PATNA, FEB 23: After a neck-and-neck tussle on the first day, Vadodara, who had scored 389 in their first innings, seemed to have had an upperhand in the Ranji Trophy Super League cricket match at tea here today. But Bihar's Rajiv Kumar, who was batting on 73, saw to it that the visitors didn't finish the day on a satisfying note. At stumps, Bihar were 103 for two and the match was once again wide open.The day started with the new ball due and an overwhelming cloud-cover with Vadodara on 219 for five. The conditions would have made the young pace duo of Sumit Panda and Vineet Saxena lick their lips in anticipation. But Bihar opted for experience. Yesterday's heroes Avinash Kumar and skipper KBP Rao sent down six overs of unproductive left-arm spin. Then came the new ball and wickets followed. The fifth delivery with the new ball by Saxena ended Williams' marathon knock of 72. While in the very next over Panda had the other overnight batsman R A Swaroop, who mistimed a pull into Tariq's safe hands.
TheVadodara veterans Tushar Arothe and Kiran More got together and it was education time for the youngpace bowlers. Spin again found favour but the outcome was no different.
Arothe's innings was a glimpse of exquisite strokeplay. In two words it could be described as `carpet geometry.'
He bisected the fielders with uncanny precision and the ball always remained glued to the ground. More, at the other end, happily dropped anchor but chipped with some fine cover drives and more importantly with words of wisdom for Arothe.
Scoreboard
VADODARA (1st Innings): M Kadri c S Arfi b Avinash Kumar 53; A Tanoon lbw Vineet Saxena 72; R A Swaroop c Tariq-ur-Rehman b Sumit Panda 20; Tushar Arothe c KBP Rao b Avinash Kumar 72; Kiran More run out 34; Darshan Mulhgkar 22 not out; Yogendra Wakaskar b KBP rao 14; Extras: 21; Total: 389.Fall of wickets: 1-102, 2-106, 3-147, 4-217, 5-219, 6-232, 7-246, 8-328, 9-360.
Bowling: Sumit Panda 28-4-89-1, Vineet saxena 17-6-71-1, Devajit Chakravarty 5-1-8-0, Avinash Kumar36-7-107-4, BKP Rao 37-14-66-3, Rakesh Kumar 18-5-32-0, Shahid Arfi 4-0-9-0.
(Scoreboard incomplete)
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
