Kumble, Joshi & Kanitkar excel

BANGALORE, AUG. 6. Anil Kumble and Sunil Joshi tweaked in tandem while ONGC suffered in the Coromandel Cement Trophy KSCA Diamond Jubilee All India invitation tournament quarterfinals at the Palace Grounds here on Monday. And at the RSI Grounds, Hrishikesh Kanitkar's unbeaten 128 helped Roofit Mumbai wrest a 101-run unfinished first innings lead against KSCA Colts.

The India spinners bundled out ONGC for 136 and helped set up KSCA XI's 122-run lead. At the second day's close, KSCA mustered 33 for one in its second outing after having sustained the first innings in the morning with David Johnson's 52 (39b, 5 x 4, 4 x 6) stretching the total to 211 in 48.2 overs. Off- spinner Sarandeep Singh's four for 81 spell was the lone cheer for ONGC on a day when Kumble (four for 32) and Sunil Joshi (three for 47) swung fortune in favour of KSCA.

However at the RSI Grounds, fortune swerved away from the KSCA Colts after Test discard Kanitkar's straight bat and his unbeaten 185-run fourth-wicket partnership with Kiran Powar (83 n.o., 137b, 5 x 4, 2 x 6) helped Roofit gift a leatherhunt to its rivals. Kanitkar played the waiting game (128 n.o., 164b, 13 x 4) and with the Colts, especially seamer N.C. Aiyappa attempting in vain to hustle him, the odd loose delivery was there for the asking. A whipped four past square-leg at Aiyappa's expense was the pick of Kanitkar's shots. Earlier, KSCA Colts was bundled out for 206.

The battle for the first-innings lead continued unabated between BPL and Chemplast at the Central College Ground. BPL scored 278 in its first innings with left-arm spinner R. Ram Kumar bagging seven wickets (seven for 98). The Chemplast reply hinged on Jacob Martin (61 n.o.) and Ajay Kudua (58 n.o.). At close, Chemplast scored 163 for three in 49 overs and remained 115-runs adrift off BPL's first innings score.

Rain and damp conditions continued to impose delayed starts on the tournament.

HCA gains lead

At Mysore, the match between Hyderabad Cricket Association XI and the defending champion India Pistons is interestingly poised with HCA XI, after bowling out India Pistons for 214 in the first essay, was struggling at 30 for three in 8.5 overs.

Earlier, India Pistons got off to a bad start by losing the first three wickets for 35 runs. Skipper Vikram Rathour (43, 59m, 8x4s), Jaffar Ashique Ali (47, 106m, 10x4s) and S. Dhandapani (45, 85m, 4x4s, 1x6s) were the major contributors for India Pistons.

Medium-pacers N. P. Singh and M. Ghouse Baba took three wickets apiece, while left-arm spinner Indrashekar Reddy claimed two wickets for Hyderabad. Hyderabad gained the vital first innings lead of 89 runs.

In their second essay, Hyderabad started badly by losing their three main batsmen, opener Daniel Manohar (9), skipper Nandakishore (14) and D. Vinay Kumar early. At close, Hyderabad was struggling at 30 for three in 8.5 overs when sharp showers stopped play fifteen minutes earlier than the scheduled close of play. Medium-pacer Vineeth Sharma bowled a steady line to take two for nine in his four over spell. Southpaw Anirudh Singh (4) and Arjun Yadav without opening his account were at the crease to resume the battle on Tuesday.

Hyderabad is leading by 119 runs, with 31.1 overs to play in the second innings. it has seven wickets in hand.

lThe scores (quarterfinals):

KSCA Colts 206 in 77.3 overs (Vinay Uthappa 69, K. M. Aiyappa 35, A. R. Mahesh 32, Anand Yalvigi four for 38, Kiran Adhav three for 50) vs Roofit Mumbai 307 for three in 77 overs (Hrishikesh Kanitkar 128 n.o., Kiran Powar 83 n.o., Altaf Merchant 61).

BPL 278 in 89.5 overs (Aditya Mishra 68, Yere Goud 66, C. Raghu 41, Somashekar Siruguppi 33, Nitin Mulky 25, R. Ram Kumar seven for 98) vs Chemplast 163 for three in 49 overs (Jacob Martin 61 n.o., Ajay Kudua 58 n.o., Sujit Somasundar 27).

KSCA XI 211 in 48.2 overs (David Johnson 52, Mithun Beerala 38, Deepak Chougule 29, Sunil Joshi 28, Vijay Bharadwaj 25, Sarandeep Singh four for 81) and 33 for one in 11 overs vs ONGC 136 in 42.1 overs (Gagan Khoda 35, Amit Sharma 28, Anil Kumble four for 32, Sunil Joshi three for 47).

HCA XI 303 for nine in 90 overs and 30 for three in 8.5 overs v India Pistons 214 in 72.5 overs (Vikram Rathour 43, Jaffar Ashique Ali 47, S. Dhandapani 45, N. P. Singh three for 35, M. Ghouse Baba three for 78).

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