da betcris： A dead rubber never inspires much interest or enthusiasm
da bet7： Anand Vasu30-Aug-2000A dead rubber never inspires much interest or enthusiasm. The finalday of the MRF Buchi Babu invitation tournament semifinal clashbetween the National Cricket Academy XI and Indian Airlines passedwithout much ado. Resuming at 350/5, the NCA boys added 88 to theirovernight score before succumbing. Skipper Reetinder Singh Sodhi whocame to this match with scores of 0, 0 and 1 in the last three inningshe played, got some much needed batting practice. The lad lookedconfident on the way to making an unbeaten 29 yesterday. Today, heextended himself further, stroking his way to 71 when he was finallydismissed. Just two runs later the NCA were all out for 438.The stars of the Indian Airlines team did not see much point in takingthe field on a hot Chennai day. With absolutely nothing to play for,VVS Laxman cooled his heels in the pavilion and let the youngsterssweat it out. Ravneet Ricky and Manish Sharma opened for Airlines,continuing an association that paid India rich dividends in theUnder-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka. Sharma however did not last long.After making just eight, he was scalped by India Under-19 mediumpacerMrithyunjay Tripathi. Ricky then took over, cutting and pulling withabandon. The wicket did nothing to assist the fast bowlers and anyattempt to bang the ball in short was treated with contempt.Ricky was also unafraid to use his feet against the spinners. Comingdown the track, he cleared the infield with consummate ease on morethan one occasion. When he finally fell, it was to a brilliant catchby substitute fielder Nikhil Doru. Stretching full length on the ropeswide of mid off, Doru plucked a ball out of the air just before itsailed over the ropes. Ricky’s entertaining 76 had ended in dramaticfashion.Shafiq Khan came in at the fall of the first wicket and hecomplemented Ricky well. If anything, he was more positive. Althoughnot as solid as the lad from Amritsar, Shafiq Khan hit the ball hard,taking a few risks too many. One such heave to the on side was snappedup by Rakesh Dhruve running in from long on. Shafiq Khan had made abrisk 63 from 55 balls.At tea, Vijay Dahiya and Arunkumar were toying with the bowling whenthe two captains agreed that enough was indeed enough. Over hot cup ofChennai `chai’ Dahiya informed the umpires that he had spoken to hisopposite number and that they had agreed to call of play. The umpireswere only too grateful and called stumps.Although there were a few muted celebrations in the NCA camp, the factthat they had advanced by virtue of first innings lead yesterdayitself rendered the whole day meaningless. In the other semifinalencounter, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation XI managed to squeakpast the New Zealand Cricket Academy XI in a tight finish. As aresult, the NCA XI takes on ONGC XI in the three day final whichcommences on September 1 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium at Chepauk.
