Sport - Cricket   

West Zone hits back

By Our Special Correspondent

Gautam Gambhir sweeps Romesh Powar on way to an unbeaten century.

DHARAMSHALA (HP), FEB. 29. After a sensational day's cricket, West Zone was left fancying its chances of upsetting North's calculations in the Duleep Trophy league match. Notwithstanding Gautam Gambhir's feat of carrying the bat through North's second innings, West Zone turned the match on its head.

Having conceded a first-innings lead of 107, West came back strongly to stop North at 191 to signal the end of the second session on Sunday. Set a target of 299 off a minimum of 120 overs, spread over four sessions, West ended the day at 92 for two in 30 overs. Vinayak Mane scored his second half-century of the match and kept West well on course. West needs another 207 runs on Monday.

The picture looked a lot different when the North's overnight pair of Gambhir and Pankaj Dharmani took the score from 17 for one to 78 without further damage. At this stage, it was hard to imagine that no other North batsmen would reach double figures. But that was how it turned out.

Off-spinner Romesh Powar wrested back the initiative by sending back Dharmani and Dinesh Mongia in the space of three deliveries. Dharmani, struck by a throw a little earlier, could not stretch enough on a forward defensive stroke and offered a bat-pad catch.

A ball later, Mongia drove straight into the hands of Hrishikesh Kanitkar at cover. In the following over, Rakesh Patel trapped Mithun Manhas to leave North gasping at 79 for four.

In the post-lunch session, leg-spinner Sairaj Bahutule ended Sangram Singh's 50-minute vigil by trapping him in front. Ajay Ratra failed to make the most of a `life' given by Parthiv Patel and was bowled on the backfoot to become Bahutule's second victim.

Thereafter, Joginder Sharma and Sarandeep Singh hit a boundary each before perishing. Gambhir was guilty of calling Gagandeep Singh for a run and then sending him back. Singh failed to beat Bahutule's throw to the non-striker's end. Amit Bhandari became Powar's third victim, leaving Gambhir unbeaten.

Gambhir seemed resolute to make up for his failures in the last three innings. He not only occupied the crease but also kept the scoreboard ticking. No wonder, he ended up scoring more than half the runs for his team. He hit 14 boundaries during his 299-minute tenure. In fact, the West batsmen can take a leaf out of Gambhir's book to go about their task.

No doubt, Bahutule and Powar bowled well on a surface that assisted spin. But, North had only itself to blame for its batting failure. Anyhow, Monday promises an absorbing day's play, with both camps optimistic of victory.

The scores:

North Zone — 1st innings: 279

West Zone — 1st innings: 172

North Zone — 2nd innings: Akash Chopra b Munaf Patel 2, Gautam Gambhir (not out) 111, Pankaj Dharmani c (sub) Akash Christian b Powar 36, Dinesh Mongia c Kanitkar b Powar 0, Mithun Manhas lbw b Rakesh Patel 1, Sangram Singh lbw b Bahutule 6, Ajay Ratra b Bahutule 7, Joginder Sharma b Rakesh Patel 5, Sarandeep Singh c Parthiv b Bahutule 5, Gagandeep Singh (run out) 0, Amit Bhandari c Parthiv b Powar 3, Extras (b-6, lb-4, nb-5) 15, Total 191.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-78, 3-78, 4-79, 5-123, 6-145, 7-152, 8-173, 9-183.

West Zone bowling: Munaf 6-1-14-1, Rakesh 20-6-38-2, Powar 20.4-2-49-3, Trivedi 8-0-30-0, Bahutule 14-1-50-3.

West Zone — 2nd innings: Dhiraj Jadhav b Gagandeep 1, Vinayak Mane (batting) 52, Hrishikesh Kanitkar c Chopra b Sarandeep 16, Jacob Martin (batting) 21, Extras (b-1, nb-1) 2. Total (for two wkts.) 92.

Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-45.

North Zone bowling: Bhandari 4-1-15-0, Gagandeep 10-5-22-1, Sarandeep 8-0-29-1, Joginder 3-0-16-0, Mongia 5-3-9-0.

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

Sport

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

Cricket

• Pakistan storms into final
• West Zone hits back
• England `A' in pursuit of stiff target
  
  Tennis
  
• Indians will have to pull up their socks
  
  Hockey
  
• Mumbai in semifinals
  
  Football
  
• E. Bengal on top
• UEFA meet to follow `golden goal' rule
  
  Badminton
  
• Vijay Anand wins two titles
  
  Chess
  
• Kasparov lets Radjabov off the hook
  
  Racing : Motor
  
• Armaan Ebrahim hogs limelight
  
  Sports : General
  
• U.P., A.P. share day's honours
  
  Swimming
  
• Masters meet evokes memories
  
  Bridge
  
• Indra Danush team triumphs
  
  

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu