The Hindu : A spirited chase nearly goes awry

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 27, 2003

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Sport - Cricket

A spirited chase nearly goes awry

By G. Viswanath

Photo: Vivek Bendre

Hemang Badani is castled by Tharanga Lakshitha in India `A's second innings on the fourth and final day of the first Test in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

Ahmedabad Nov. 26. A `mishap' was avoided in the last hour of the Test match on a Motera pitch that had become lifeless after the first day's play.

After dominating Sri Lanka `A' for almost the entire match, India `A' made a fuss of a run-a-ball chase for victory in a level of competition that seemed impossible.

Some of the home team's batsmen swung their bats recklessly in order to get to the target of 184 in 31 overs and in the process the host lost half the side within the 18th over.

Mohammad Kaif, who made his second half century of the match in 102 minutes, and wicket-keeper Ajay Ratra were in the middle when the Lankan skipper Naveed Nawaz made the offer to return to the dressing room and settle for a draw with another 42 balls remaining to be delivered.

Pressure would have been on the sixth wicket pair but Nawaz, who had earlier failed to get a century, appeared a happy man nevertheless. He led his team to meet the members of the Indian team and shake hands with them.

S.S. Das & Co. gave the impression of being ready to undertake the challenge of scoring at almost six runs an over, in the probable time of over two hours, and meet the target.

Earlier, the Lankans had kept India `A' on the field for three minutes short of nine hours before Amit Bhandari brought off a superlative catch at long off — plucking a skier with his right hand and falling back in the process.

Bhandari, who scalped six batsmen in the first innings, was unlucky not to pick up even one in the second. But he was responsible for bringing an end to Omesh Wijesiriwardane's resolute display for 113 minutes.

Seamer Munaf Patel and off-spinner Ramesh Powar shared eight wickets, but a remarkable show of vigilance first by Nawaz (92, 312m, 226b, 7x4, 1x6) and Pollonowita (41, 196m, 153b, 3x4, 1x6) and later by Wijesiriwardane made sure that the visitor's second innings lasted till tea-time on Wednesday.

In a matter of one hour, India `A' lost five batsmen to seamers Tharanga Lakshitha and Lasith Malinga. Gambhir top-edged to mid-wicket, Das spooned a catch to cover, and Hemang Badani chopped a short ball on to his stumps first ball to help line up Lakshitha for a hat-trick.

Sridharan Sriram hooked straight to long leg fielder Ian Daniels and Rohan Gavaskar nicked to wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardane.

Nawaz marshalled his resources well by positioning a defensive field, given the intention shown by the Indian openers to go for the target. He managed to embarrass the home team before the second Test beginning at Pune on Saturday.

The scores:

Sri Lanka `A' — 1st innings: 244.

India `A' — 1st innings: 369.

Sri Lanka — 2nd Innings: P. Jayawardane b Powar 76, I. Daniels c Ratra b Patel 16, J. Mubarak lbw b Trivedi 2, N. Nawaz c Gambhir b Powar 92, Lanka de Silva lbw b Trivedi 3, T. Kandamby c Ratra b Patel 22, A. Pollonowita c Ratra b Patel 41, R. Herath c Badani b Powar 10, O. Wijesiriwardane c Bhandari b Powar 19, T. Lakshitha lbw b Patel 9, L. Malinga not out 0, Extras (b-8, lb-5, nb-5)18, Total (in 132. 4 overs) 308.

Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-49, 3-143, 4-154, 5-214, 6-238, 7-252, 8-296, 9-308

India `A' bowling: Bhandari 26-5-63-0, Trivedi 20-5-51-2, Patel 22-2-70-4, Powar 41.4-17-60-4, Sriram 16-7-30-0, Gavaskar 2-0-6-0, Badani 2-0-9-0, Gambhir 3-0-6-0.

India `A' — 2nd innings: S.S. Das c Nawaz b Lakshitha 11, G. Gambhir c Kandamny b Malinga 5, M. Kaif (not out) 50, H. Badani b Lakshitha 0, S. Sriram c Daniels b Malinga 4, R. Gavaskar c Jayawardane b Malinga 13, A. Ratra (not out) 13, Extras (nb-6) 6, Total (for five wickets in 24 overs) 102.

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-33, 3-33, 4-47,5-74.

Sri Lanka `A' bowling: Lakshitha 6-0-31-0, Malinga 10-0-43-3, Pollonowita 1-0-6-0, Herath 5-0-13-0, Wijesiriwardane 2-0-9-0.

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