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President’s men keep guns blazing
M RATNAKAR
VIJAYAWADA, FEBRUARY 17: Contrary
to the general expectations that the final day’s play of the
three-day match between Zimbabwe and Board President’s XI
would meander to a tame draw was proved wrong as Amit Mishra,
Kale and Mullick gave the ecstatic crowd something exciting
to cheer about.
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| Abhijit Kale: Blazing knock |
Resuming at the overnight score of 292 for
6, Zimbabwe had their first taste of Indian spin when young
leggie Mishra (6/93) spilled venom while wrapping them up
for 339. Mishra cut through the Zimbabwean batting with a
morning devastating spell that saw him return with an impressive
haul of 3 for 6 to end the with an envious 6 for 94.
The delivery that accounted for the prized
scalp of Campbell was a stunner. Even as Campbell was trying
to pad the ball, which he presumed was going out side the
off-stump, it turned miles before it rattle the leg stump.
By doing a Shane Warne, Mishra had Campbell shell-shocked.
Andy Flower added only five to his overnight
score (89) and was the first to be dismissed today. He got
out caught at short leg by Mullick of Sarandeep Singh. Raymond
Price perished soon after offering a return catch to Mishra.
Last man Watamba fell twenty minutes before lunch when Sarandeep
gobbled a catch off Mishra.
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Scoreboard
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Board President’s XI (1st Innings):
361-3 decl.
Zimbabwe (1st Innings): S.Carlisle c MSK Prasad
b Sarandeep 20; T.Gripper c Mishra b Sarandeep 52; G.Rennie
c Mullick b Mishra 52; A.Flower c Mullick b Sarandeep
94; T.Taibu c Kale b Mishra 2; H.Streak c Khoda b Mishra
0; T.Friend c Gambhir b Yohannan 52; A.Campbell b Mishra
25; R.Price c and b Mishra 0; M.Mbangwa not out 0; B.Watambwa
c Sarandeep b Mishra 8; Extras (b10, lb6, nb19): 35; Total:
340
Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-122, 3-165, 4-169, 5-169,
6-279, 7-310, 8-313, 9-328
Bowling: Nehra 25-6-64-0, Yohannan 20-8-65-1, Sarandeep
39-9-81-3, Mishra 29.3-4-94-6, Venugopal Rao 4-0-20-0.
Board President’s XI (2nd Innings): P.Mullick not
out 62; A.Kale b Friend 90; Venugopal Rao not out 1; Extras
(lb1): 1; Total (for 1 wkt): 154
Fall of wicket: 1-153.
Bowling: Streak 4-0-11-0, Friend 11-1-39-1, Watambwa
8-1-19-0, Mbangwa 5-1-16-0, Price 10-2-43-0, Gripper 4-0-25-0. |
Mullick and Kale opened the innings with
a bang. Going on the rampage, they launched a run-riot that
had the spectators gunning for more. A cute cut shot from
Mullick was complemented by a sweetly timed boundary from
Kale. Making matters worse for the visitors was the shoddy
fielding, which saw some sitters go abegging. As the seamers
failed to curtail the runflow, left-arm spinner Raymond Price
was introduced only to be thrased to all parts of the ground.
Mullick was the first to reach his half-century, which included
five boundaries and two sixes. Kale, who completed his half-century
from 93 balls, changed gears to launch the final assualt.
His next 40 included three glorious sixes and three fours.
While going for another swipe when his individual score was
90, he was clean bowled by Friend. Incidentally, the poor
umpiring standards came to the fore when vociferous appeals
were cooly turned down. Bowlers from either team showed their
displeasure when confident leg before appeals were also turned
down. As was agreed upon and to facilitate the visitors to
catch the Nagpur flight, the ended at 2.30 p.m.
Gautam Gambhir, who plundered the hapless
Zimbabwe attack in the first innings,was named the man-of-the-match.
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