South give fitting reply as West collapse

Ramesh in particular flayed the attack of West Zone mercilessly and a flurry of boundaries brought up their 100 in 92 minutes off 21 overs, Ramesh contributing 79 of those. When Ajit Agarkar and Iqbal Siddiqui proved ineffective, skipper Mongia brought on local bowler Lalit Patel, gifted a Duleep debut in Rakesh Patel’s place in rather inexplicable circumstances, who was blasted for 19 runs in the only over he bowled before lunch. Ramesh took four boundaries in that over. But the debutant collected himself after the break and bowled a much better line, and even had a chance to get Ramesh, but unfortunately for him the batsman was dropped off his bowling by Abhijit Kale in the gully when on 62.

Ramesh was the third batsman in the match to narrowly miss the three-figure mark, more narrowly than the other two Kanitkar and Jacob Martin when on 99 he was bowled by leg-spinner Sairaj Bahutule, who must fancy his chances with Anil Kumble ruled out of the impending Australian series.

But Sriram was dismissed before, after the openers had set up a stand of 139 runs, playing a wierd-looking shot, pivoting full circle to hook Siddiqui but only managed to hit it directly into the gloves of Mongia. He had made 38 to Ramesh’s 93 till then.

Those were the only two dismissals for South on the day as VVS Laxman and skipper Rahul Dravid continued from where Ramesh had left, to add 141 runs in an unbroken stand for the third wicket. At stumps Laxman was batting on 80 with 12 boundaries and Dravid was on 60 off 105 balls with 7 fours. Earlier, Ganesh made full use of the misty morning conditions to send the West innings cartwheeling. He had Martin caught in the slips by Laxman after the batsman had added only four runs to his overnight 85, and Vinod Kambli after he had added only six to his overnight 48, taking a brilliant catch, running towards square-leg, off his own bowling.

SCOREBOARD
WEST ZONE (1st innings):Connor Williams c Hemang Badani b Sunil Joshi 20 (101m, 72b), Wasim Jaffer c Rahul Dravid b Venkatpati Raju 49 (140m, 99b, 6×4), Hrishikesh Kanitkar c Doda Ganesh b Sunil Joshi 95 (187m, 150b, 13×4, 1×6), Jacob Martin c VVS Laxman b D Ganesh 89 (234m, 171b, 12×4), Vinod Kambli c&b D Ganesh 54 (102m, 69b, 9×4, 1×6), Abhijit Kale run out 1 (20m, 5b), Nayan Mongia c VVS Laxman b Ashish Kapoor 1 (16m, 4b), Sairaj Bahutule c V Raju b D Ganesh 19 (61m, 49b, 3×4), Ajit Agarkar c Tilak Naidu b D Ganesh 15 (36m, 25b, 3×4), Iqbal Siddiqui not out 13 (20m, 17b, 1×4, 1×6), Lalit Patel b S Joshi 0 (10m, 5b). Extras: 18 (b-8, lb-6, nb-4).

Total: 376 all out in 111.1 overs.
Fall of wickets: 1-58 (Williams), 2-101 (Jaffer), 3-230 (Kanitkar), 4-314 (Martin), 5-323 (Kambli), 6-323 (Kale), 7-330 (Mongia), 8-360 (Agarkar), 9-363 (Bahutule).
Bowling: Doda Ganesh 29-12-81-4, S Shahabuddin 25-6-66-0, Sunil Joshi 19.1-1-65-3, Ashish Kapoor 27-1-108-1, Venkatpati Raju 11-2-42-1.
SOUTH ZONE (1st innings): S Sriram c N Mongia b I Siddiqui 38 (131m, 95b, 5×4), Sadgoppan Ramesh b S Bahutule 99 (157m, 99b, 19×4), VVS Laxman batting 80 (154m, 111b, 12×4), Rahul Dravid batting 60 (130m, 105b, 7×4). Extras: 19 (lb-2, w-2, nb-15). Total: 296 for 2 in 66 overs.
Fall of wickets: 1-139 (Sriram), 2-155 (Ramesh).
Bowling: Ajit Agarkar 13-3-36-0, Iqbal Siddiqui 17-2-103-1, Lalit Patel 11-2-51-0, Sairaj Bahutule 22-3-90-1, Hrishikesh Kanitkar 3-0-14-0.