KOLKATA: South Zone found a saviour in Arjun Yadav against Sri Lanka `A' on the opening day of the four-day Duleep Trophy match at the Eden Gardens here on Saturday.

The 24-year-old son of former Test player, Shivlal Yadav, produced a fine unbeaten 133 to lift South from a precarious 14 for five to a fighting first innings total of 266.

At stumps, Sri Lanka `A' was 36 for the loss of opener Michael Vandort.

The man who wrecked South was right-arm fast medium bowler, Akalanka Ganegama. In a terrific first spell, the gangling pacer brought South down to its knees after his new ball partner Dhamika Prasad provided the initial breakthrough by removing Dinesh Karthik for five.

South, thanks to Yadav and S. Badrinath and later the two tailenders, P. Kaushik Reddy and Pragyan Ojha, was allowed to escape to safety.

Lack of killer instinct

Call it overconfidence or lack of professionalism, the visiting side allowed the game to drift.

Ganegama, who has played for the Sri Lanka in four ODIs, the last being as late as January this year against Australia at Perth, used the conditions superbly making the most of his pace and accurate out-swingers.

The 25-year-old put the ball in the right areas to wreck the South top-order on a track, which assisted the pacers early on owing to moisture.

Ganegama had Robin Uthappa and Y. Venugopala Rao in successive balls in his fifth over and removed V.V.S. Laxman and Ambati Rayudu within the space of three balls in his seventh over.

Vital stands

Yadav joined Badrinath and the two played cautiously as the pitch eased out.

The two added 66 for the sixth wicket with Badrinath dominating the partnership with some pleasing drives off the front foot.

Once Badrinath fell to Chandana for 48, Yadav came into his own and useful partnerships with S. Sreesanth (39 runs for the seventh wicket), Reddy (57 runs for the ninth wicket) and Ojha (75 runs for the last wicket) made sure he not only got his second first class century but also gave his bowlers a fighting total.

The scores:

South Zone — 1st innings: D. Karthik b Prasad 5, R. Uthappa c Samaraweera b Ganegama 6, V.V.S. Laxman c Silva b Ganegama 3, Venugopala Rao b Ganegama 0, S. Badrinath c Mubarak b Chandana 48, A.T. Rayudu c Samaraweera b Ganegama 0, A. Yadav (not out) 133; S. Sreesanth (run out) 19, V. Yo Mahesh b Chandana 7, P.K. Reddy b Lakshitha 26, P. Ojha c Silva b Mubarak 12; Extras (pen-5, b-1, lb-1) 7; Total (in 75.2 overs) 266.

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-13, 3-13, 4-14, 5-14, 6-80, 7-119, 8-134, 9-191.

Sri Lanka `A' bowling: Ganegama 19-1-71-4, Prasad 13-2-50-1, Lakshitha 8-0-43-1, Chandana 25-4-73-2, Warnapura 3-0-7-0, Mubarak 7.2-0-15-1.

Sri Lanka `A' — 1st innings: M. Vandort b Yo Mahesh 14, M. Udawatte (batting) 22, M. Warnapura (batting) 0; Total (for one wkt. in 12 overs) 36.

Fall of wickets: 1-32.

South Zone bowling: Sreesanth 2-0-8-0, Reddy 4-0-16-0, Yo Mahesh 4-1-7-1, Ojha 2-0-5-0.

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