Md Kaif celebrates recall in style

Md Kaif celebrated his recall to the Indian team in the best possible manner. Coming in at No 3, he went on to make an unbeaten 199 as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation amassed 459 for four in the allotted 90 overs on the second day of their Coromandel Cement Cup match against Indian Airlines at the Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar Sports Complex in Bangalore on Thursday.

The opening day's play yesterday had been washed out. Put in to bat, ONGC were given a good start with openers Gagan Khoda (25) and Sandeep Sharma putting on 63 runs in 14 overs. Kaif then joined Sharma and the two proceeded to ground the Indian Airlines attack into the dust by adding 219 runs for the second wicket off 46 overs. At 282, Sharma finally fell for 146. He batted 252 minutes, faced 201 balls and hit 22 fours and a six. Airlines' agony did not end with the dismissal of Sharma. Kaif and skipper R Shamshad (44) figured in a 99-run third wicket association that lasted 18.2 overs. Mithun Manhas (10) and Kaif then slapped on another 50 runs for the fourth wicket off only 7.2 overs. When the innings ended, Kaif had batted five hours. He faced 208 balls and hit 18 fours and three sixes.

A strong rearguard action enabled MRF to score 325 on the second day of their Coromandel Cement Cup match against Hyderabad Cricket Association XI at the Gangothri Gladers ground in Mysore on Thursday. At stumps HCA were 15 for one.

It was another rain affected day's play. Showers stopped play at 2.20 and tea was taken early. Play resumed only at 4.40 and was called off because of rain at 5 pm.

In between the interruptions, MRF made a strong recovery. Resuming at 98 for three, they were soon 144 for five despite Amit Pagnis' watchful 66 for which he batted three hours. He faced 130 balls, hitting 12 fours.

JP Yadav (59) and former Indian player Ashish Kapoor (36) initiated a recovery process by adding 54 runs for the sixth wicket off 10.5 overs. The momentum was maintained with Yadav and another former Indian player Thiru Kumaran (11) putting on 44 runs for the seventh wicket off 11.3 overs.

Yadav fell soon afterwards after facing 113 balls and hitting seven fours and a six but N Gautham who came in at No 9 kept the innings going and remained unbeaten with a run a ball 52. He hit three fours and two sixes. With MR Shrinivas (10) he added 45 runs for the ninth wicket off 11 overs.

Kumaran provided the breakthrough when HCA batted bowling skipper Nanda Kishore (2). DS Manohar (6) and Anirudh Singh (3) were batting when rain ruled out further play.

Thilak Naidu hit an unbeaten 106 as Karnataka State Cricket Association did well in scoring 343 for five in the allotted 90 overs on the second day in their Coromandel Cement Cup match against Andhra at the RSI ground in Bangalore on Thursday.

Resuming at 117 for two, KSCA lost Mithun Beerala for 61. Former Indian player Vijay Bhardwaj contributed 62. But the innings really gained momentum with Naidu and wicketkeeper RC Shanbal adding 134 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket off 23.3 overs. Naidu faced 125 balls, hitting ten fours and two sixes while Shanbal remained unbeaten with 46 off 75 balls.

The Andhra reply was led by opener Amit Pathak who by close was batting with 68. He has so far faced 77 balls and hit eleven boundaries. He and YG Rao (17) added 67 runs for the second wicket off 12.3 overs. Andhra at close were 98 for three off 28 overs and will depend on Pathak carrying them past the KSCA total. The target now is 246 runs off 62 overs.

Valuable contributions by most of their frontline batsmen saw Roofit XI, Mumbai put up a challenging total of 341 for seven in 87.5 overs on the second day of their Coromandel Cement Cup match against India Cements at the Central College ground in Bangalore on Thursday.

Rain had washed out play on the opening day yesterday. Put in to bat, Roofit were given a good start with openers S Parab (94) and S Adhikari (47) putting on 96 runs off 33.4 overs. Parab was then concerned in a fruitful third wicket partnership of 84 runs with Hrishikesh Kanitkar (76). Parab was third out at 182 in the 57th over after facing 165 balls and hitting eleven fours. Kanitkar and skipper Jatin Paranjpe (33) then maintained the momentum with a fourth wicket association of 68 runs that lasted 14 overs. P Patel then kept the innings going with an unbeaten 43 off 56 balls with three boundary hits. The first innings of each side is restricted to 90 overs.

Karnataka State Cricket Association Colts were in a position of considerable strength at stumps on the second day of their Coromandel Cement Cup match against Kerala CA XI at the NRA ground in Bangalore on Thursday. After scoring 321 for seven in the allotted 90 overs, KSCA Colts had taken six Kerala wickets for 123 runs by close.

Resuming at 126 for two, KSCA Colts were bolstered by the two overnight batsmen SK Ponnappa and B Akhil. While opener Ponnappa made 88 off 207 balls with ten boundary hits, skipper Akhil went on to get 56 off 118 balls with six fours. The two shared a third wicket stand of 119 runs off 36.4 overs. The momentum was maintained with Stuart Binny (27) and Affan Sheriff adding 58 runs for the seventh wicket off 14.3 overs. And finally Sheriff and Sunil Kumar figured in an unbroken eighth wicket partnership of 56 runs off seven overs. While Sheriff scored 50 off 63 balls with seven fours and a six, Sunil Kumar's breezy 33 came up off opnly 27 balls. SK Nair finished with five for 82.

Kerala lost wickets at regular intervals and were in a sad pickle at the end of the day. Most of the damage was caused by opening bowler NC Aiyappa who took three of the six wickets to fall for 44 runs.