Report

Mumbai forge ahead in keen skirmish

Mumbai opened up a useful 47 run first innings lead on the second day of their Super League match at the Feroze Shah Kotla today after a four wicket haul by off spinner Rajesh Pawar restricted Delhi to 200 all out

25-Feb-2000
Mumbai opened up a useful 47 run first innings lead on the second day of their Super League match at the Feroze Shah Kotla today after a four wicket haul by off spinner Rajesh Pawar restricted Delhi to 200 all out. By close of play Mumbai's lead had swelled to 140 with eight second innings wickets in hand.
Delhi resumed at 49/3 with the two form players this season, Ashu Dani and Virender Shewag, at the crease. They carried on for another 15.5 overs this morning before Pawar struck first blood to have Shewag caught by keeper Rane for a swiftly accumulated 50 (75 balls, 6 fours, 2 sixes). The partnership between the two had been worth 91.
Rahul Sanghvi found himself promoted ahead of Ajay Sharma and found himself back in the dressing room after one boundary hit. Sharma and Shewag took Delhi safely through to lunch at 152-5. After lunch Dani's stout resistance, which had lasted four and a quarter hours, finally came to an end. His 74 came off 177 balls and included ten boundaries. Dani's fall sparked off a collapse as the last 5 wickets tumbled for 24 runs leaving Ajay Sharma high and dry on 39 not out. Pawar returned figures of 4-64.
In the 36 overs that Delhi's bowlers wheeled over, Mumbai progressed to 93-2. After losing both openers, Jatin Paranjpe and Amol Muzumdar put on an unfinished stand of 44 to help Mumbai nose ahead although Virender Shewag kept them on a leash with a tight spell of 8-4-4-1.
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Haryana reel under Sriram's assault

A splendid 177 by opener Sridharan Sriram put Tamil Nadu in firm control on the second day of their Super League match against Haryana at Gurgaon today

25-Feb-2000
A splendid 177 by opener Sridharan Sriram put Tamil Nadu in firm control on the second day of their Super League match against Haryana at Gurgaon today. A 166 run 3rd wicket partnership between Sriram and JR Madanagopal (74) saw the visiting side close at 371-5, a lead of 163. The Tamil Nadu batsmen scored at a brisk pace during the day with 328 runs coming off the 90 overs bowled.
Continuing where they left off yesterday at 43-0, Sriram and Aashish Kapoor took their stand to 80 before the latter departed for a rapidly made 55 (60 balls, 9 fours). Hemang Badani added a further 85 in Sriram's company before he was castled by Pradeep Jain. But these were merely appetisers that laid the way for the main course, the Sriram-Madanagopal association, that carried the score to 331. It was brought to an end when Madanagopal (170 balls, 4 fours) was thrown out by Jitender Singh.
Sriram's 177 (275 balls, 17 fours) was his third century in four Ranji matches this season. Although Sriram and Tanvir Jabbar fell to Jain in the space of three balls, with the score at 354, Tamil Nadu are still comfortably placed with two of their big guns, Sridharan Sharath (10) and captain Robin Singh (15), manning the crease at stumps. Left arm spinner Jain was the only spark (4-121) for Haryana in an otherwise insipid attack.
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Bengal batsmen fail to back bowlers

The Bengal batsman failed to back up the superlative performance of their bowlers against Rajasthan on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A encounter at the Eden Gardens on Friday

Sakyasen Mittra
25-Feb-2000
The Bengal batsman failed to back up the superlative performance of their bowlers against Rajasthan on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A encounter at the Eden Gardens on Friday. After the hosts had restricted the visitors to 377 runs in the first innings, Bengal finished the day at 151 for the loss of four wickets. Their situation could have been worse if Rajasthan had accepted the chances that came their way. As a result of two lives, Devang Gandhi scored a dashing unbeaten 81 and along with Srikant Kalyani added 75 runs for the unfinished fifth wicket.
Earlier, Rajasthan resuming at their overnight score of 295 for three wickets could only add 82 runs for the loss of the remaining seven wickets in 45 overs. Skipper Utpal Chatterjee was at his devastating best. He had figures of 17.1-8-17-4 today and his overall analysis was five for 76, his 19th fifth wicket haul in the Ranji Trophy. He was ably supported by off spinner Sourashis Chatterjee and medium pacer Lakshmi Ratan Shukla, both of whom finished with two wickets apiece.
In fact it was Shukla who started the slide by having P.Krishnakumar caught behind with a delivery that moved away of the seam. The Bengal fielding was also brilliant today with Nikhil Haldipur and Alokendu Lahiri picking up two brilliant catches at silly point and forward short leg respectively. It was only due to the efforts of Nikhil Doru (45 with seven boundaries) that Rajasthan managed to cross the 350 mark.
In reply, Bengal were always on the backfoot. However, the two main batsman of the team, Haldipur and Rohan Gavaskar committed `hara-kiri'. The former had no right to play a ball wide of the leg stump to be caught behind. The junior Gavaskar then needlessly tried to lift off spinner Anshu Jain out of the ground. He was brilliantly caught by Kuldip Singh at mid on who dived to his left to come up with a one handed catch.
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India restrict South Africa, but squander advantage

At the end of an eventful second day during which 15 wickets fell for 224 runs, India dismissed South Africa for 176 runs in their first innings but the visitors struck back by taking five Indian wickets for 75 runs by stumps on the second day of the

Anand Vasu
Anand Vasu
25-Feb-2000
At the end of an eventful second day during which 15 wickets fell for 224 runs, India dismissed South Africa for 176 runs in their first innings but the visitors struck back by taking five Indian wickets for 75 runs by stumps on the second day of the first Test at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Friday.
Resuming at 27 for no loss, all the South Africans needed to do was play through to lunch without losing further wickets. Gibbs looked in superb touch and was the aggressor even as Kirsten rotated the strike well. Gibbs played the medium pacers well, standing tall on tip toes and working the ball effortlessly through the off side. Compensating for Gibbs' mastery over the off side, Srinath bowled a straighter line and found that Gibbs played the ball with equal felicity on the leg side.
Ajit Agarkar generated good pace and used the bouncer well. The fact that neither Srinath nor Agarkar could get the ball to move either in the air or off the wicket made it very difficult for them to trouble the batsmen. The one time Srinath got the ball to straighten off the wicket, he almost caught Kirsten's outside edge. Agarkar, realising very early that he could not get any assistance from the conditions bent his back extra and made it difficult for the South Africans to settle down to a rhythm against him.
When spin was introduced, the South Africans became circumspect. There was no way they could play the spinners with the ease with which they went after the medium pacers. Anil Kumble extracted good bounce from the very first ball he bowled and it was hardly surprising that Nayan Mongia behind the wicket immediately donned the helmet behind the stumps. The ball bounced awkwardly to the batsmen and they did not have a specific strategy to counter Kumble. Kirsten played the ball late and had a better chance of surviving. When he committed to the front foot, he really plonked his leg a long way down the wicket, making it very difficult for the umpire to give him out LBW. When he played back, Kirsten once again took a large stride, and this enabled his to let the ball bounce and turn before he played his shot.
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Tamil Nadu in commanding position

Tamil Nadu were in a position of considerable strength at stumps on the first day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group C match against Haryana at the Nehru stadium in Gurgaon on Thursday

24-Feb-2000
Tamil Nadu were in a position of considerable strength at stumps on the first day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group C match against Haryana at the Nehru stadium in Gurgaon on Thursday. After dismissing the hosts for 208 runs, Tamil Nadu were 43 without loss at close.
In fact Tamil Nadu were in a position to take a stranglehold very early in the match. For, shortly before lunch, Haryana were 83 for seven. However, an eighth wicket partnership of 102 runs between P. Jain (57) and P Thakur (53) helped Haryana to recover.
Electing to bat, Haryana were rocked by a deadly spell by medium pacer Gokulakrishna and were 24 for three in the tenth over. With skipper Robin Singh taking a hand, wickets fell at regular intervals even though opener Jitender Singh soldiered on to score 40 off 84 balls before he was fifth out. Haryana were down in the dumps at lunch, but Thakur and Jain then retreived their hopes with their gallant association that lasted 32.5 overs. While Jain faced 130 balls and hit seven of them to the ropes, Thakur's 53 was compiled off 110 balls and he hit six fours. Gokulakrishna, who did the early damage took three for 40 while Robin Singh, who wrecked the middle order, had three for 18 from eleven overs. Off spinner Aashish Kapoor chipped in with two for 67 while left arm spinner Sriram, who hastened the end of the innings captured two wickets for four runs off 9.2 overs.
In the remaining ten overs, Tamil Nadu openers Kapoor and Sriram completed a fruitful day for their side by coming in unbeaten. Kapoor was aggressive, hitting five fours in his 34 off 33 deliveries.
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