The Hindu : Nothing goes right for Elite-B

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 04, 2003

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Sport - Cricket

Nothing goes right for Elite-B

By Our Sports Reporter

Elite-A's Irfan Pathan (Jr) castles Elite-B's Vinayak Mane in the Duleep Trophy match in Bangalore on Thursday.

BANGALORE April 3. Elite-B captain M.S.K. Prasad won the toss and elected to bat. Sadly it proved to be the only thing right for his team as Irfan Pathan's (Jr) early strikes and three run outs helped Elite-A grab the initiative in the Duleep Trophy match which commenced at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Thursday.

At close on the opening day, Elite-A was 29 for no loss in reply after Elite-B was bowled out for 219 in 80.1 overs.

It was a gloomy day for Elite-B, probably reflecting the slightly overcast conditions.

Once opener Amit Pagnis shuffled and was caught in front by an Irfan delivery, the anchoring job was left to Wasim Jaffer.

The Mumbai opener (62, 140b, 6x4) waded into Sanjay Bangar with a cover drive and found an able ally in Vinayak Mane.

The duo chipped in with a 77-run second wicket partnership, which proved the highest of the innings. It was Mane (39) who perished first, failing to tide past Irfan's second spell and finding his off-stump pegged back.

Jaffer, however, continued in the same vein while A.T. Rayudu displayed a touch of Hyderabadi elegance as he straight drove Irfan after picking the ball from outside the off-stump.

Jaffer and Rayudu helped Elite-B go to lunch at 109 for two but the middle order collapsed in the afternoon session leaving Elite-A skipper Reetinder Singh Sodhi delighted. Rayudu's penchant for extravagant shots proved costly as he succumbed to Sarandeep Singh. More disaster followed as Jaffer, egging captain Prasad for a second run, failed to beat Irfan's throw from fine-leg.

Two more run outs marred the Elite-B innings with Prasad making a foolish bid to steal a single after hitting the ball straight to Gautam Gambhir at mid-on. Gyanendra Pandey was then left stranded by Bangar's direct throw. The tail did not wag for too long even as Sarandeep slipped one past Ramesh Powar's feeble defence.

Attention was soon riveted to the battle between Elite-A opener Gambhir and Elite-B seamer Avishkar Salvi, both of whom had secured berths in the Indian squad for the tri-nation series in Dhaka. Salvi's first delivery was a loosener which southpaw Gambhir drove straight past mid-off for a four. Gambhir and Bangar played safe in the remaining session even as Salvi got his line right despite the odd ball slipping down the leg-side.

The scores:

Elite-B — 1st innings: Amit Pagnis lbw b Irfan 11, Wasim Jaffer (run out) 62, Vinayak Mane b Irfan 39, A.T. Rayudu c Kanwat b Sarandeep 13, Arjun Yadav lbw b Bangar 4, M.S.K. Prasad (run out) 17, Gyanendra Pandey (run out) 19, Sairaj Bahutule c Dasgupta b Irfan 16, Ramesh Powar b Sarandeep 14, Harvinder Singh c Venugopala b Sarandeep 2, Avishkar Salvi (not out) 0; Extras (b-9, lb-3, nb-9, w-1) 22; Total 219.

Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-98, 3-125, 4-131, 5-154, 6-181, 7-186, 8-217, 9-219.

Elite-A bowling: Irfan 16.1-3-53-3, Bangar 13-2-44-1, Sodhi 12-2-31-0, Sarandeep 26-6-53-3, Kanwat 7-1-14-0, Sriram 6-1-12-0.

Elite-A — 1st innings: Gautam Gambhir (batting) 17, Sanjay Bangar (batting) 9; Extras (nb-3) 3; Total (for no loss) 29.

Elite-B bowling: Salvi 3-0-12-0, Harvinder 2-0-11-0, Powar 1-0-4-0, Bahutule 1-0-2-0.

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