The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Devendra Bundela slams century

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Devendra Bundela slams century

Principal Correspondent

PALAKKAD: He is 31 and playing with a painful leg. But former Indian opener Sadagopan Ramesh led Kerala's fightback with an unbeaten 71 on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Plate League game against Madhya Pradesh at the Fort Maidan here on Saturday.

Madhya Pradesh had set Kerala a first innings target of 308 which looked big initially but with professional player Ramesh strong at the crease, the home boys went to their hotel rooms with fresh hopes and beaming faces after ending the day at 123 for two.

Anxious moments

The morning, however, belonged to Devendra Bundela. The tall 29-year-old former India `A' star struck a fine century, his 12th in the Ranji Trophy, but he suffered a few anxious moments before reaching the landmark.

Overnight 229 for five, the visiting batsmen moved to 273 with the loss of just one more wicket, that of Brijesh Tomar who turned out to be local boy K. Anilkumar's maiden Ranji scalp, but half hour before lunch, there was plenty of action.

Good drives

Bundela, who had been looking good with some lovely cover drives, suddenly watched in horror as one after another, his tail-end team-mates were being sent back to the pavilion by the seasoned medium-pacer S. Suresh, who thrived with some crafty variations in length.

Bundela was in the nervous nineties. Worried that he would soon run out of partners, he hit Kerala captain Sreekumar Nair for two boundaries and a little later reached his century and heaved a sigh of relief. Three balls later, MP was all out, with Suresh claiming a four-wicket haul.

The wicket was slow, with low bounce and a few times, the ball rolled away mischievously.

Bundela had 14 boundaries in his 300-ball knock while Ramesh found the rope nine times during his 103-run stand for the opening wicket with V.A. Jagadeesh.

The scores:

Madhya Pradesh — 1st innings: Naman Ojha c S. Ramesh b Sreekumar Nair 65, Jalaj Saxena b Prasanth Chandran 7, Monish Mishra st. C.M. Deepak b Sreekumar 22, Devendra Bundela 106 (not out), S. Abbas Ali c Sreekumar b Prasanth Chandran 39, Amay Khurasiya lbw b S. Suresh 13, Brijesh Tomar lbw K. Anilkumar 15, Sunil Dholpure c S. Suresh b Sreekumar Nair 13, T. Sudhindra b Suresh 1, Yogesh Golwalkar lbw b Suresh 4, Anand Rajan lbw b Suresh 0, Extras (b-18, lb-2, w-1, nb-1) 22, Total (in 125.1 overs) 307.

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-104, 3-105, 4-179, 5-200, 6-240, 7-274, 8-293, 9-299.

Kerala bowling: Prasanth Chandran 24-9-56-2, K. Anilkumar 19-6-48-1, Tinu Yohannan 16-5-35-0, S. Suresh 26.1-10-49-4, Sreekumar Nair 28-7-67-3, V.A. Jagadeesh 3-1-2-0, S. Aneesh 9-2-30-0.

Kerala — 1st innings: V.A. Jagadeesh c Abbas Ali b Yogesh Golwalkar 29, Sadagopan Ramesh 71 (batting), Sebastian Antony lbw b Abbas Ali 9, Extras (b-8, lb-1, nb-4, w-1) 14, Total (for two wkts. in 55.1 overs) 123.

Fall of wickets: 1-103, 2-123.

MP bowling: T.P. Sudhindra 16-5-37-0, Anand Rajan 8-3-16-0, Sunil Dholpure 5-1-19-0, Yogesh Golwalkar 13-6-19-1, Jalaj Saxena 10-2-22-0, Abbas Ali 3.1-1-3-1.

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