The Hindu : Elite-A in a tight corner

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

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Sport - Cricket

Elite-A in a tight corner

By Our Sports Reporter

Chennai March 13. The stands are empty, and the cheers, even if there are any from some distant corner, are hardly audible. Keeping the motivation going for an India discard can be hard, in fact very hard.

To his credit Dodda Ganesh, an outstanding performer in the domestic scene over the years, delivers match after match, setting aside the disappointments along the way.

It was no different from him on the second day of the Duleep Trophy encounter at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, here, on Thursday, the paceman making a hard-hitting 72 down the order for Plate-A and then firing out three top-order Elite-A batsmen in his opening burst (6-0-20-3).

On a day that saw play being extended by fifty minutes, Elite-A found itself in a tight corner, finishing at 170 for six, replying to 373. The side has a long haul ahead.

It was a profitable day for two other former India cricketers, southpaws Sunil Joshi and Sridharan Sriram, the former producing a crucial 73 after Plate-A was reduced to 216 for seven, and the latter, batting No.3 for Elite-A, remaining unconquered with a tenacious unbeaten 71, even as wickets fell at the other end on a pitch that still played slow and low.

However, the contest till this point will be remembered for the opportunities missed by both sides. First, Elite-A let the opposition off the hook with Joshi and Ganesh adding 117 for the eighth wicket in 38.2 overs and then, Plate-A captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar, rather inexplicably removed Ganesh from the firing line after the paceman had claimed his third wicket, trapping Elite-A skipper Reetinder Sodhi leg-before with a yorker in his last over.

Reeling at 37 for four, Elite-A did manage a minor recovery, Sriram, with a penchant for the on-side, gathering his runs with typical efficiency, and Venugopala Rao (30) providing him solid support. The two added 95 for the fifth wicket in 26.5 overs.

Earlier, Ganesh had trapped Sadagopan Ramesh leg-before for nine, the delivery moving into the southpaw even as he shuffled across, and had the other opener Deep Dasgupta taken brilliantly by Kanitkar at mid-wicket, before nailing Sodhi. And left-arm paceman Jobanputra, who generated surprising pace from a quick arm action, won a leg-before shout against Devang Gandhi.

Then Sriram (71 not out, 146b, 7x4) and Venugopala (30, 65b, 2x4, 1x6) came up with the rescue act before the latter's mistimed drive off leg-spinner Yogesh Gowalkar was picked up by Ganesh at mid-off. And there was time enough for Joshi to bowl Sarandeep Singh with a delivery of fuller length.

Earlier in the day, Joshi had wisely played second fiddle as Ganesh (72, 112b, 8x4, 4x6) went after the bowling, striking four huge sixes, the pick being a well timed hook off paceman Ranadeb Bose that cleared the square-leg fence - Ganesh and Joshi did negotiate the second new ball well. After Ganesh was brilliantly taken by a diving Ramesh at slip off S. Sriram, bowling left-arm spin, Joshi (73, 169b, 8x4, 2x6) played a few spanking strokes himself, before becoming Irfan Pathan jr's fifth victim. A creditable performance it was from the young paceman.

* The scoreboard:

Plate-A: Ritesh Jaiswal lbw b R. Bose 80; Barrington Rowland lbw b I. Pathan (jr) 75; Hrishikesh Kanitkar lbw b R. Bose 6; Deepak Chougule b I. Pathan (jr) 10; Yashpal Singh lbw b I. Pathan (jr) 7; Ranjit Khirid c D. Gandhi b N. Singh 7; Thilak Naidu b I. Pathan (jr) 8; Sunil Joshi b I. Pathan (jr) 73; Dodda Ganesh c Ramesh b S. Sriram 72; Yogesh Gowalkar c Ramesh b S. Sriram 3; Jolly Jobanputra (not out) 3; Extras (b-8, lb-13, w-1, nb-7) 29; Total (all out) 373.

Fall of wickets: 1-147; 2-157; 3-187; 4-188; 5-203; 6-203; 7-216; 8-333; 9-345.

Elite-A bowling: Irfan Pathan (jr) 36-12-88-5; Ranadeb Bose 19-4-36-2; Reetinder Singh Sodhi 10-1-29-0; Navdeep Singh 24-6-51-1; Sarandeep Singh 25-5-95-0; S. Sriram 10-3-28-2; Rahul Kanwant 7-0-25-0.

Elite-A: Sadagopan Ramesh lbw b D. Ganesh 9; D. Dasgupta c H. Kanitkar b D. Ganesh 15; Sridharan Sriram (not out) 71; Reetinder Singh Sodhi lbw b D. Ganesh 0; Devang Gandhi lbw b J. Jobanputra 0; Venugopala Rao c D. Ganesh b Y. Gowalkar 30; Sarandeep Singh b S. Joshi 14; Rahul Kanwant (not out) 7; Extras (b-8, w-2, nb-14) 24; Total (for six wkts.) 170.

Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-31, 3-36, 4-37, 5-132, 6-147.

Plate-A bowling: Dodda Ganesh 9-0-28-3; Jobanputra 11-2-33-1; Ranjit Khirid 7-4-11-0; Sunil Joshi 9-0-41-1; Yogesh Gowalkar 7-1-25-1; Hrishikesh Kanitkar 4-0-24-0.

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