Bangar, Laxman resurrect Indians
A disciplined batting performance by all-rounder Sanjay Bangar saved the blushes for India, which took a comfortable 130-run first innings lead on the second day of their three-day game against Guyana Board President's XI at Georgetown (Guyana) on Saturday.
After initial hiccups, which saw three top Indian batsmen being dismissed in the first hour of the day, Bangar, who remained unbeaten on 76, and V V S Laxman put on 82 runs for the sixth wicket before the visitors were all out for 248 in an extended tea session.
None of the Indian batsmen, except Bangar and Laxman, were able to adapt themselves to the conditions on a pitch that did not encourage stroke-play and produced uneven bounce.
Overnight batsmen, skipper Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, and vice-captain Rahul Dravid were back in the pavilion with the addition of just 31 runs to Friday's score of 73 for two.
But Laxman and Bangar showed a lot of patience and worked hard to ensure a healthy total for their team.
After his 140-minute stay at the crease, Laxman played an ugly sweep shot against left-arm spinner Hemnaraine Harinaraine and offered an easy catch at square leg. His 43 was compiled off 103 balls and contained four hits to the fence.
However, Bangar showed tremendous resilience and put a premium on his wicket. Never in hurry to score runs, he waited for the right deliveries to punish the bowlers.
He reached his half-century with a straight six off Kevin Basil and then swung him for another six over square leg fence.
After that he turned his attention to Harinaraine, who was bowling from the other end, hitting him for two more towering sixes to move into the seventies.
Bangar was forced into adopting an aggressive approach as he was running out of partners after the dismissal of Laxman.
Anil Kumble (7) drove straight into the hands of short extra cover and Harbhajan Singh lobbed a simple catch to widish mid-on.
Javagal Srinath (0) then fell leg before wicket to Basil and India were down to the last pair within no time.
Bangar added 42 runs for the last wicket with Zaheer Khan (11) who smashed two fours off Damodar Dasrath.
Bangar hit four sixes and four fours during his 210 minutes stay at the crease.
Scoreboard - 1st innings:
Guyana Board President's XI 118
India
S S Das c Nagamootoo b Dasrath 20
D Dasgupta run out 6
S Ganguly c Arjune b Dasrath 52
S Tendulkar c Pooran b Griffith 18
R Dravid b Griffith 2
V V S Laxman c Pooran b Harinarine 43
S Bangar not out 76
A Kumble c Dowlin b Harinarine 7
H Singh c Dasrath b Harinarine 1
J Srinath lbw b Basil 0
Zaheer Khan c Deonarine b Dasrath 11
Extras (lb-8, nb-2, w-2) 12
Total (all out, 99 overs) 248
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-42, 3-94, 4-102, 5-104, 6-186,
7-203, 8-205, 9-205.
Bowling: Griffith 20-7-46-2, Thomas 17-5-50-0, Dasrath
21-6-49-3, Basil 18-6-41-1, Harinarine 23-6-54-3.
Mail Cricket Editor
