went round the wicket, with a predominantly on-side field, Badani still made room to crash him to the cover fence, hitting against the spin. He swept Bablu Kumar to get to the three-figure mark, and to celebrate the occasion, soon dumped the same bowler over the mid-wicket fence. Badani had put on 79 for the fourth wicket with Sharath in 14.2 overs, when he fell at the stroke of tea, castled while attempting to whip part-time offie Munish Sharma to the on-side. MAC-TNCA XI was 353 for four off 68 overs at tea. The last session of the day saw Sharath, an efficient run-maker, cut, drive and pull his way to 71, before perishing while trying to increase the run-rate, taken at the deep mid-wicket fence off Sonu Sharma. The MAC-TNCA XI lost a clutch of wickets towards the end of the innings, Bablu Kumar and Sonu Sharma claiming four wickets each, however, by then, the home side had already reached an imposing total. S. Sharath and S. Ramesh replaced S. Suresh, nursing a foot injury, and Prashant Chandran in the MAC-TNCA XI. Indian Airlines entered the summit clash without a frontline paceman, which was intriguing considering it has two promising youngsters in Mark Ingty and Gagandeep Singh. The scores (final): MAC-TNCA XI 437 in 87.3 overs (Anand George 33, S. Sriram 109, Hemang K. Badani 127, S. Sharath 71, R. Ramkumar 25, Sonu Sharma four for 138, Bablu Kumar four for 150) vs Indian Airlines one without loss in one over.
Printer friendly
page
News:
|
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2002, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
