The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Gujarat bowlers come to the fore

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 09, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Gujarat bowlers come to the fore

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: The wicket-taking abilities of Gujarat bowlers, on show right through the Ranji Trophy Plate League this season, came to the fore again on Tuesday at the Brabourne stadium.

The nippy fast bowler Amit Singh complemented spinners Mohnish Parmar and Timil Patel, after Siddharth Trivedi and Ashraf Makda gained the initial breakthroughs, to restrict Indian Railways’ second innings total to 169.

Chasing 150 to win the title, with ample overs in hand, Gujarat was 30 for no loss at stumps after 20 overs of patient batting on the penultimate day.

Openers Nilesh Modi and Rajesh Tabiar appear mentally ready for a long stay at the wicket and with specialist batsmen Parthiv Patel and Niraj Patel to follow, the task is not beyond reach.

Railways has the bowling resources to make up for batting blues, as spinners Murali Kartik and Kulamani Parida command enough respect to set up a tight finish.

Not an easy wicket

The wicket was not easy on the batsmen, as Railways experienced when sliding to 60 for four before Harshad Rawle (45) and Raja Ali (46) put on 58 for the seventh wicket to help their side out of trouble.

Sanjay Bangar, who nicked Trivedi to the slips, felt the fielder Niraj had picked up the ball first bounce and was disappointed at the verdict.

Timil tricked Rawle into a knee high return catch and got through Ali’s defence for vital wickets before Amit ripped through the middle-order.

The scores:

Indian Railways — 1st innings: 260.

Gujarat — 1st innings: 280.

Indian Railways — 2nd innings: S. Joshi c Parthiv b Makda 1, S. Bangar c Niraj b Trivedi 0, M. Kartik lbw Makda 18, H. Rawle c b Timil 45, S. Sanyal c Niraj b Amit Singh 18, M. Rawat c Joshipura b Amit Singh 0, K. Sharma lbw Amit Singh 7, Raja Ali lbw Timil 46, Harvinder Singh c Parthiv b Parmar 8, Santosh Saxena (not out) 13, Kulamani Parida lbw Parmar 2, Extras (b-5, lb-4, nb-2) 11, Total (in 76 overs) 169.

Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-23, 3-23, 4-60, 5-63, 6-79, 7-137, 8-154, 9-154.

Gujarat bowling: Trivedi 16-6-41-1, Makda 17-7-30-2, Parmar 22-4-50-2, Amit Singh 11-3-22-3, Timil 10-3-17-2.

Gujarat — 2nd innings: Nilesh Modi (batting) 15, Rajesh Tabiar (batting) 13, Extras (nb-2) 2, Total (for no loss in 20 overs) 30.

Railways bowling: Bangar 5-1-13-0, Harvinder 5-2-10-0, Sanyal 4-4-0-0, Kartik 5-2-3-0, Parida 1-0-4-0.

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

Sport