The Hindu : Dogged century by Das

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

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Dogged century by Das

By Our Special Correspondent

Shiv Sundar Das waves to the crowd after reaching his century.

DHARAMSHALA (HP), FEB. 14. Shiv Sundar Das played all day to put together a classy unbeaten 107 and guided East Zone to a comfortable-looking 229 for four against South Zone on the opening day of the four-day Duleep Trophy league encounter at the Dharamshala cricket stadium here on Saturday.

Das' second century in the championship, as well as of the season, justified the decision of East to bat on a pitch where the bounce was slow and low. It was the 111-run second-wicket stand between the Orissa opener and Arindam Das, who cracked a stroke-filled 55 with 11 boundaries, that saw East seize the initiative.

If South, despite its limited bowling resources, managed to keep East in check, the credit should go to left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi, who made it after answering a SOS call to replace Arjun Yadav. He struck twice in his marathon second spell that began before lunch and ended after tea, to peg back East.

On a pitch not conducive for stroke making, the temperament of Das stood him in good stead. Willing to play the waiting game, he made the most of the opportunity. This compact and organised opener displayed the right mix of caution and aggression. After settling down, he was particularly severe on Kerala medium-pacer Sree Shant and punished him repeatedly for erring in line. The straight-driven boundary off the same bowler was clearly the best among Das' 15 boundaries. Sree Shant, after an impressive first spell, failed to make an impression even when he managed to get the reverse swing going in the final session.

Das may have hogged the day's honours but during the century partnership, it was Arindam who pushed him into the background. The Bengal youngster slammed 11 boundaries, including some off pleasing drives. Coming at the fall of opener Deep Dasgupta, Arindam dashed South's hopes of adding to the early success. While Das was circumspect, Arindam chose to be adventurous. He played a variety of shots and dominated the bowling.

But once Joshi trapped Arindam leg-before, the tide slowly turned South's way.

Rohan Gavaskar, clearly the most sought-after player here for obvious reasons, became Joshi's second victim. A ball after helping himself to a second boundary, Rohan ended up offering a simple catch to Sharath at short leg.

Skipper Devang Gandhi, looking good while hitting four boundaries in his 17, paid the penalty for driving a bit too early and spooned a catch to mid-off. But Rajeev Kumar cut out all heroics and kept the company of Das and the duo prevented further damage.

The scores:

East Zone — 1st innings: Shiv Sundar Das (batting) 107, Deep Dasgupta c Barrington b Ramkumar 10. Arindam Das lbw b Joshi 55, Rohan Gavaskar c Sharath b Joshi 13, Devang Gandhi c (sub.) Shivaji Yadav b N.P. Singh 17, Rajeev Kumar (batting) 10, Extras (b-8, lb-6, nb-3) 17, Total (for four wickets) 229.

Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-148, 3-164, 4-188.

South Zone bowling: N.P. Singh 13-2-40-1, Sree Shant 21-11-48-0, Sunil Joshi 31-10-75-2, R. Ramkumar 26-9-51-1, Y. Venugopal Rao 1-0-1-0.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport

News Update

Stories in this Section

Cricket

The tour is on — reactions

BCCI hails decision

Dogged century by Das

Khoda leads from the front

West, Central set up title clash

Athletics

Mumbai Marathon today

There's nobody in sight now: Johnson

Billiards & Snooker

Big names take a beating

Chess

Vinuthna is sole leader

Sports : General

Karnataka hogs limelight

Shooting

Junior women win team bronze in Air Pistol