da stake casino： The National Cricket Academy (NCA) lads today showed that they trulyhave come of age
da pinup bet： Anand Vasu22-Jul-2009The National Cricket Academy (NCA) lads today showed that they trulyhave come of age. Having lost openers Sridharan Sriram (8) and ShivSunder Das (12) cheaply, Mohammed Kaif and Yuvraj Singh came to thewicket. And the two did not part till the job was all but done. At theend of the day, the NCA had 350/5 to their credit and had secured thevital first innings lead.At 21/2, Vasu Paranjpe, the coach of the NCA team must have been aworried man. Although Yuvraj Singh is a mighty clean striker of theball, one is never sure how long he will stay at the wicket. Today, hespent 160 minutes at the crease. That was enough to make a thumpingcentury. Although a tough catch was dropped at forward short leg whenhe was on 82, Yuvraj never really gave anything away. Playing withsupreme confidence, Yuvraj scattered the bowlers to all parts of thepark. Indian left arm spinner Sunil Joshi, flown in especially forthis match found himself at the end of a severe lashing. The Karnatakatweaker 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 thecricket field, but in all likelihood the neighbourhood as well.While Yuvraj was blazing away at one end, Mohammed Kaif was carving aplace out for himself at the other end. Playing with the solidity andtechnique that saw him tackle the South African quicks, Kaif, shut thedoor on anything the Indian Airlines bowlers sent at him. Whether itwas the mediumpace of Dodda Ganesh or the spin of Nikhil Chopra, Kaifhad no problems whatsoever. Tapping the ball neatly into the acres offree space, Kaif grafted his way to a well made 50.When Yuvraj Singh was on 93 there was a buzz around the ground. NikhilChopra was bowling to the lad, attempting to play on his nerves. Aclean swing later, Nikhil Chopra had his hands on his hips, as hewatched the ball sail over the ropes. From 99 to the three figuremark, Yuvraj cantered an easy run and waved his bat animatedly to thedressing room. He had taken the NCA well out of the woods with hisknock.After crossing his hundred, Yuvraj continued in the same vein,striking the ball cleanly. On 114 he flashed hard at a ball from DoddaGanesh well outside his off stump. Loud shouts for caught behindensued and the dreaded finger went up. The young man was notimpressed. Around the ground people concurred that the ball lookedlike it went past the outside edge. The one man who mattered however,thought it was out. Yuvraj Singh exchanged a few words, none of thempleasant I’m sure, with the Indian Airlines stumper Vijay Dahiya ashe made the long walk back to the pavilion. His spanking ton included14 shots that skidded across the turf to the fence and three cleanhits that cleared the ropes by a fair bit.Not distracted by the loss of his partner, Kaif took on the battlewith renewed concentration at 188/3. He found an able partner insouthpaw Gautam Gambhir. While Kaif stymied the bowlers at one end,Gambhir kept the scoreboard ticking over at the other end. Taking norisks, Gambhir moved swiftly on. When the loose ball was on offerhowever, he put it away efficiently. In no time, he had a half centuryto 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 playfor. 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 Kartikat point. Kaif’s knock was an invaluable one in the scheme of things.With Yuvraj blazing away, the NCA desperately needed someone to keep acool head and play a long innings. Kaif did just that.Gambhir was trapped LBW earlier, and this brought Reetinder SinghSodhi (29) and Rakesh Dhruve (19) to the crease. The two managed tostay together till bad light called of play well before the scheduledclose.The fact that the Indian Airlines team had four bowlers who haveplayed for India and yet could not contain the colts from the NationalCricket Academy bodes well for Indian cricket. Sunil Joshi, MuraliKartik, Nikhil Chopra and Dodda Ganesh certainly had the ability to dobetter than concede 333 runs in a day. However, they never lookedinspired enough. Big names playing for corporate team just could notmatch up to youngsters trying to make a name for themselves. Havingtaken the first innings lead, the NCA XI are almost certain to make itto the finals of the Buchi Babu Invitation Tournament 2000. However,at the end of the second day’s play of this semifinal, it was cricketand not the NCA XI that was the biggest winner.
