The Hindu : Advantage Plate-B

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Sunday, Mar 23, 2003

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Advantage Plate-B

By Our Sports Reporter

Hemanth Kumar of Plate-B drives Plate-A's Sunil Joshi during his knock of 88 in the Duleep Trophy encounter in Bangalore on Saturday.

BANGALORE March 22. Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Deepak Chougule opted for flamboyance and perished. The duo's approach mirrored the woes that plagued Plate-A against Plate-B in the Duleep Trophy match in progress at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday.

A doughty approach was the need of the hour but Kanitkar and Chougule gave the charge to Narendra Hirwani and scampered towards the pavilion, while Plate-B smelt a scent of victory at close on the third day.

Plate-A mustered 143 for four in its second innings and remained 137-runs adrift off the innings-defeat bogey while batting under the shadow of a 280-run first innings deficit after Plate-B bolstered by Hemanth Kumar's 88 posted 527.

Plate-A did start on a sedate note with openers — Jaiswal (50) and Barrington Rowland (21) — mixing a dour blade with the odd hit to the fence. The duo chipped in a 45-run stand until Barrington's tentative prod off left-arm spinner S.K. Nair kept Vijay Bharadwaj busy in the close-in cordon.

Skipper Kanitkar (12) walked in and smote Hirwani over long-on and then rocked back to punch the leg-spinner towards the sweeper cover fence. However Hirwani soon had his revenge as Kanitkar mistimed a shot past mid-wicket. Jaiswal also succumbed after notching his 50 and attention was riveted on Deepak Chougule (30).

The diminutive batsman found easy pickings as Hirwani erred in line. However Hirwani had the last laugh as he packed the off-side, placed Vijay Bharadwaj at short covers and invited Chougule to launch into a drive.

The ball was tossed up, Chougule just could not resist and left the crease and connected air while Deshpande effected an easy stumping to leave Plate-B nursing visions of an outright victory on Sunday.

Earlier, Plate-B's run-riot continued unabated with southpaw C. Hemant Kumar (88) holding the lower order together after skipper J. Arun Kumar (178) succumbed to Joshi. Hemant helped Plate-B sail past the 500-mark and left Plate-A staring at defeat.

The scores:

Plate-A — Ist innings: 247.

Plate-B — Ist innings: J. Arun Kumar c Dodda Ganesh b Sunil Joshi 178, Sujith Somasundar c H. Kanitkar b Ganesh 32, Amay Khurasiya c Thilak Naidu b Ganesh 5, Vijay Bharadwaj c Barrington Rowland b Sunil 91, D. Bundela c Thilak Naidu b R. Khirid 27, Hemant Kumar c Thilak Naidu b Khirid 88, S.K. Nair c Ganesh b Joshi 17, A.V. Deshpande b Kanitkar 22, Atram c Chougule b R. Khirid 48, Sreesanth (not out) 0, Narendra Hirwani c & b Khirid 4. Extras (b-1, lb-7, nb-7) 15. Total: 527.

Fall of wickets: 1-64, 2-80, 3-284, 4-343, 5-345, 6-390, 7-428, 8-520, 9-523.

Plate-A bowling: Dodda Ganesh 26-3-130-2, Jobanputra 25-8-100-1, Ranjit Khirid 14.3-4-39-3, Sunil Joshi 49-12-135-3, Y. Golwalkar 18-4-63-0, Hrishikesh Kanitkar 12-1-32-1, Barrington Rowland 1-0-1-0, Yashpal Singh 3-1-19-0.

Plate-A — IInd innings: R. Jaiswal c Deshpande b Hirwani 50, Barrington Rowland c Vijay Bharadwaj b S.K. Nair 21, Kanitkar c Atram b Hirwani 12, Deepak Chougule st. Deshpande b Hirwani 30, Yashpal Singh (batting) 15, R. Khirid (batting) 7. Extras (lb-8) 8. Total: (for four wkts.) 143.

Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-82, 3-100, 4-135.

Plate-B bowling: Sreesanth 7-0-21-0, C. Atram 3-0-19-0, Hirwani 18-5-58-3, S.K. Nair 15-2-37-1.

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