The boys stole the thunder from the seniors. Ramesh Powar and rookie VRV Singh showed immense pluck to eke out a fine victory for India A
MOHALI: The boys stole the thunder from the seniors. India ‘A’ had no big scores to boast of in their 291 for eight chase —VVS Laxman’s 48 and Hemang Badami’s 46 being the most imposing score– but displayed remarkable pluck to embarrass India Seniors in their Challenger Series inaugural match at PCA Stadium.
Chasing a target of 290 set by the Seniors and looking at the steep climb of 90 runs from twelve overs with the meat of the batting already gone lean, the ‘boys’ romped home with two balls to spare. Despite the presence of Indian teams regulars like Harbhajan Singh and Yaheer Khan, Ramesh Powar and VRV Singh showed immense character and chipped in with 29 each to carve out a thrilling victory over the star studded senior side. Irfan Pathan was the most successful bowler for the Seniors with three scalps but those came at the price of 69 runs.
Earlier, Venugopal Rao fell two short of a ton, but surely lent a ton of weight to his claim in the eyes of the selectors, as he guided the Senior innings to imposing 289. Half centuries by Yuvraj Singh (50) and Ajit Agarkar (54 n.o) made up for the cheap early wickets of Sachin Tendulkar (12) and captain Mohammad Kaif (7).
Those who had come hoping for a rekindling of the pocket genie called Tendulkar were disappointed as the obvious rust of six months of layoff saw him edge L Balaji for a regulation catch to keeper Dinesh Kaarthick. He left a nation still wondering about just how strong that left arm is after the maim of a tennis elbow.
Considering the stars that had landed, their cricket refused to bedazzle at Mohali on Monday. Instead it proved to be the lesser known faces who stole the show under the lights. Clubbed with Tendulkar, Kaif and Yuvraj, few would have picked Venugopal Rao to be the main man for the seniors, yet his 98 off 99 balls was the bedrock of his team’s total. He crafted the recovery from a struggling 172 for six. His effort earned him a fitting Man of the Match award.
Then, it was not the more famous L Balaji that came good, rather it was the lesser-known Rudra Pratap Singh of UP who turned in the best figures of 10-2-34-2.
Scorecard
INDIA SENIORS
I Pathan b VR Singh 28(37)
S Tendulkar c Karthik b Balaji 12(15)
M Kaif c Gambhir b RP Singh 7(27)
Yuvraj Singh c Patel b Powar 50(65)
Venugopal Rao b RP Singh 98(99)
M Dhoni c Badani b Powar 9(17)
J P Yadav run out (Powar) 1(2)
A Agarkar (not out) 54(42)
Harbhajan Singh c Raina b Balaji 4(5)
Z Khan (not out) 1(1)
Extras (lb 1, w 15, nb 9) 25
Total (8 wickets, 50 overs) 289
Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-54, 3-70, 4-149, 5-170, 6-172, 7-277, 8-282.
Bowling: Balaji 10-0-76-2, RP Singh 10-2-34-2, VR Singh 10-0-63-1, Powar 10-0-54-2, Raina 7-0-38-0, Badani 3-0-23-0
India A
G Gambhir c Yadav b Pathan 21(26)
D Jadhav b Khan 23(13)
VVS Laxman run out (Harbhajan) 48(62)
S Raina lbw b Agarkar 19(23)
H Badani b Harbhajan 46(71)
N Patel run out (Yuvraj Singh) 37(44)
K Karthik c Dhoni b Pathan 26(19)
R Powar c sub b Pathan 16(16)
L Balaji lbw b Kartik 3(3)
V Singh not out 25 (20)
R Singh not out 11(5)
Extras (lb 6, w 6, nb 4) 16
Total (9 wickets, 49.4 overs) 291
Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-45, 3-82, 4-148, 5-200, 6-234, 7-234, 8-242, 9-275
Bowling: Pathan 10-0-69-3, Khan 7.4-0-53-1, Agarkar 5-0-31-1, Yadav 9-1-33-0, Harbhajan Singh 10-0-50-1, Kartik 8-0-49-1
India Seniors full substitute: S Vidyut (unused)
India A full substitute: S Nadeem (unused)
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