da aviator aposta： Sparkling performances by Nayan Mongia who hit 28 not out (32 balls,five fours) and Ajit Agarkar who scored 19 not out (19 balls, 3 fours)enabled India A to complete a rather convincing four wicket victoryover the fancied India Seniors with 13
Santhosh S12-Feb-2001Sparkling performances by Nayan Mongia who hit 28 not out (32 balls,five fours) and Ajit Agarkar who scored 19 not out (19 balls, 3 fours)enabled India A to complete a rather convincing four wicket victoryover the fancied India Seniors with 13 balls to spare in the openingmatch of the Hero-Honda NKP Salve Challenger Series at the floodlit MAChidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Monday.Replying to India Seniors’ total of 240 for nine in 50 overs, Indiawere 197 for six in the 44th over. At this stage, the match lookedsure to go to the wire. Mongia and Agarkar however made short work oftheir task, as they took heavy toll of the 45th over bowled by AshishNehra, getting 14 runs. Mongia who started off slowly, was into rhythmsoon and played some crisp strokes. Agarkar also played a dominatinginnings striking the ball cleanly under tremendous pressure.Ultimately Mongia got the winning boundary off Zaheer Khan.Actually India A got off to a shaky start losing three wickets withjust 57 on the board. Sadagopan Ramesh (11), Sridharan Sriram (20) andRahul Dravid (14) were all back in the pavilion in quick succession.H Kanitkar (55) and Jacob Martin (32) steadied the boat, adding 77runs for the fourth wicket. RS Sodhi too chipped in with a useful 29.He hit a huge six off Virender Shewag over long on to set the tempo.Then came the climactic partnership between Agarkar and Mongia. ZaheerKhan was easily the best of the bowling with the figures of9.2-2-28-3. Rathour blotted his copy book with two dropped catches.Earlier, India Seniors won the toss and elected to bat first. SouravGanguly fell for a duck, caught down the leg side by Nayan Mongia offAgarkar. VVS Laxman once again proved his worth with a classy 78 offjust 72 balls with eight fours. SS Das was unlucky to be run out for46.Yuvraj Singh (10), Shewag (9), Rathour (0) and Joshi (0) were all backin the dressing room without making much impression. Zaheer with 12runs off 48 balls helped a blazing Hemang Badani who made 64 runs off58 balls with five boundaries and two massive sixes added 55 runs forthe eighth wicket to give their total a competitive edge. Agarkar wasthe most successful of the bowlers picking up three wickets.