The Hindu : Sujith cracks century

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 14, 2003

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Sport - Cricket

Sujith cracks century

By Our Sports Reporter

CHENNAI MARCH 13. The pitch had slowed down a bit. But that certainly was not the reason for the patchy display by the Plate-B batsmen. The side suffered more due to lack of application on the part of its top-half and Elite-B's accurate bowling on the second day of the four-day Duleep Trophy contest at the ICL-Guru Nanak College ground, here, on Thursday.

In the morning, Elite-B's lower order resistance lasted 2.5 overs and the side, resuming at 343 for eight, finished at 350.

The sense of purpose and calculated approach, so essential in chases steep as this, was somehow missing in Plate-B, and one got the feeling that some of the batsmen were caught in two minds, whether to play their shots or just hang in there and push for ones and twos; there being no constraint on time.

If the J. Arun Kumar-led side managed to reach 238 for seven at close, it was thanks in main to opener Sujith Somasundar's matured 116 (348m, 226b, 1x6, 13x4) _ his maiden century in the championship.

The sprightly left-arm seamer Amit Uniyal accounted for four wickets, including the crucial one of Somasundar with two overs left for stumps. Left-hander Amay Khurasia was early on the pull and played the ball on to the stumps, Vijay Bharadwaj fell leg-before while Devendra Bundela was pouched by Wasim Jaffer at third slip driving away from his body.

Somasundar's scalp was the big one, really, considering that he was taking the fight to the enemy camp in the company of the gritty southpaw Sreekumar Nair (batting 40, 118m, 94b, 1x6, 4x4). The two had put on 80 runs for the seventh wicket.

Rohan Gavaskar opted for the second new ball midway into the 82nd over. Uniyal was brought back for his fourth spell, the second delivery of which he had Somasundar edge behind down the leg-side.

There was passion in the manner Elite-B went about its business on the field and Gavaskar kept the pressure on the opposition with his attacking approach.

Off-spinner Sourashish Lahiri and leg-spinner Sairaj Bahutule did a bulk of the bowling, both displaying control and a keen mind.

Lahiri had accounted for Arun Kumar, who missed the line completely while going for the drive, while the leg-spinner claimed Hemant Kumar and Deshpande.

* The scores:

Elite-B: A. Pagnis c&b Nair 23, W. Jaffer b Sreesanth 35, V. Mane c Bharadwaj b Hirwani 1, A. Yadav c Deshpande b Hirwani 59, R. Gavaskar c Bundela b Bharadwaj 42, T.P. Singh c Bundela b Hirwani 64, M.S.K. Prasad lbw b Hirwani 40, S. Bahutule c Deshpande b Hirwani 0, A. Uniyal c Bundela b Hirwani 8. S. Lahiri lbw b Sreesanth 31, D. Mohanty (not out) 1, Extras (b-14, lb-4, w-1, nb-27) 46; Total (92.5 overs) 350.

Fall of wickets: 1-66, 2-68, 3-110, 4-168, 5-266, 6-272, 7-274, 8-286, 9-348.

Plate-B bowling: S. Sreesanth 16-1-68-2, S. Dhahad 10-2-38-0, D. Bundela 4-1-9-0, Sreekumar Nair 26-1-96-1, Narendra Hirwani 27.5-5-80-6, Vijay Bharadwaj 7-0-29-1, Hemant Kumar 2-0-12-0.

Plate-B: J. Arun Kumar b Lahiri 12, S. Somasundar c Prasad b Uniyal 116, A. Khurasia b Uniyal 5, V.R. Bharadwaj lbw b Uniyal 0, D. Bundela c Jaffer b Uniyal 18, C. Hemant Kumar c Prasad b Bahutule 12, A.V. Deshpande c Gavaskar b Bahutule 23, Sreekumar Nair (batting) 40, S. Dhahad (batting) 1, Extras (b-1, lb-7, nb-3) 11; Total (for seven wkts. in 85 overs) 238.

Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-40, 3-40, 4-84, 5-116, 6-152, 7-232.

Elite-B bowling: D. Mohanty 11-3-25-0, A. Uniyal 20-5-55-4, S. Lahiri 25-5-62-1, S. Bahutule 24-2-63-2, R. Gavaskar 5-1-25-0.

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