da dobrowin： Amidst turmoil in Bangalore, the India Pistons team from Chennaicoasted to a 76 run victory over the local National Cricket Academy(NCA) side
da mrbet： Anand Vasu02-Aug-2000Amidst turmoil in Bangalore, the India Pistons team from Chennaicoasted to a 76 run victory over the local National Cricket Academy(NCA) side. This is the first time the NCA has fielded a side in theKarnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) Diamond Jubilee Tournament.Their inexperience showed through loud and clear as they were knockedout in the very first match they played.When the NCA captain Reetinder Singh Sodhi won the toss, he put IndiaPistons in to bat. Vikram Rathore, former India opener and seasonedRanji Trophy cricketer managed to stay at the crease long enough tomake 17. It was Anand George however who was the first to bedismissed, with just 12 runs on the board. He was caught by thecaptain off the bowling of talented young mediumpacer MrithyunjayTripathi. The youngster struck again soon after, when he had Rathorecaught behind.Steady middle order bat Satyajit Medappa was in his element in a lowscoring game. Making a well paced 33 including 3 boundaries, Medappapropped up the middle order. C Hemanth Kumar who has been among theruns in the first division league in Chennai, where he made anunbeaten hundred in the last game he played, was the next to go,stumped by Ajay Ratra off the Mumbai off spinner Romesh Powar. A minicollapse in the middle order looked inevitable as India Pistonsslumped to 83/6.Any hopes Sodhi would have harboured of knocking India Pistons out fora low score were dismissed by Reuben Paul who slammed an unbeaten 58batting at number 7. The hard hitting wicketkeeper batsman notched upa half century partnership with the experienced Sunil Subramaniam.Reuben Paul, known more for his hard hitting than his ability to stayat the wicket long, brought up his half century off just 56 balls.Given the fact that India Pistons were 83/6 at one point, this was aninvaluable innings. Sunil Subramaniam made 28 in his stay at thewicket. At the end of their allotted 45 overs, India Pistons managed arespectable 176. The match was earlier reduced to 45 overs a side asovernight rain forced a 40 minute delay in starting the match.When the NCA XI came out to bat chasing 177, they still had a morethan reasonable chance of attaining the target. But a side withseveral stars in it failed to muster up the required runs. Shiv SundarDas started the rot at the top of the order when he was dismissedbefore he could get off the mark. The hard hitting Yuvraj Singh madejust 1 before he was cleaned up by mediumpacer Gagandeep Singh. IndiaTest cap Mohammed Kaif and skipper Reetinder Singh Sodhi did worsethan Yuvraj, both being dismissed for ducks. At 41/6 there was verylittle the NCA XI could hope for.The 25 that Sridharan Sriram made opening the innings turned out to bethe top score of the innings. With such paltry contributions, the NCAslumped to 100 all out. The wrecker in chief, Gagandeep Singh finishedwith 4/14 from the 9 overs he sent down. A 76 run loss signaled theNCA XI’s quick exit from the tournament. Hardly what you expect from aside that contains the cream of talent from the country’s premiercoaching academy.
