The Hindu : Elite-B sitting pretty

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 12, 2003

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Sport - Cricket

Elite-B sitting pretty

By Our Sports Reporter

CHENNAI APRIL 11. Elite-B is all set for the `kill.' At the Chidambaram Stadium here on Friday, the second day of its four-day final round Duleep Trophy encounter against Plate-A, the Rohan Gavaskar-led line-up gained a first innings lead of 194 and had the opposition at 74 for two by close.

The chances of Elite-B pulling off an outright victory are bright. But the Vivek Jaisimha-managed squad will rue not having displayed a positive attitude in an earlier encounter. Against Elite-C in Vijayawada, after having had the opposition on the mat, it failed to prise out full eight points largely due to a delayed declaration.

Had the side gained the extra three points there, it would have, going into this concluding fixture, been in contention for the title despite the setback in the last match.

Resuming its first innings at 87 for one, Elite-B finished at 329, minutes before tea, when it could well have made more. Opener Vinayak Mane top-scored with 76 (245m, 200b, 6x4, 1x6) while southpaw Amit Pagnis and A.T. Rayudu notched up half centuries.

Though the three players dominated the bowling during their stay, their dismissals were `soft' owing to poor shot selection. Considering that Plate-A's first innings score of 135 had been upstaged much earlier, the players were under no pressure and their exit, especially after getting an eye in, was an opportunity wasted.

Young Rayudu certainly seems worthy of the attention he's getting these days. Blessed with good hand-eye coordination, he is proactive, possesses quick footwork and loves to get on top of the bowling. However, the sooner he understands that patience is a virtue, the better for him.

The Hyderabad lad took his overnight second-wicket stand with Mane to 106. The other notable partnership was the crucial 42 for the eighth between Ramesh Powar and Sairaj Bahutule after the side lost five wickets for the addition of just 45 runs.

Plate-A lost Jaiswal in just the third delivery of the innings. But the other opener Rowland Barrington (batting 35) and skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar took the score to 50 before off-spinner Powar clean bowled the latter.

The first hour on the morrow will be crucial for Plate-A.

The scores:

Plate-A — 1st innings: 135.

Elite-B — 1st innings: V. Mane c (sub) Phadke b Kanitkar 76, A. Pagnis c Barrington b Shaikh 55, W. Jaffer c Yashpal b Joshi 15, A.T. Rayudu c Jaiswal b Ananthapadmanabhan 52, R. Gavaskar c Yohannan b Kanitkar 0, A. Yadav c Naidu b Yohannan 12, M.S.K. Prasad lbw b Joshi 10, R. Powar c&b Ananthapadmanabhan 37, S. Bahutule c Ananthapadmanabhan b Ganesh 29, A. Uniyal c Jaiswal b Kanitkar 20, Harvinder Singh (not out) 5, Extras (b-9, lb-7, nb-2) 18; Total (in 101.5 overs) 329.

Fall of wickets: 1-57, 2-163, 3-195, 4-195, 5-213, 6-220, 7-240, 8-282, 9-321.

Plate-A bowling: D. Ganesh 11.5-3-37-1, T. Yohannan 18-6-30-1, S. Joshi 24-4-85-2, K.N. Ananthapadmanabhan 22-3-69-2, F. Shaikh 16-0-68-1, H. Kanitkar 10-1-24-3.

Plate-A — 2nd innings: R. Jaiswal c Jaffer b Harvinder 0, R. Barrington (batting) 35, H. Kanitkar b Powar 30, Rajeev Kumar (batting) 5, Extras (b-2, lb-1, nb-1) 4; Total (for two wkts. in 23 overs) 74.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-50.

Elite-B bowling: Harvinder 7-4-14-1, A. Uniyal 6-0-20-0, R. Gavaskar 4-0-10-0, R. Powar 5-0-21-1, A.T. Rayudu 1-0-6-0.

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