Das, Dravid help Seniors set the challenge

Skipper Dravid’s another important contribution was winning the all-important toss on this brown track. India A captain Mohd Azharuddin calling the coin wrong, meant his men face the difficult task of chasing a tall score under lights.

India Seniors started the day with a down-to-earth batting display by the opening pair of VVS Laxman and Das. Keeping the coaching manual as their gospel, they not even once ventured on the aerial route in the first 15 overs.

Every shot executed while the fielding restrictions were imposed maintained a firm proximity to the carpet. But the irony of the situation was that the same proximity was maintained with the fielders too. This meant a moderate rate of 4.6 in the first 15 overs.

The opening act, which had no major melodramatics, came to an end with the departure of the lead artist Laxman. First change bowler Sanjay Bangar showed the senior of the openers the exit in his fourth over.

After playing 57 balls with an impeccable technical pefection, Laxman played his first false shot. Missing the line to a straight ball ended his stay.

Das, the replacement for the always-in-control Sachin Tendulkar, continued to play second fiddle. Now playing deputy to his skipper Dravid, Das played the role of a silent worker to perfection.

Among the few players to avail the nets facility at Motera on Wednesday, Dravid had said on the eve of the match that he was stroking the ball well.

By dispatching the first ball the faced to the fence — a fine extra cover drive bisecting the fielders — Dravid substantiated those claims. But if the start was great then what followed was mere good.

His 62 off 67 balls kept the scoreboard ticking when the need of the hour was to send it racing. Aashish Kapoor deceived him with the classic spinners’ ploy. Keeping the mid-wicket vacant, the off-spinner lured Dravid to play across. Rahul played but missed and Kapoor got his reward.

After Dravid departed in the 40th over, a couple of cameo’s were witnessed in the death overs. Kambli’s 26 in 22 balls and Robin Singh’ 15 in 17 balls helped the Seniors finish at 279.

SCOREBOARD :

India Seniors:
Shiv Shankar Das b Bangar 73 (150m, 102b, 4×4)
VVS Laxman lbw Bangar 43 (89m, 57b, 5×4)
Rahul Dravid b Kapoor 62 (86m, 67b, 4×4)
Vinod Kambli lbw Bangar 26 (29m, 22b, 1×4, 1×6)
Robin Singh run out (Kartik) 15 (14m, 17b, 1×4)
Samir Dighe run out (Kartik) 3 (11m, 10b)
Sunil Joshi c Azharuddin b Kartik 16 (26m, 13b, 1×6)
Nikhil Chopra c Bangar b Kumaran 17 (12m, 12b, 2×4)
Anil Kumble not out 3 (9m, 4b)
Harvinder Sodhi run out 2 (2m, 2b)
Venkatesh Prasad run out 0 (1m, 0b)
Extras: 19 (lb 3, w 10, nb 6)
Total: (all out in 50 overs): 279
Fall of wickets: 1-84 (Laxman), 2-178 (Das), 3-209 (Dravid), 4-215 (Kambli), 5-230 (Dighe), 6-243 (Robin), 7-272 (Chopra), 8-274 (Joshi), 9-276 (Sodhi)

Bowling: Kumaran 10-1-61-1, Bhandari 8-1-42-0, Bangar 10-0-54-3, Kartik 9-0-46-1, Kapoor 10-0-55-1, Sehwag 3-0-18-0.