MRF break into little sweat to dismiss Andhra challenge

MRF thrashed Andhra by 161 runs in a lopsided encounter at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore today to move into the quarter finals of the KSCA Diamond Jubilee tournament for the Coromandel Cement Trophy. When Andhra captain MSK Prasad got the better of his counterpart, M Senthilnathan over the spin of the coin, he invited MRF to take first strike. They posted a total of 225 which proved more than adequate in the circumstances as Andhra crumbled to a miserable 64 in just under two hours.

In the morning session, MRF were bowled out in the last of their allotted fifty overs, with five balls to spare. They suffered a poor start when Aashish Kapoor was caught off the bowling of former India A seamer N Madhukar for nought. In the fifth over, one of the heroes of India's Under-19 World Cup triumph, Venugopala Rao was thrown out to leave the tire manufacturers at 18/2.

Hemang Badani and Hrishikesh Kanitkar then steadied the boat with a 82 run third wicket stand before the former was trapped leg before one run short of his half century. Badani had struck six boundaries in his run a ball knock. Kanitkar duly went past the fifty mark but was given the marching orders by Ram Mohan for 61 (77 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) in the 31st over.

All rounder Rajat Bhatia also showed his mettle with a useful 46 but when he tickled one through to Prasad off Madhukar, the lower order fell apart and MRF settled for a score of 225. Madhukar ended with the creditable figures of 4/48 but it was Watekar who combined both potency and miserliness to finish with 4/24.

Andhra began their reply in disastrous fashion as both openers, one of whom was the captain Prasad, were removed for ducks by Mumbai medium pacer Sriram Kannan and Baroda paceman Zaheer Khan respectively. A Pathak and YG Rao managed to enter double figures but after Khan took a return catch to despatch the former, a steady procession began to and fro the crease.

The last eight wickets slumped for 31 as the Andhra innings terminated in the 24th over. All five MRF bowlers were among the wickets but it was Kannan who produced the best analysis in the end with 3/26 from his seven overs. MRF now goes through to a quarter final clash with Indian Airlines at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on August 8.