DLF League

Tuesday 18, November 2008

Gujarat are heading for victory over Hyderabad as Tamil Nadu wrap up victory inside three days.


GROUP A


Delhi v Mumbai at Delhi
Mumbai made short work of the home side’s lower order before building a healthy lead on the third day at Delhi. Resuming on 176-4, Delhi’s fifth-wicket pairing of Mithun Manhas and Rajat Bhatia extended their partnership to 146 before Ramesh Powar removed the former, two short of a century. This began a collapse that saw Delhi lose six wickets for 70 runs, as Powar and veteran leg-spinner Sairaj Bahutule gave Mumbai a narrow lead. They built considerably to this advantage by the close as openers Sahil Kukreja and Wasim Jaffer eased to a century stand, the close seeing the visitors very much in pole position.  

Mumbai 330 (AM Rahane 160, AA Muzumdar 83; S Narwal 4-43) & 149-0 (SO Kukreja 77, W Jaffer 71); Delhi 295 (M Manhas 98, R Bhatia 81; SV Bahutule 3-44, RR Powar 3-54). Mumbai lead by 184 runs with 10 second innings wickets in hand.


Gujarat v Hyderabad at Ahmedabad
An exceptional bowling performance saw Gujarat close in on victory on day three at Ahmedabad. Seven wickets from Siddharth Trivedi left Hyderabad staring at a heavy defeat as they lost three second innings wickets before the close. Earlier Trivedi and Mohnish Parmar claimed seven wickets between them as Hyderabad crumbled replying to Gujarat’s mammoth first innings total, only Syed Quadri putting up any resistance for the visitors. Trivedi’s late treble will surely hand Gujarat victory on the final day.

Gujarat 520-9dec (ND Modi 250*, NK Patel 76; TS Suman 3-63, SM Shoaib 3-72); Hyderabad 225 (SA Quadri 57; SK Trivedi 4-44, MB Parmar 3-44) & 45-3 (SK Trivedi 3-16). Hyderabad trail Gujarat by 250 runs with seven second innings wickets in hand.


Orissa v Rajasthan at Sambalpur
A second half-century of the match from Shiv Sunder Das left the match between Orissa and Rajasthan heading for a draw. Day three at Sambalpur saw the visitors fail to capitalise on a strong start to their reply as they slipped from 212-2 to 270 all out. The performance of the day was, undoubtedly, that of Dhiraj Singh who produced an exceptional display, removing centurion Gagan Khoda on his way to career-best figures of 7-83. With an unexpected advantage of 11 runs heading into the second innings, Orissa slipped to 40-2, but the prospect of a collapse to rival that of Rajasthan was ended by the steady Das.

Orissa 281 (BS Pati 72, SS Das 74, H Das 59; Vivek Yadav 4-45, SO Mathur 3-63) & 109-3 (SS Das 57; Pankaj Singh 2-27); Rajasthan 270 (GK Khoda 127; Dhiraj Singh 7-83). Orissa lead by 120 runs with seven second innings in hand.


Saurashtra v Punjab at Rajkot
Barring miracles, the game between Saurashtra and Punjab will end in a draw when the teams resume at Rajkot tomorrow. Resuming on 81-1 on day three, centuries from Cheteshwar Pujara and Shitanshu Kotak eased the home side past 400 as the Punjab bowlers toiled with little reward. Explosive batting early on day four may yet give Saurashtra a slim chance of victory, but it would be a brave man who bets against anything but a share of the spoils.

Punjab 482 (R Inder Singh 114, S Sohal 103; RA Jadeja, 5-106, KR Makvana 3-115); Saurashtra 405-4 (CA Pujara 189, SH Kotak 102). Saurashtra trail by 77 runs with six first innings wickets in hand.



GROUP B


Karnataka v Andhra at Mysore
Andhra find themselves in dire straits at the end of the third day. Having collapsed to 218 all out early in the morning, conceding a first innings deficit of 148, Gnaneswara Rao’s side fought back bravely to restrict Karnataka to 171 all out, thanks primarily to the accurate bowling of Paidikalva Vijaykumar, who claimed figures of 6-51. Set 320 to win on a wearing pitch, it was imperative that Andhra got off to a good start. But Vinay Kumar (2-15) and Neravanda Aiyappa (1-3 off six overs) found appreciable movement off the seam and simply blew away the visitor’s top-order, who collapsed to 28-4 inside 18 overs. With only six wickets intact and a full day’s play remaining, it seems likely that Vijaykumar’s heroics will prove in vain.

Karnataka 366 (RV Uthappa 133, SB Joshi 65; D Kalyankrishna 4-85) & 171 (R Dravid 50; DP Vijaykumar 6-51); Andhra 218 (VM Sai 70, M Suresh 54; SB Joshi 5-41) & 28-4 (R Vinay Kumar 2-15). Andhra trail by 292 runs with six second innings wickets in hand.


Railways v Baroda at Delhi
Baroda are in complete control of this match, the only uncertainty is whether they have left themselves sufficient time to bowl their opponents out and secure the win that their battling performance deserves. Overnight centurions Connor Williams (137) and Azharuddin Bilakhia (157) added a further 60 runs to the total, bringing their partnership to 278 for the second wicket, before Williams was dismissed, caught off the bowling of Karan Sharma. Three more wickets quickly followed, including Bilakhia, trapped lbw by Murali Kartik, which forced Baroda into a period of consolidation. Stubborn innings from Shatrunjay Gaekwad (47) and Irfan Pathan (40) got the visitor’s back on track, but at the expense of valuable time. It will take a bold declaration and some aggressive bowling from the Baroda attack to force the issue on the final day. For Railways, it is simply a case of survival.

Railways 224 (Karan Sharma 79, M Rawat 67; IK Pathan 4-42); Baroda 460-8 (AA Bilakhia 157, CC Williams 137; Karan Sharma 3-55, M Kartik 3-78). Baroda lead by 236 runs with two first innings wickets in hand.


Uttar Pradesh v Tamil Nadu at Ghaziabad
Tamil Nadu romped to victory over Uttar Pradesh, on the back of an inspired innings from skipper Dinesh Karthik (213) and an exceptional bowling performance from Lakshmipathy Balaji, who claimed match-figures of 9-80. Karthik’s cultured innings featured 25 boundaries, and his partnership with Subramaniam Badrinath (123) formed the bedrock of Tamil Nadu’s monstrous first innings total of 507. Facing a first innings deficit of 357, Uttar Pradesh knew they were fighting a lost cause and had no answer to Balaji’s lively pace and movement, collapsing to 119 all out inside 43 overs.

Uttar Pradesh 150 (L Balaji 4-38, P Amarnath 4-53) & 119 (L Balaji 5-42, C Ganapathy 4-21); Tamil Nadu 507 (KD Karthik 213, S Badrinath 123; P Gupta 4-123).

Match result: Tamil Nadu won by an innings and 238 runs
Points: Tamil Nadu 6, Uttar Pradesh 0