Yuvraj blazes, Kaif caresses as NCA take lead
The National Cricket Academy (NCA) lads today showed that they truly have come of age
Anand Vasu
22-Jul-2009
The National Cricket Academy (NCA) lads today showed that they truly
have come of age. Having lost openers Sridharan Sriram (8) and Shiv
Sunder Das (12) cheaply, Mohammed Kaif and Yuvraj Singh came to the
wicket. And the two did not part till the job was all but done. At the
end of the day, the NCA had 350/5 to their credit and had secured the
vital first innings lead.
At 21/2, Vasu Paranjpe, the coach of the NCA team must have been a
worried man. Although Yuvraj Singh is a mighty clean striker of the
ball, one is never sure how long he will stay at the wicket. Today, he
spent 160 minutes at the crease. That was enough to make a thumping
century. Although a tough catch was dropped at forward short leg when
he was on 82, Yuvraj never really gave anything away. Playing with
supreme confidence, Yuvraj scattered the bowlers to all parts of the
park. Indian left arm spinner Sunil Joshi, flown in especially for
this match found himself at the end of a severe lashing. The Karnataka
tweaker sent down just 8 overs, and that was slammed away for 36 runs.
The highlight of that dual being a straight six that left not only the
cricket field, but in all likelihood the neighbourhood as well.
While Yuvraj was blazing away at one end, Mohammed Kaif was carving a
place out for himself at the other end. Playing with the solidity and
technique that saw him tackle the South African quicks, Kaif, shut the
door on anything the Indian Airlines bowlers sent at him. Whether it
was the mediumpace of Dodda Ganesh or the spin of Nikhil Chopra, Kaif
had no problems whatsoever. Tapping the ball neatly into the acres of
free space, Kaif grafted his way to a well made 50.
When Yuvraj Singh was on 93 there was a buzz around the ground. Nikhil
Chopra was bowling to the lad, attempting to play on his nerves. A
clean swing later, Nikhil Chopra had his hands on his hips, as he
watched the ball sail over the ropes. From 99 to the three figure
mark, Yuvraj cantered an easy run and waved his bat animatedly to the
dressing room. He had taken the NCA well out of the woods with his
knock.
After crossing his hundred, Yuvraj continued in the same vein,
striking the ball cleanly. On 114 he flashed hard at a ball from Dodda
Ganesh well outside his off stump. Loud shouts for caught behind
ensued and the dreaded finger went up. The young man was not
impressed. Around the ground people concurred that the ball looked
like it went past the outside edge. The one man who mattered however,
thought it was out. Yuvraj Singh exchanged a few words, none of them
pleasant I'm sure, with the Indian Airlines stumper Vijay Dahiya as
he made the long walk back to the pavilion. His spanking ton included
14 shots that skidded across the turf to the fence and three clean
hits that cleared the ropes by a fair bit.
Not distracted by the loss of his partner, Kaif took on the battle
with renewed concentration at 188/3. He found an able partner in
southpaw Gautam Gambhir. While Kaif stymied the bowlers at one end,
Gambhir kept the scoreboard ticking over at the other end. Taking no
risks, Gambhir moved swiftly on. When the loose ball was on offer
however, he put it away efficiently. In no time, he had a half century
to his name and the NCA XI had taken the crucial first innings lead.
After the first innings lead was taken, there was very little to play
for. This might have had something to do with Kaif's dismissal on 98.
After playing carefully at a series of deliveries that came in to him,
Kaif guided a ball leaving him straight to the hands of Murali Kartik
at point. Kaif's knock was an invaluable one in the scheme of things.
With Yuvraj blazing away, the NCA desperately needed someone to keep a
cool head and play a long innings. Kaif did just that.
Gambhir was trapped LBW earlier, and this brought Reetinder Singh
Sodhi (29) and Rakesh Dhruve (19) to the crease. The two managed to
stay together till bad light called of play well before the scheduled
close.
The fact that the Indian Airlines team had four bowlers who have
played for India and yet could not contain the colts from the National
Cricket Academy bodes well for Indian cricket. Sunil Joshi, Murali
Kartik, Nikhil Chopra and Dodda Ganesh certainly had the ability to do
better than concede 333 runs in a day. However, they never looked
inspired enough. Big names playing for corporate team just could not
match up to youngsters trying to make a name for themselves. Having
taken the first innings lead, the NCA XI are almost certain to make it
to the finals of the Buchi Babu Invitation Tournament 2000. However,
at the end of the second day's play of this semifinal, it was cricket
and not the NCA XI that was the biggest winner.