The Hindu : Khoda leads from the front

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 15, 2004

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Khoda leads from the front

By Our Special Correspondent

GURGAON, FEB. 14. A responsible innings of 145 by Central Zone captain Gagan Khoda left the West Zone bowling in a shambles at the Devi Lal Stadium here on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy match. Khoda won the toss and then capitalised on the advantage of batting first on a pitch that held little hope for the bowlers.

The West attack looked jaded and made no impression on the batsmen. Sanjay Bangar fell cheaply when he played the wrong line but Khoda, Rohit Prakash and Devendra Bundela ensured the team did not mess up the chance to pile up a huge total and put pressure on West.

Khoda and Prakash raised the foundation with a disciplined partnership. Prakash displayed exemplary confidence and produced some sterling strokes in his 164-ball esssay. The ease with which he settled down spoke well about Prakash's temperament but he was guilty of playing a casual stroke which brought his innings to an end. His eight boundary hits came from the meat of the willow.

The performer of the day was Khoda, an unsung batsman in domestic circuit. Tall and stylish, he paced his knock adroitly, reading the situation well and guiding his partners right through the day. He realised the need to play on the merit of the ball. The slow pitch and outfield was not to his liking but he curbed his attacking instincts in the interest of the team.

In excellent form today, Khoda, produced a flawless show with three effortless sixes and 13 fours in his 263-ball innings. He was judicious in playing the ball over the top and countered the defensive tactics of West with a sensible approach. A couple of good knocks on challenging pitches during the Ranji Trophy kept Khoda in good stead as he timed his strokes superbly.

It was an innings in keeping with Khoda's reputation of a fluent stroke-maker and motivated Madhya Pradesh batsman Bundela to play his natural game. Bundela played some exquisite shots against the spinners and his drives stood out in the last session when play was held up for 20 minutes as the temporary sightscreen collapsed. West skipper Sairaj Bahutule has a task at hand on Sunday when the batsmen return with renewed vigour.

The scores:

Central Zone— 1st innings: Sanjay Bangar b R. Patel 3, Gagan Khoda (batting) 145, Rohit Prakash c Mane b Bahutule 73, Devendra Bundela (batting) 44, Extras 12. Total (for two wkts.) 277.

Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-186.

West Zone bowling: Munaf Patel 18-3-49-0, Rakesh Patel 22-4-63-1, Kulkarni 19-0-58-0, Bahutule 17-2-44-1, Pawar 15-2-53-0.

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