Kaif, Ojha bail out Central Zone in Duleep Trophy
January 23rd, 2009 - 9:40 pm ICT by IANSBangalore, Jan 23 (IANS) Skipper Mohammed Kaif and Naman Ojha came to Central Zone’s rescue and took them to 326 for nine in the first innings on the second day of the Duleep Trophy match against South Zone here Friday.Early strikes from comeback men Lakshmipathy Balaji and S. Sreesanth left the Central Zone struggling at 78 for four but Kaif (73) and Ojha (85) added 127 runs for the fifth wicket to bail out Central Zone from the precarious position. Central is now three short of South’s first innings score of 329.
Resuming at overnight 30 for no loss, Central lost opener Tanmay Srivastava (24) off an unlikely Robin Uthappa in the first hour of the day.
After getting the first breakthrough, South Zone fast bowlers Balaji and Sreesanth bowled an impressive line and length and picked up three wickets in the next twelve overs.
Sreesanth struck first by removing the other opener Shivkant Shukla (26) while Balaji picked up the wicket of Yere Goud (4), who edged an outswinger to wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik. Goud, playing infront of his home crowd, went past a personal milestone — 7,000 runs in first-class cricket, but could not make it big. Sreesanth followed up next with a beautiful delivery that trapped Parvinder Singh (5) leg before the wicket.
Kaif got off the mark with two boundaries in one over and then played a few exquisite shots that also included a six off spinner R. Ashwin. Kaif kept the scoreboard ticking and and his half century came off 63 balls. Ojha on the other end kept on accumulating the runs quietly and brought up his half century in the second session off 99 balls.
Kaif fell before tea while attempting a pull shot off M. Suresh.
Ojha was involved in a significant 60-run stand with Bhuvaneshwar Kumar for the sixth wicket. Ojha was trapped leg before by Sreesanth.
After Kumar departed, Piyush Chawla (35) and Murali Kartik (23 batting) played some strokes and with help from the butter fingered South Zone fielders took the team past the 300-mark. Rahul Dravid dropped Chawla at second slip, while Abhinav Mukund put down a sitter off Karthik at midwicket.
- Duleep Trophy semifinal: Central Zone in command - Feb 05, 2012
- Central Zone enter Duleep final - Feb 07, 2012
- Duleep Trophy semi-final: Central batsmen make merry - Feb 06, 2012
- Kaif, Chawla rescue Central in Duleep Trophy - Feb 04, 2012
- Openers give India strong start; Ojha gets maiden five-wicket haul - Nov 07, 2011
- India pin England down to 124/8 (Tea report) - Jul 29, 2011
- Rajasthan hand Hyderabad innings defeat (Ranji Trophy round-up) - Nov 03, 2010
- Pacers put India on top (Roundup) - Jul 30, 2011
- Triple strikes by Praveen put West Indies in trouble (Lead) - Jun 22, 2011
- Sachin, Vijay steady India's innings after Australia post 478 (Lead) - Oct 10, 2010
- Sreesanth attributes his success to stint with Donald - Jul 30, 2011
- Australia declare at 505/8, BP XI tottering at 143/6 - Sep 26, 2010
- Nitin, Sunny punish Tamil Nadu scoring centuries (Ranji Trophy roundup) - Dec 24, 2010
- Kolkata Knight Riders outclass Delhi Daredevils (Lead) - Apr 29, 2011
- Rajasthan set to win second consecutive Ranji Trophy title - Jan 22, 2012
Tags: ashwin, balaji, central zone, class cricket, fielders, goud, home crowd, impressive line, mohammed kaif, murali kartik, personal milestone, piyush chawla, precarious position, robin uthappa, s sreesanth, shukla, south zone, srivastava, wicket keeper, yere