da pinup bet： Despite losing Sridharan Sriram for a fourth ball duck, theNational Cricket Academy were making strong progress in their bidto overcome Air India’s first innings score of 277 on the secondday of their Buchi Babu pre-quarterfinal
Sankhya Krishnan17-Aug-2000Despite losing Sridharan Sriram for a fourth ball duck, theNational Cricket Academy were making strong progress in their bidto overcome Air India’s first innings score of 277 on the secondday of their Buchi Babu pre-quarterfinal. An undefeated centurystand inside 38 overs by Shiv Sunder Das and Gautam Gambhirhelped them to the comforting reaches of 124/1 at close, aposition from which they now trail by 153 runs with nine wickets,including the likes of Mohammed Kaif, Reetinder Sodhi and YuvrajSingh, in hand.Resuming on their overnight score of 186/6 at the Guru NanakCollege Ground in Madras today, Air India’s lower order put upsome stubborn resistance in the morning, revolving around allrounder Harvinder Singh Sodhi. He made a priceless 55, inclusiveof seven hits to the fence, in a 259 minute vigil at the middle.Wicketkeeper NG Gavas made 13 in almost two hours, helping Sodhiadd 46 for the seventh wicket before he was snaffled by hisfellow glovesman, Rohit Jhalani to give off spinner Mohd. Kaifhis second wicket.Faisal Sheikh was then involved in another niggling 36 run standwith Sodhi before the latter was trapped leg before byhis namesake, the NCA skipper Reetinder, with the score at 260.Sodhi then closed out the innings in the 149th over by castlingboth Sheikh (25) and last man Narendra Hirwani (8). Among eightbowlers used, Sodhi finished with the best figures of 3/39 from24.2 overs. It was a fine rearguard action by Air India whorecovered after being 136/5 at one stage, their last five wicketsproducing more than half the total.The National Cricket Academy were in for a shock when MRF PaceFoundation product Harvinder Sodhi knocked over Sriram’s wicketwith the fourth ball of his first over. 22 year old Orissa righthander Das, who visited Australia recently, along with Sriram andKaif, for a three week stint at the Australian Cricket Academy inAdelaide and 18 year old Delhi left hander Gambhir, one of theprobables for the Under 19 World Cup in January this year, thenshut out their opponents with a 124 run second wicket stand. The AirIndia attack was rather thin with only Sodhi and Hirwani havingsome pretensions. At stumps Das had struck 55 (113 balls, 8fours) while Gambhir had forced his way to 64 (116 balls, 9fours).