The Hindu : Sport : Bose with a five-for and Powar deliver

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Bose with a five-for and Powar deliver

S. Ram Mahesh

CRICKET / Sri Lanka ‘A’ fails to make the most of good batting conditions

— Photo: AP

Got HIM: Ranadeb Bose celebrates the dismissal of Sri Lanka ‘A’ opener Michael Vandort, one of the Indian pacer’s five victims.

Leicester: Ranadeb Bose took five for 51, and Ramesh Powar four for 85, as the Indians dismissed Sri Lanka ‘A’ for 266 on day one of the three-day practice match here at Grace Road.

Captain Thilan Samaraweera scored 75, opener Michael Vandort made 52, and four others got starts, but Sri Lanka ‘A’ failed to make the most of good batting conditions.

Periods of carelessness from the batsmen coincided with spurts of discipline from the bowlers: the trend extended to the Indians’ innings with Dinesh Karthik edging behind. The Indians ended on 25 for one from ten overs.

Earlier, with neither Bose nor Ishant Sharma troubling the Sri Lanka ‘A’ openers, it looked like the restriction on the first innings — both sides deciding to declare after 100 overs, if not dismissed by then — would come into play.

Udawatte delights

Bose, looking for swing, hit a full length, and was square-driven twice by the 21-year-old Mahela Udawatte. Like most predominantly bottom-handed batsmen, Udawatte can be squared up; he fought, however, to stay side-on.

But, a strong bottom hand has its advantages, and, in most left-handers, it manifests in an ability to play wristily through the off-side. Accordingly, Udawatte cover-drove Bose, causing the bowler to shorten his length. Udawatte was surprised once, but he rolled his wrists on a pull the next time Bose banged it in.

The pitch despite its vertical strips of close-cropped grass was offering precious little off the seam. Bose hadn’t managed appreciable swing; Ishant Sharma’s first spell read 4-2-6-0, but he wasn’t a consistent threat, beating the bat just once.

Superb flight bowling

Ramesh Powar was brought on as early as the tenth over. Powar’s first few overs, operating with a slip and short leg, were exhibitions of marvellous flight bowling.

Powar drove through his action, bracing and pivoting his front leg. The resultant drift and dip drew false strokes — Udawatte’s desperate sweep had the ball spinning back onto the stumps after bobbing up off the top edge.

Powar should also have had Vandort: he got the 6ft 5in opener off balance, reaching to cover drive a ball that turned across his bat, but Karthik failed to stump him. Karthik, who later missed stumping Kaushal Lokuarachchi off Anil Kumble, had a mixed day.

Vandort, on a improbably slow seven then, crawled to nine before igniting. Having spent all of 80 minutes in single figures, Vandort on-drove Powar for four, before lofting him over mid-off for six, two balls later. The long, left-handed reach was growing less cautious.

The introduction of a right-hander in Dilruwan Perera helped Bose’s line. Two edges came, but both fell short, one running down to the third-man rope. Perera continued to look streaky, though he pulled Bose for four — a hit-me ball at that pace — and slog-swept Powar for six.

Vandort flicked Anil Kumble, off-drove Sharma, and glanced Bose: though not graceful, each boundary looked effortless.

Working the ball better

Bose struck either side of lunch, running up figures of 6-2-7-3 in a spell that featured movement off the track.

It was a curious passage of play, for, in theory, the seam should have flattened; perhaps Bose was working with the ball better.

Bose had Perera caught sharply. A tactless hoik across the line flew to V.V.S. Laxman, standing at a singularly close second slip.

The left-handed Malinda Warnapura nicked one slanted across him before Vandort failed at keeping a drive down to be caught at cover.

Sri Lanka ‘A’ then slumped to 146 for five: Sharma caught wicketkeeper-batsman Kaushal Silva off his bowling when an attempted pull went wrong.

But, Samaraweera, the opportunistic accumulator, and Lokuarachchi, the scatty attacker, added 62 for the sixth wicket.

Bose broke the partnership on the stroke of tea, trapping Lokuarachchi leg-before without offering a stroke.

Samaraweera, difficult to dislodge in good batting conditions, put on 51 with Dammika Prasad.

Three wickets

His front-foot cover driving was beginning to threaten, but Powar had him caught behind for the first of three wickets in four balls.

Bose returned to claim his fifth wicket, ending the Sri Lanka ‘A’ innings — an admirable effort considering Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, and R.P. Singh were rested.

Also sitting out were Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.

The scores:

Sri Lanka ‘A’: M. Vandort c Gambhir b Bose 52, M. Udawatte b Powar 20, D. Perera c Laxman b Bose 34, M. Warnapura c Karthik b Bose 3, T. Samaraweera c Karthik b Powar 75, K. Silva c & b Sharma 4, K. Lokuarachchi lbw b B ose 35, D. Prasad (not out) 23, R. Herath lbw b Powar 0, A. Ganegama b Powar 0, C. Welegedera c Karthik b Bose 1, Extras (b-4, lb-12, w-2, nb-1) 19; Total (in 76.2 overs) 266.

Fall of wickets: 1-32 (Udawatte), 2-105 (Perera), 3-111 (Warnapura), 4-122 (Vandort), 5-146 (Silva), 6-208 (Lokuarachchi), 7-259 (Samaraweera), 8-259 (Herath), 9-261 (Ganegama).

Indians bowling: Bose 18.2-4-51-5, Sharma 17-5-57-1, Powar 24-2-85-4, Kumble 11-1-36-0, Dhoni 3-0-13-0, Yuvraj 3-1-8-0.

Indians: D. Karthik c Silva b Prasad 11, W. Jaffer (batting) 7, G. Gambhir (batting) 3, Extras (lb-2, nb-2) 4; Total (for one wicket in ten overs) 25.

Fall of wicket: 1-20 (Karthik).

Sri Lanka ‘A’ bowling: Ganegama 5-3-5-0, Welegedera 3-1-15-0, Prasad 2-0-3-1, Perera 1-1-0-0.

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