Dravid leads run marathon

Dravid leads run marathon
Press Trust of India

Chennai, February 15: Rahul Dravid played a captain’s knock to lead India A to a total of 311 for six against India Seniors in the final of the Challenger series cricket tournament here today.

Dravid, who made a classy 88, and Jacob Martin (62) put up a fine batting display to overcome a slow start after India A had elected to bat.

Dravid, who played with a runner in Sridharan Sriram, stuck to his wicket from one side with Martin and Hrishikesh Kanitkar (56) scoring from the other end, as India A added 177 runs in the last 25 runs.

Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan bowled a tidy line and length to put India A on the backfoot but the floodgates opened once Dravid and Martin got going.Srinath struck in the third over of the innings by having Sriram (4) caught by (being tried) wicketkeeper Vikram Rathore with the total on 18 and then dismissed the other opener Sadgopan Ramesh (26) in the same fashion with the addition of 29 runs.

Dravid and Kanitkar then combined in a 99-run third wicket stand that seized back the initiative for India A. They batted patiently preferring to see off the pacemen and waited for the spinners to begin their onslaught.

The 100 of the innings came in the 21st over after which Dravid and Kanitkar decided to step up the pace. But Kanitkar, who brought up his 50 off 63 balls, was caught by Yuvraj Singh at covers off Virendra Sehwag for 56 that contained eight fours.

Martin then joined his skipper in the most fruitful partnership of the day and the duo scored at a brisk pace working around singles and twos with occasional boundaries.

They put on 101 runs for the fourth wicket before Dravid chased a wide delivery by Ashish Nehra and his slash found the safe hands of Yuvraj Singh. Dravid’s 88 came off 105 balls and was studded with five fours.

India A beat India B
Chennai: INDIAN vice captain Rahul Dravid led India A to the final of the Challenger Series against India Seniors defeating India B by six wickets in the last league match of the three-team tournament yesterday. Needing 285 for a win in 50 overs, India A, with determined batting by opener S Sriram and Rahul Dravid, assured their entry into the final with India Seniors tomorrow. Earlier, for India B Dinesh Mongia (83), Amay Khurasia (90) and captain Robin Singh (30 no) were the main scorers. The target seemed achievable as the India B bowlers did not pose any problems. The Sriram-Dravid made merry and the pair compiled 167 runs for the second wicket in just 107 minutes off 151 balls.

SCORE BOARD: INDIA B: JP Yadav c R S Sodhi b Venkatesh Prasad 14, Sachin Tendulkar c & b V Prasad 24, Mohd Khaif c R Sanghvi b Ajit Agarkar 5, Dinesh Mongia c J Martin b Ajit Agarkar 83, Amay Khurasia st N Mongia b R Sanghvi 90, Robin Singh (not out) 30, Rakesh Patel b Ajit Agarkar 0, Sukhwinder Singh c and b R Sanghvi 0, Vijay Dahiya (run out) 9, Nikhil Chopra c S Ramesh b Venkatesh Prasad 12, Surinder Singh b Venkatesh Prasad 0. Extras: 17 (lb-6, w-5, lb-6), Total (all out 49.3) 284 Fall of wkts: 1-34, 2-49, 3-49, 4-220, 5-232, 6-232, 7-233, 8-249, 9-283 Bowling: Ajit Agarkar 10-1-37-3, Venkatesh Prasad 9.3-1-48-4, RS Sodhi 6-0-50-0, H Kanitkar 9-0-49-0, Balaji Rao 5-0-42-0, Rahul Sanghvi 10-0-52-2.

INDIA A: S Sriram c Chopra b Sukvinder Singh 85, S Ramesh c Dahiya b Rakesh Patel 4, R Dravid c Dahiya b Rakesh Patel 92, H Kanitkar c D Mongia b Surinder Singh 43, Jacob Martin not out 30, TS Sodhi not out 7, Extras (b-4, lb-4, w-6, nb-10) 24, Total (for 4 wkts in 48.4 overs) 285 Fall of wkts: 1-19, 2-186, 3-213, 4-275. Bowling: Surinder Singh Bagal 7-0-36-1, Rakesh Patel 10-0-63-2, JP Yadav 4.4-0-36-0, Sukvinder Singh 8-0-55-1, Nikhil Chopa 10-1-47-0, Sachin Tendulkar 8-0-35-0, Mohd Kaif 1-0-5-0

Scoreboard
India A:S Ramesh c Rathore b Srinath 26, S Sriram c Rathore b Srinath 4, R Dravid c Yuvraj Singh b Nehra 88, H Kanitkar c Yuvraj Singh b Sehwag 56, J Martin run out 61, A Agarkar c Zaheer Khan b Nehra 27, RS Sodhi not out 22, N Mongia not out 3, Extras (b-1, lb-9, w-6, nb-8) 24, Total (for 6 wkts, 50 overs) 311Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-47, 3-146, 4-247, 5-263, 6-303
Bowling: Srinath 10-0-50-2; Zaheer Khan 10-0-63-0; Nehra 10-0-69-2; Ganguly 8-0-44-0; Joshi 7-0-48-0; Sehwag 5-0-27-1.