da dobrowin： The verdant setting of the cricket ground at the Jamia MilliaUniversity at Delhi proved to be ideal for the Indian women cricketersto stretch their limbs after a long stint away from match situations
da betano casino： Anand Vasu25-Sep-2000The verdant setting of the cricket ground at the Jamia MilliaUniversity at Delhi proved to be ideal for the Indian women cricketersto stretch their limbs after a long stint away from match situations.And what a way to get back into match fit conditions! India A snatchedvictory off the last ball of the match by two runs, denying India Bthe 133 runs they needed for victory.Although the 37 probables have been training together at a series ofcamps, it has been a while since they played any competitive cricket.And the first match of the CricInfo 2000 Tourney certainly was keenlycontested. Air India teammates Purnima Rau and Anjum Chopra squaredup, leading the India A and B respectively.Calling correctly, India A skipper Purnima Rau had no hesitation inelecting to bat. Things however were not as easy as expected out inthe middle. Opening bowlers GS Lakshmi and Kalyani Umbrani bowled atight line. On a wicket where the ball did not come on to the batswiftly, the two kept the left and right combination of Aarti Vaidyaand Reshma Gandhi quiet. Aarti looked in good nick, as she middled theball well and sent one straight drive racing across the turf for four.Kalyani drew first blood for the B side, when Aarti flashed hard at aball from her West Zone teammate. Lunging instantly, Anjum Choprapulled off a splendid catch in the slips. Unfortunately there were notelevision cameras at the ground, for surely it was a catch she wouldhave liked to look at again and again.After the fall of the first wicket, Reshma Gandhi kept the scoreticking over with a number of good hits that pierced the infield. Shetoo fell to a fine catch, this time by stumper Gurdeep Kaur diving toher right and snapping the ball up inches from the grass.With the openers having gone, left hander Jaya Sharma (26) and skipperPurnima Rau (22) held the innings together. Not for long though. Ahesitant single caught Jaya Sharma well short of her crease. PurnimaRau then perished attempting to drive across the line to a ball thatkept low from Rumeli Dhar.Two more run outs later, including a direct hit from Kalyani Umbrani,India A were struggling to piece together a good score. All rounderDeepa Kulkarni struck the ball well, heaving several over the onsidefield on the way to a handy 24. When the allotted time ran out, just44 overs were completed. As play had started late, no overs weredocked from the side batting second. India A had mustered a modest132/7 from 44 overs.Chasing 133 was never going to be hard for a side that boastedbatswomen of the calibre of Anjum Chopra, Kalyani Umbrani and MithaliRaj. Vanitha Viola and Mithali Raj started the proceedings for IndiaB. Requiring to score at less than three an over, the pair startedsedately. They seemed solid enough till Vanitha Viola slipped in midpitch and could not recover in time to reach home safely. The fall ofthe first wicket brought Gurdeep Kaur to the crease. Off the firstball she faced, she was caught in the slips.Anjum Chopra walked out to the middle to join Mithali Raj and the twopicked up the scoring immediately. Anjum Chopra began the upswing inscoring, whisking left arm spinner Deepa Kulkarni through square legfor a boundary. She followed that up with a trademark drive throughthe offside that ran away to the boundary. In her company, Mithali Rajtoo got her act together, punching the ball solidly through the veebetween mid off and mid on.If anything, Anjum Chopra began to struggle a bit for runs. Althoughshe never looked like she would lose her wicket, the flow of runs offher blade was stemmed. Sensing this, Mithali Raj moved into top gearand began to go for runs. After motoring on to 48, Mithali played allover a full delivery from Swarnalakshmi and saw her timber indisarray.India cap and West Zone skipper Kalyani Umbrani joined Anjum Chopraout in the middle and played in a defensive vein. She seemed to bebatting solidly, but against the grain of play was bowled by PurnimaRau.Kavita Roy replaced Kalyani and, bustling through for quick singles,she pressurised the fielders. Forcing the ball through the off sidewith good results, she kept India B well in the race.Having taken India B to the doorstep of victory, Anjum Chopra (43)played a wild heave and was bowled all ends up by Rupanjali Shastri.With one over left and four runs to make from it, Kavita Roy wasjoined by Sangeeta Kamat. Deepa Kulkarni came on to bowl her left armspin. The first ball went without any addition to the score. Off thesecond ball, a quick single was scampered. This left India B requiringthree runs off four balls. Sangeetha Kamat played the next ball downwith soft hands to the off side and set off for a quick single. If thefielder had picked up cleanly and hit the stumps direct, there wasnever any chance that Kavita Roy would make her ground. SuneetaKanojia did just that. With three balls to go and three runs to make,new bat Varsha Raphael hit the ball straight up in the air for SmithaHarikrishna to pouch the catch at mid off. No run resulted off thefifth ball. Needing three runs off the last ball, Rumeli Dhar wasbowled and India B were 130 for eight in 44 overs at the end of thematch.India A had pulled off an unlikely victory by a narrow margin. At theend of the day, it was probably more a case of India B snatchingdefeat from the jaws of victory.
