The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Sriram stays firm amidst ruins

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 29, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Sriram stays firm amidst ruins

By K.C. Vijaya Kumar

BANGALORE, SEPT. 28. Sridharan Sriram refuses to walk the path of frustration. He could afford to smile as his unbeaten 110 guided India `A' to 282 for seven against India Seniors in a practice match that commenced at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Tuesday.

Sriram, who last donned the National colours in 2000 and since then has chased his comeback dreams with 7217 first class runs said, "my job is to keep scoring runs, learn from every innings and not bother about what the selectors decide."

Sriram's knock (110 n.o., 165b, 11 x 4) held the India `A' innings together after Dinesh Mongia opted to bat and the left-arm pace duo of Zaheer Khan (three for 38) and Irfan Pathan (two for 61) struck at regular intervals.

Sriram's innings was rich in grit, the scampered single and the sweeps and cuts that often undid the plans of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. "I had to see off the initial spells by Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan and when the spinners came in, the ball came along nicely as the damp outfield did not help them to grip the ball well and extract turn," Sriram said.

Batting horrors

Earlier in the morning, Zaheer Khan, the pick of the Seniors' bowlers, slanted a few deliveries away from opener Dheeraj Jadhav and when the southpaw expected a similar line, the Indian speedster swerved one in and knocked out the off-stump.

The batting horrors worsened as skipper Mongia chopped Harbhajan onto his stumps and it was left to Gautam Gambhir (45) and Mohammed Kaif (31) to anchor the innings until lunch.

The duo's 54-run partnership however ended in the very first after lunch as Irfan Pathan induced a miscued pull from Gambhir and thudded a delivery into Kaif's pads.

The score read 106 for four. However, Sriram and Venugopala Rao (36) with their 91-run fifth-wicket partnership somewhat stemmed the tide.

Venugopala Rao often gave the charge to the spinners and hoisted Harbhajan Singh for a six but failed with an attempted drive against Zaheer that proved fatal. Zaheer struck again in the very next delivery as M.S. Dhoni ballooned a short-pitched delivery to a relieved Parthiv Patel, who had earlier dropped Kaif off Pathan.

Meanwhile Sriram found his century, guiding Kumble for four past a diving Harbhajan at short third-man, and walked back to a warm applause from the dressing room and a thousand-odd spectators.

The scores:

India A - Ist innings: D. Jadhav b Zaheer 8, G. Gambhir c Rayudu (sub) b Pathan 45, D. Mongia b Harbhajan 17, Mohd. Kaif lbw Pathan 31, S. Sriram (batting) 110, Venugopala Rao c Sehwag b Zaheer 36, M.S. Dhoni c Parthiv Patel b Zaheer 0, M. Kartik c Dravid b Kumble 20, A. Nehra (batting) 3. Extras: 12 (b-5, lb-5, nb-2). Total: 282 (for seven in 90 overs).

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-52, 3-106, 4-106, 5-197, 6-197, 7-255.

India Seniors bowling: Pathan 18-4-61-2, Zaheer 19-8-38-3, Ganguly 4-1-13-0, Harbhajan 22-5-74-1, Kumble 25-2-77-1 (nb-2), Sehwag 2-0-9-0.

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