Board President's XI take command
Board President's XI displayed their batting prowess, frustrating the Zimbabweans to a great
extent even as the three-day tour match headed towards a draw
on the second day in Faridabad on Tuesday.
The President's eleven were in the driver's seat, having scored 52
without loss in their second innings, a lead of 130 runs after
Zimbabwe surprisingly declared their first innings at 236-5,
still runs 78 runs short.
Opener Ravneet Rickey was batting on 26 while Vijay
Dahiya, named in the Indian team for the first Test against
Zimbabwe, starting in Delhi on November 18, was not out on 23
when the stumps were drawn.
After the President's eleven declared their first innings at the
overnight score of 314 for five, Zimbabwe made a confident
start with opener Gavin Rennie top-scoring with 79. The
Africans lost momentum midway through their innings and lost
four wickets in the post-lunch session.
In what seemed to be a gamble by Zimbabwe skipper Guy
Whittall, the visitors declared their first innings eight
overs after tea, but failed to get any breakthrough.
Whittall was going strong on 30 that included five fours
and a six, while Brian Murphy was batting on 14 when the
visiting captain made the declaration.
Rickey looked set to make up for his failure in the first
innings and played fine strokes in his confident knock. His
powerful square cuts and gentle leg glance off Henry Olonga
to the fence were classic copy-book shots.
Rickey then flicked Olonga for another four as the
Zimbabweans saw their gameplan backfiring.
Dahiya, who scored a strokeful 50 in the first innings,
continued from where he left off and batted fluently as both
the two openers hit four boundaries each.
Earlier, Grant Flower (49) and Rennie gave Zimbabwe a
fluent start scoring at brisk pace hitting the generally
erratic Santosh Saxena. The openers struck fours and also ran
quick singles as Zimbabwe took lunch at 85 without loss.
Off-spinner Ashish Kapoor gave his team the first
breakthrough when he uprooted the off-stump of Grant Flower in
the third over of the second session.
Flower, who missed his half-century by one run, hit eight
fours in his 120-ball knock realising 94 runs for the opening
wicket - the highest of the Zimbabwe innings.
Board President's captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar struck with
his very first ball to have Stuart Carlisle, who looked
uncomfortable from the start against the spinners. Carlisle
was caught at midwicket by Rahul Sanghvi after scoring just
four runs.
Trevor Madondo then joined Rennie, who at the other end
was playing elegantly making good use of the sweep shot that
fetched him number of boundaries.
Rennie, however, had his share of luck when Abbas Ali
dropped him at forward short leg off Sanghvi when he was on
49. Rennie reached his half-century off 120 balls which
included five runs.
Madondo hit two fours in his 46-ball 26 and added 60 runs
for the third wicket with Rennie before becoming the second victim
of Kapoor, who trapped him leg before wicket.
Scoreboard
Board President's XI (1st innings): 314 for five decl.
Zimbabwe (1st innings):
G. Flower b Kapoor 49
G. Rennie c A Ali b Sehwag 79
S. Carlisle c Sanghvi b Kanitkar 4
T. Madondo lbw b Kapoor 26
G. Whittal not out 30
M. Nkala c Dahiya b Sehwag 0
B. Murphy not out 14
Extras (b-14 lb-10 nb-10) 34
Total (for five wickets declared) 236
Did not bat: A. Flower, P. Strang, H. Olonga, T. Friend
Fall of wickets: 1-94, 2-121, 3-181, 4-197, 5-201
Bowling: Mohanty 7-4-7-0, Saxena 13-3-51-0 (nb-3),
Sanghvi 19-3-50-0, Kapoor 19-4-49-2 (nb-4), Kanitkar
9-0-31-1 (nb-3), Sehwag 6-3-24-2.
Board President's XI (2nd innings):
R. Ricky not out 26
V. Dahiya not out 23
Extras (nb-3) 3
Total (for no wicket) 52
To bat: H. Badani, H. Kanitkar, V. Sehwag, A. Ali, A.
Kale, A. Kapoor, R. Sanghvi, S. Saxena, D. Mohanty
Bowling (to date): Olonga 5-0-36-0 (nb-3), Nkala 8-6-8-0,
Friend 4-2-5-0, Murphy 2-1-2-0, G. Flower 2-1-1-0.
Mail Cricket Editor
