da 888： A century from Kiran Powar brightened up the first day of play inTamil Nadu and Goa’s Ranji Trophy tie at Chennai
Staff Reporter25-Nov-2001*Powar livens up proceedingsA century from Kiran Powar brightened up the first day of play inTamil Nadu and Goa’s Ranji Trophy tie at Chennai.Winning the toss, Goa’s openers were separated early. One-down batsmanPowar, however, batted resolutely, shrugging off the regular loss ofpartners at the other end.Making 111 off 282 balls, with five fours and three sixes, Powar wasfinally out with the score on 206, being the fifth wicket to fall. Noother batsman really contributed to Goa’s total.At stumps, Goa were 217 for six, with Rajesh Naik (12*) and HAS Khalid(2*) at the crease.*Karnataka hold on for tepid drawA century from Karnataka middle-order batsman Thilak Naidu saw hisside hold on for a draw in the face of Hyderabad’s mammoth firstinnings total in their Ranji Trophy league match at Secunderabad.Batting first with Vijay Bharadwaj (76) and then with the lower order,Naidu became the eighth wicket to fall with the score on 390. Helpinghis side avoid not only the follow-on, but also a loss, Naidu’sinnings spanned 340 minutes and 225 balls, and contained 14 fours anda six.Bowled out finally for 416, Karnataka tried their best to liven upproceedings in a match that was always destined for a dull draw. DoddaGanesh picked two wickets in Hyderabad’s brief second innings, withmakeshift openers Vinay Kumar and Anirudh Singh both falling to him.At stumps on the final day, Hyderabad were 64/2. They picked up fivepoints from this match by virtue of their first-innings lead, whileKarnataka picked three points.*Kerala collapses on Day OneAndhra Pradesh, playing Kerala at Cochin in their Ranji Trophy leaguematch, bowled their opponents out on Day One and reached 49/1 at closeof play.Kerala, winning the toss, could not make the most of batting first.Although opener MP Sorab made a slow 49, none of the other batsmencould occupy the crease for any length of time. Sorab was dismissedwith the score on 113, and the rest of the batsmen fell quickly.Being bowled out for 176, Kerala must have looked for quick wickets togain some semblance of upper hand. But, even though opener PIS Reddyfell early, Andhra Pradesh consolidated and reached a score of 49/1 atstumps.*Match interestingly poised at KanpurAlthough Vidarbha gained a slender first-innings lead, Uttar Pradeshbatted resolutely to make for an interesting fourth-day’s play intheir Ranji Trophy league match at Kanpur.Overnight on 227/6, Vidarbha could only add 20 runs to that total. Thelast four wickets fell in a hurry and Vidarbha were bowled out for 247within a space of seven overs. For Uttar Pradesh, Ashish Winston Zaidipicked four wickets.Looking to erase the first-innings deficit and then build a sizeabletarget for Vidarbha to chase, Uttar Pradesh started with a solidopening stand of 61. And, although wickets fell at regular intervals,each batsman in the top order reached double digits.Mohammad Kaif top-scored with fifty, and Uttar Pradesh reached a totalof 194/5 at stumps, with Mohammad Saif and Nikhil Chopra at thecrease.