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Karnataka 145 and 350 (Rowland 81, Arunkumar 58, Bharadwaj 50) beat Rajasthan 168 (Khoda 61, Kanwat 54, Ganesh 5-72) and 254 (Kanwat 84, Gupta 58, Ganesh 6-91) by 69 runs
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Karnataka registered their first victory of the season as Dodda Ganesh’s six-for dashed Rajasthan’s hopes at Jaipur. Chasing 328 for victory, Rajasthan were on course at 200 for 5 with Rahul Kanwat (54) and Pankaj Gupta (58) at the crease. But three wickets from Ganesh and two from Sunil Joshi settled the issue as Rajasthan fell 69 runs short.The bowlers made merry on the first two days as Karnataka were bowled out for 145. Ganesh made sure that Rajasthan gained only a slender lead despite half-centuries from Gagan Khoda and Rahul Kanwat. But the Karnataka batting showed marked improvement the second time around, with Barrington Rowland leading the way with a patient 81. However, the match belonged to Ganesh, who fittingly took the final wicket, to complete the victory.Railways 234 and 244 for 7 (Jai Yadav 101) beat Delhi 195 (Manhas 62) and 278 (Chawla 82, Dahiya 61) by 3 wickets
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Jai Prakash Yadav’s century steered Railways to a thrilling three-wicket victory over Delhi at the Karnail Singh stadium in Delhi. Pradeep Chawla got good support from the tail as Delhi added 80 runs to their overnight total. At 96 for 4 Railways’ task seemed insurmountable, until Yadav stood up to be counted.Both teams had disappointed in the first innings with the bowlers calling the shots. Mithun Manhas’s 62 was the only half-century scored by either team in the first innings. Delhi put up a better show in the second innings with Vijay Dahiya giving good support to Chawla. Even that was just not enough as Delhi tumbled to their second defeat in as many matches.Tamil Nadu 188 (Badrinath 86, Paul 7-44) and 397 for 4 (Badrinath 190, Sharath 101*) and 188 (Paul 7-44) drew with Bengal 400 (Haldipur 100, Sanyal 89)
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S Badrinath and S Sharath hit centuries as Tamil Nadu hung on for a draw against Bengal. Badrinath hit a massive 190, which included 32 fours and one six, while Sharath remained unbeaten at the end with a composed 101. Shib Paul toiled all day and took three wickets in his 35.4 overs.Earlier in the match Nikhil Haldipur and Sanjib Sanyal ensured that Bengal, for the first time this season, posted a worthy total. A depleted Tamil Nadu, without three of their main batsmen, crumbled to the medium-pace of Paul on the third day. Badrinath played the lone had with a fighting 86. Bengal were definitely better off at the end, but an outright victory would have smelt sweeter.Uttar Pradesh 205 (Pandey 77*) and 205 for 7 (Raina 50, Bahutule 6-48) drew with Mumbai 332 (Morris 93*, Thakkar 71)
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The Uttar Pradesh batsmen grimly hung on for a draw even though Sairaj Bahutule threatened to run through them at Lucknow. Suresh Raina and Jyoti Yadav shared a useful partnership, and Rizwan Shamshad also contributed with 35. Bahutule picked up six of the seven wickets to fall, but in the end Mumbai had to be content with first-innings points.The UP batsmen had struggled on the first day with only Gynendra Pandey’s 77 saving their blushes. The Mumbai top-order also found the going tough, although Robin Morris flayed the bowlers in his quickfire 93 and gave Mumbai a great chance. In the end, it counted only for first-innings honours.Hyderabad 410 for 9 (Yadav 91, Khaleel 89, Anirudh 68, Vinay 53, Konwar 6-141) drew with Assam 537 (Sathish 133*, Sukhvinder 112, Saravanan 89, Das 71)
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It was batsmen all the way at Guwahati as Hyderabad refused to get bowled out and finished the match unscathed. Assam did not even get first innings points since they could not bowl out Hyderabad even once. Arjun Yadav and Ibrahim Khaleel missed out on hundreds, but spent sufficient time in the middle to ensure a drawn result.Ono the first two days, the Assam batsmen had made merry with R Sathish and Sukhvinder Singh feasting on centuries. Only the two offspinners, JS Yadav from Hyderabad and Assam’s Arnald Konwar, had a good time with the ball, picking up five and six wickets respectively.Andhra 458 (Venugopala Rao 115, Srinivas 116, Prasad 82) drew with Kerala 354 (Hemanth 94, Oasis 51)
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Andhra gained valuable first-innings points against Kerala at Vishakapatnam. After Andhra piled up 458 on the first two days, Shahid Shabuddin and Shankara Rao picked up four wickets apiece to bowl out Kerala for 354. Hemanth Kumar hit 94 and Sunil Oasis chipped in with 51, but in the end their efforts were in vain.Plate Championship First Round
Vidarbha 220 (Khare 56, Kapoor 6-84) and 287 (Gawande 60) drew with Tripura 336 (Sachdev 110, Jaiswal 76, Acharya 6-65) and 70 for 4
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A six-wicket haul by Aashish Kapoor could not ensure victory for Tripura, as the game petered out to a dull draw. Vidarbha’s innings closed at 220, after the lower order rallied around Samir Khare (56), which set Tripura a target of 172. But 34 overs were not enough, and Tripura shut shop, ending the day at 70 for 4.The match was notable for Kapoor’s match haul of 10 for 185, which kept his team in contention. Vidarbha’s batsmen spent a lot of time at the crease, but unlike Tripura’s Chetan Sachdev (110), could not convert their starts into substantial scores.Orissa 466 for 8 (Mullick 134, Behera 87, Mohapatra 83, Jakati 5-99) beat Goa 235 (Swapnil 126, Mohanty 5-44) and 132 (Bipin 5-46) by an innings and 99 runs
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Goa’s first match of the season ended in defeat, as it took Orissa only 33.3 overs to wrap up a comprehensive win. Goa’s second batting collapse dashed any hopes of a draw, as Orissa bundled out nine batsmen on the final day for only 91 runs. Bipin Singh, the medium-pacer, played the lead role, claiming a career-best haul, dismissing half the side for just 46 runs.In Goa’s first innings, Ashok Swapnil scored an unbeaten 126, even as wickets tumbled at the other end in the face of probing bowling by Mohanty and Bipin Singh. More than half the Goa total of 235 came off Swapnil’s bat. The Orissa openers replied with a hundred partnership, but were both dismissed when centuries were there for the taking. Pravanjan Mullick did not miss out, however, scoring a blazing 134 off 163 balls, and Orissa declared at 466 for 8. Goa’s best bowler by far was Shadab Jakati, who claimed 5 for 99 with his left-arm spin. Ultimately, the batting was toothless and Goa succumbed to a heavy defeat.Haryana 304 (Shafiq 71, Sunny 66, Ganda 57, Khajuria 5-117) and 102 for 2 (Jitender 56*) beat Jammu & Kashmir 96 (Vashisht 6-32) and 309 (Mahajan 63, Dar 50, Vashisht 6-102) by 8 wickets
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Gaurav Vashisht picked up 12 wickets in the match as Haryana comfortably beat Jammu & Kashmir by eight wickets at Rohtak. After following on, J&K put up a better batting display in the second innings, but a target of 102 was hardly threatening and Jitender Singh, Haryana’s captain, hit an unbeaten 56 to ease them home.After collapsing for 96 in the first innings, the J&K batsmen built useful partnerships with Dhruv Mahajan and Manzoor Dar notching up half-centuries. Haryana had scored 304 after batting first, with Shafiq Khan top-scoring with 71. Himachal Pradesh 291 (Virender Sharma 134, Fazil 5-73) and 118 for 5 (Bisla 76*) beat Services 233 (Reddy 66, Verma 58, Malik 5-56) and 175 (Chawda 56, Malik 6-42) by 5 wickets
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Maninder Bisla hit an unbeaten 76 and helped Himachal Pradesh begin the season on a winning note against Services. Services, 79 for 2 overnight, collapsed in a heap as Vikramjeet Malik picked up 6 for 42. Krushnasinh Chawda, the opener, was the only one who passed 50 in the Services second innings.Earlier, Virender Sharma’s 134 had swelled the HP innings to a healthy 291. Services too had a good start, but ultimately had no answer to Malik’s tricks.

Calls for Ricky Ponting to alter his game this month have not centered around his batting. The team has been much better behaved under Ponting’s watch since Sydney, but in Adelaide the most obvious difference has been the pace of his run-making. The stroke player has briefly become cautious, concentrating on the result of the series and trying to gain confidence against bowlers that have drained him.India must win to draw the series and with two days to go a stalemate is the most likely result. That was the expectation twice over the past five years, when the chasing team secured unthinkable triumphs, but the speed set by Ponting over the final two sessions was revealing and sensible. It was not a time for the side in overall command to take risks.Flourishes were usually ignored as Ponting played it safe for the benefit of his men. After Phil Jaques and Matthew Hayden went within 27 runs of each other the captain had to settle the side to avoid the potential problems caused by chasing a first-innings total of 526. At the end he had 79 from 150 balls, with only six fours to show for 248 minutes of toil, and Australia were a healthy 3 for 322. There were a couple of pull shots from Ponting, but mostly it was a determined performance for a man desperate not to let slip the hard-won series advantage.Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma were quickly called together to attack Ponting when he arrived a couple of overs after lunch. In the first two Tests, Harbhajan had taken care of Ponting three times and in Perth it was Sharma who removed him after a series of brutal deliveries. Ponting played back a lot, but slowly Australia moved forward.Usually Ponting walks to the wicket and starts firing balls through midwicket and cover. There was not much of that today. He was forced to defend a lot around restrictive fields, particularly on the off side, and was not bothered by the mounting tally of his deliveries compared to runs.Shortly before tea he used his feet to charge at Harbhajan, a rare event, and flicked a two to midwicket. He followed it by pulling Irfan Pathan for four between the couple of men back for the shot before shelving the expression for more careful compilation. The feet remained firm and the desire was channelled, his half-century coming from 114 balls in almost three-and-a-half hours.An argument with Harbhajan diverted Ponting’s attention when the pair clashed as the bowler chased the ball at the non-striker’s end. Asad Rauf intervened quickly as players came in and were soon sent back. The fight stayed with Ponting and a couple of overs later he leaned on to the back foot to drive Harbhajan through cover for the batsman’s fourth boundary. In the second last over of the day he sent Sharma’s new-ball offerings for fours to midwicket and fine leg.This was an innings of an earlier era, when attacking shots stood out like lighthouses, and Ponting’s aggressive streaks will be remembered easily in the backdrop of defiance. Watching Ponting scale back was fulfilling. He has mastered so many bowlers that it was fascinating seeing him force himself through a lengthy struggle. Australian players can change to suit the national interest and their leader showed how.

Vimal Soni, the vice-president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association, will take over from Chetan Chauhan as India’s team manager for the triangular one-day series that follows the Tests against Australia.The ODI squad will be picked after the third Test in Perth, said Ratnakar Shetty, the chief administrative officer of the Indian board.”Both these appointments were done at the BCCI’s Working Committee when it met in Mumbai [on December 16],” Shetty told . “Chauhan will return after the end of the Test series.”India lost the first Test in Melbourne by 337 runs. They are scheduled to play three more Tests – between January 2 and January 28 – before the triangular one-day series against Sri Lanka and Australia in February-March.

Delhi and Uttar Pradesh finished their league engagements with outright wins over Tamil Nadu and Hyderabad respectively to top their groups. Saurashtra and Baroda duly played out draws in their final games to end up second in their groups. The top two teams in each group ended tied at the same number of points, and were separated on the basis of outright wins and better quotient. UP had won one more match than Baorda, while Delhi had a better quotient than Saurashtra. In the semi-finals, UP will face Saurahstra in Vadodara while Delhi will take on Baroda in Indore.
ScorecardWith Delhi needing 95 runs to win the match, the only contest in Chennai was whether Delhi would get a bonus point. That contest ended when Aakash Chopra got out in the 11th over of the day, even as Delhi cruised to an eight-wicket win over Tamil Nadu. With Saurashtra drawing their match against Mumbai, the bonus point proved immaterial as Delhi still ended at top of Group A. Gautam Gambhir scored 40, and Mithun Manhas a quick 32 off 21 balls.
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Coming in at No. 7, Dwaraka Ravi Teja scored an unbeaten 133 off 112 balls, including a last-wicket partnership of 84 with Vishal Sharma who contributed 12, but could only delay the inevitable as Uttar Pradesh won by 132 runs with time to spare. Teja came in to bat at 121 for 5, after Praveen Kumar and Sudeep Tyagi had taken three quick wickets in the morning. But Teja took the attack to the bowlers, scoring his highest first-class score and his second century.Praveen Kumar, though, kept chipping away, and steadily brought Hyderabad close to their end and finished with career-best figures of 6 for 65. With the win, UP assumed the top position in Group B.Karnataka 545 for 9 dec beat Maharashtra 276 and 140 (Vinay Kumar 6-38, Joshi 4-18) by an innings and 129 runs
Scorecard A season that had started brightly ended in gloom for Maharashtra as they folded meekly in the second innings to lose to Karnataka by an innings and 129 runs in Ratnagiri. R Vinay Kumar, who had rattled Maharashtra with a hat-trick yesterday, took three more wickets to extend his lead in the wicket-takers’ list, the 6 for 38 being his best bowling figures. Vinay Kumar, who has 40 wickets at an average of 18.52, will take no further part in the Ranji Trophy, though, as Karnataka had been knocked out even before the start of the match. The other four wickets went to Sunil Joshi, who is currently the third-highest wicket-taker with 34 wickets.Resuming the day at 18 for 3, needing another 251 to make Karnataka bat, Maharashtra never looked like they would make a fight of it. Although there was a fifth-wicket partnership of 68 between Venugopal Rao and Yogesh Takawale, once Takawale fell at the team score of 107, the rest added only 33. Rao scored 56.
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The match between Mumbai and Saurashtra ended for all competitive purposes the moment Delhi completed their chase against Tamil Nadu in Chennai. Only a first-innings result was possible in Saurashtra – not that it would make any difference in the semi-final line-up – and Saurashtra grabbed that lead after Mumbai collapsed from 426 for 4 to be bowled out for 463. Overnight batsmen – not out in the eighties – Amol Muzumdar and Ajinkya Rahane scored big hundreds, but the rest of the line-up got out cheaply. Muzumdar scored 187, Rahane 149 and Sandeep Jobanputra took his third five-wicket haul of the season, as Saurashtra made it to the semi-finals.
ScorecardBaroda opted for batting practice in another inconsequential draw, as only an outright result between Baroda and Orissa could have altered the table standings. With three days gone and only a lead of 81 to Baroda’s credit, going for a win was always going to be improbable. Pinal Shah made his first century of the season, to go with two half-centuries, as he scored 148. Rajesh Pawar scored 91 as Baroda had reached 424 for 9 when play was called off.

ScorecardIndia Under-19 hammered England by ten wickets at Eden Gardens in Kolkata to take a winning 3-1 lead in their five-match series. After winning the toss and putting England in, India picked up wickets at regular intervals, with only Joe Denly, the right-handed opener from Kent, defying the bowlers with 80. Denly faced 150 balls and collected seven fours, but sorely lacked support, with the next-best score being Michael O’Shea’s 31. England managed only 174 for 9 in their 50 overs.Anirudh Srikkanth, the son of the former Test opener and captain Kris, and Ankit Rawat made life miserable for England’s bowlers. They relished the prospect of chasing a moderate total, and did so with an unbeaten opening stand of 178. Rawat, who scored 76 not out from 103 balls with 14 fours, was the slower of the two – Srikkanth belted 88 from only 74 balls, with 13 fours and three sixes, as India romped home with 21 overs to spare. England’s bemused captain Steven Davies tried eight bowlers, but none of them managed a wicket.

Australia’s short-lived search for a new one-day international captain has ended today with the news that Ricky Pontinghas been named to fill the position.The appointment of Ponting, 27, has been made at the close of a tumultuous week in Australian cricket that washeadlined by the shock removal of Steve Waugh from the post.Ponting, who becomes the first Tasmanian player to be formally elevated to a role as Australian captain, has receivedonly limited opportunities to showcase his leadership skills to this point of his career.In his six appearances at Tasmania’s helm, he has produced the perfectly balanced ledger of two wins, two draws andtwo losses.He also enjoyed fleeting experience as Australia’s vice-captain and led the side in a match against Somerset on the2001 Ashes tour.Otherwise, Ponting’s prowess as a captain has only been revealed at junior level.Together with the ratification of Ponting’s appointment as its team’s new leader, the Australian Cricket Board (ACB)also announced today that its Directors had installed wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist as his deputy.Following the news of Waugh’s axing on Wednesday, the right to become Australia’s new one-day leader had beenwidely perceived to have become a race in four.The claims of Ponting, Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Darren Lehmann were all believed to have come under seriousconsideration.But ACB Chairman Bob Merriman disclosed at a media conference in Melbourne that the four-man national selectionpanel had formed a unanimous view that Ponting should become the new leader.Australia’s next one-day outing will be in Johannesburg on 22 March at the start of a series of seven limited-oversmatches against South Africa. Ponting’s appointment covers that series, as well as a short three-match battle that followsin Zimbabwe.

Australia’s cricketers have demanded extra security from loutish South African fans after Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and Damien Martyn were spat on and sprayed with beer during the opening day of the Test series in Johannesburg.Three men were last night arrested over the incidents and charged with crimen injuria, a low-level harassment charge, after the Australian team again found trouble at the Wanderers.Waugh, Gilchrist and Martyn were harassed in the notorious 35-metre players race, which is lined with spectators watching the players walk on and off the field.Former fast bowler Merv Hughes clashed angrily with a South African spectator in the race eight years ago, prompting officials to cage the area.But the Australians now want spectators kept away from the race for good after the latest incidents soured an entertaining start to the Test series.”It’s very disappointing. We come here to play cricket and not to be physically harmed by the spectators,” batsman Matthew Hayden said.Australian team manager Steve Bernard urged security officials to act after Waugh was spat on while he returned to the dressing rooms after his innings of 32.A man in his early 20s was arrested and charged.”Steve knows it’s tough over here and you expect some abuse but you shouldn’t have to put up with spitting. We were obliged to follow it through,” Bernard said.”We have asked them to provide extra cover and the security men will walk up and down the race with the players.”They have taken swift and proper action and done as much as they can do.”The ground manager has said there’s not much they can do this time but when you come back next time the area will be completely enclosed.”Martyn and Gilchrist were targeted as they left the field at stumps, batting together for almost one hour to complete an excellent first day of cricket for Australia.The Australian players had already talked about the likely flak from spectators during the series but they didn’t expect to be targeted in this manner.”According to Marto a couple of cupfuls of drink were poured over him,” Bernard said.”The two guys who did that have been arrested and have been sent to jail, where they will spend the weekend.”United Cricket Board (UCB) chief executive Gerald Majola apologised to the Australians as South African officials urged some fans to clean up their behaviour before the republic hosts the World Cup in 12 months.”The UCB makes a very strong appeal to South African spectators to respect the opposition and allow the games to be played in the correct spirit, especially in the run-up to the World Cup,” a UCB spokesperson said.

Fine weather and better pitch conditions in the latter part of New Zealand’s summer this year are likely to result in some serious thought being given to centralising the first rounds of the State Championship in order to take part of good pitch conditions.Successful Auckland coach Mark O’Donnell, who saw his side win the Championship and finish second, by 17 runs after leading the State Shield at the completion of the round-robin phase, to Northern Districts in the domestic one-day competition, thinks greater use could be made of the superior pitch conditions at the High Performance Centre at Lincoln University earlier in the season.It wasn’t a case of conceding home advantage for teams, it was a case of getting good conditions for all players as early as possible.Besides, no team could claim Lincoln as a home ground. Not even Canterbury. They never play there despite it being on their doorstep.O’Donnell is sure the idea will be on the table when coaches meet for their annual review of the season in Christchurch.While there was a longer term satisfaction in his side backing up their win of last year by regaining the Championship, he was disappointed the side hadn’t been able to finish with a victory over Northern Districts yesterday.”We would have liked to have won that game. We did try to win it but a little intensity went out of the game after hearing that Otago had beaten Wellington in Alexandra,” he said.He was delighted for his side nonetheless and said it had worked hard. While it hadn’t ended up with an ideal balance, especially after the attack lost Kyle Mills and Andre Adams for the World Cup, and Gareth Shaw to a stress fracture, Tama Canning had responded well to end up with the most wickets in the competition.O’Donnell offered a fresh perspective on the first-class scene in New Zealand, having been brought up in the system but having developed his coaching skills in South Africa from where he returned to take up the position with Auckland.The pitches generally had been a lot better after Christmas and the best deck he felt Auckland struck during the summer was for the Shield match against Central Districts at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth. Queenstown had also been a good pitch.He felt the last four games in the competition had been played too closely together and allowed no time for practice or work on technical aspects of the game for individual players.That resulted in players not being able to improve their techniques while also contributing to a deal of tiredness through the latter stages of the summer. It meant that most of the technical adjustment work for players had to be done in the winter, which had to be indoors and not as good as working outside.O’Donnell said it was vital that players going to international level had a solid record of first-class experience behind them. If that was played on better quality pitches then the transition, with the experience included, to international player would be much easier.He pointed to the impact that hardened first-class players like Mark Richardson, Robbie Hart and Scott Styris, had made when they stepped up.”It is good they have a lot of first-class cricket because it gives them a bit of an idea of what to fall back on if they get under a bit of pressure in international play,” he said.During the year he had been impressed with the batting of Craig Cumming for Otago, Richard Jones for Wellington, and Tim McIntosh and Matt Horne for Auckland.Paul Hitchcock had bowled well in one-day play while Ian Butler had been the pick of the bowlers on the first-class scene while Kerry Walmsley and Chris Martin had bowled well in matches against Auckland.O’Donnell said there was also a need to keep aiming for practice facilities to be developed to a good level and for matches to be played at as many international grounds as possible.

When Taufeeq Umar and Mohammad Hafeez eventually fill their boots against the gentle souls of Bangladesh, spare a thought for the man who would have destroyed the same opposition with little more than a flick of his wrists. Pakistan’s new openers have an eye for a bad ball, but they will rarely destroy a bowling attack with the grace and timing that Saeed Anwar brought to almost every innings.Anwar carried the torch for Pakistan’s lineage of artists whose batting arc was free of swing and true of radius. Zaheer Abbas and Majid Khan were fellow spirits, and only Yousuf Youhana of the current crop can lay claim to the same torch of gracefulness.There is more cricket left in Anwar, but that does not mean he has a divine right to a place in the international team. Pakistan had to rebuild, and after a period of watchful waiting it became obvious that he should make way for younger, hungrier men. This is a shame for cricket fans from all countries. Anwar’s minimal foot movement meant that he relied almost entirely on a highly evolved hand-eye co-ordination that could thread a ball between two fielders three yards apart but 30 yards away from the bat and hell bent on stopping it. And all this with a bat flashing so dangerously away from his body that each delivery could have brought his downfall – it usually did, but usually too after he had already raised his bat to acclaim yet another half-century or hundred. This was genius at work – genius on a knife-edge – and fans were thrilled by it.In the beginning his impetuosity brought accusations of a lack of concentration, a fly-by-night character. Instead Anwar showed that his destructive one-day talent could be harnessed into a formidable Test-match force, so much so that he became Pakistan’s best opener since Majid Khan, and perhaps even surpassed Hanif Mohammad, who is usually acclaimed as the greatest of all Pakistan’s opening batsmen. Imran Khan always rated Anwar highly, and someone of doubtful temperament would never receive Imran’s praise. He wasn’t quite on a par with Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, as Imran claims – but few batsmen are. Nor was he a natural athlete: indeed he was sometimes a liability in the field. And when the captaincy came to him, he seemed surprisingly uncomfortable. Perhaps it should not have been a surprise, because it was batting that Saeed Anwar loved most.Two events changed that. Early on in the 1999 World Cup final, Anwar asked for the rubber on his bat-handle to be changed. He was out next ball, and Pakistan crumbled. Had the change been necessary? Had it broken his concentration? This thought tormented him, and some of his hunger ebbed with that disappointment. Two years later his young daughter died. Anwar’s mind turned to religion. What did cricket matter after that?Still he insisted that he wanted his place back. And the sole pleasure that Pakistani fans derived from a disappointing World Cup in South Africa was Anwar’s farewell one-day century against India. This was fitting because despite his general success against all countries, two of his most memorable successes had come against India in India. The third Test that Pakistan played in India in February 1999 was the first in the Asian Test Championship. India and Pakistan had drawn the preceding Test series, so this match in Calcutta was effectively the decider. Pakistan, put into bat, collapsed to 26 for 6. They recovered to 185, and in the second innings Anwar carried his bat for a magnificent 188 not out in a total of 316, which turned out to be a winning score.Two years earlier in Chennai, Anwar posted 194, the highest one-day score to date and possibly for years to come. Pakistan will not replace him easily.Kamran Abbasi, born in Lahore, brought up in Rotherham, is deputy editor of the British Medical Journal.

Elite Group
ScorecardAt the end of the third day, this tense encounter was finely poised. Mumbai needed five wickets to bat again, and Madhya Pradesh were only 121 runs ahead. Mumbai, 87 for 5 at one stage, eventually fell for 233. They conceded first-innings points to Madhya Pradesh. Their innings ended when Ajit Agarkar was out last for 84. Vinod Kambli had fallen earlier in the day for his overnight score of 68. Sunil Dholpure had figures of 5 for 68. Then Agarkar and Shinde prised out four wickets for 13 runs, before Devendra Bundela resisted them with 59 not out.
ScorecardWhen Uttar Pradesh’s openers came out to bat for the second time in the day, it rounded up a dismal day where they scored only 139 runs and lost ten wickets. Tamil Nadu enforced the follow-on after bundling them out for 136, with Ramakrishnan Ramkumar claiming 6 for 47. Only Amir Khan, the wicketkeeper, could resist the Tamil Nadu attack with 62. Well on top now, Tamil Nadu will have only themselves to blame if the game is drawn. They scored 353 runs in 174.4 overs – a run-rate of just over 2 – in nearly two days.
ScorecardGujarat built a healthy lead over Karnataka going in to the final day of the encounter. At stumps they were 124 for 2 after a rescue effort by Karnataka’s lower order took them to 272. Sunil Joshi played an instrumental role with 54, and he was supported well by Dodda Ganesh, who remained unbeaten on 23. Gujarat replied with a century stand between the openers. Nilesh Modi scored 44 and Akash Christian ran up 57 before both fell in the space of nine runs.
ScorecardIf Assam were staring right down a long dark barrel at the end of the third day, Punjab had Gagandeep Singh and Navdeep Singh to thank. Gagandeep claimed 6 for 41 as Assam were bundled out for 213 in the first innings. Navdeep had figured of 4 for 39. Only Sukhvinder Singh could resist, with an attacking 59 off 62 balls. Assam were then asked to follow-on and struggled to 146 for 7. Rajesh Sharma struck twice, and then Gagandeep and Navdeep took over. They shared five wickets, but Sathiamoorty Saravanan was still there on 63, his second fighting knock of the match after 49 in the first innings.
ScorecardAfter gaining the first-innings lead, Railways put the match further out of Bengal’s reach by getting to 137 for 4 in their second innings after bundling them out for 255. Prakash Yadav played a big role in Bengal’s demise, claiming 5 for 37. Laxmi Ratan Shukla stood tall with an unbeaten 90. Later, when Railways batted again, Amit Pagnis scored an unbeaten 62 – his second half-century of the game.
ScorecardAndhra recovered from a terrible start (18 for 4) and, though they were under the kosh for the rest of the day, reached 266 for 7. Satya Varma hit 80 and put on 118 runs for the 7th wicket with Khatib Sahabuddin, who was still standing on 89.
ScorecardA strong reply by Maharashtra gave them a good chance of taking the first-innings lead. They reached 328 for 4, 118 runs behind Baroda. Marathe led the way with 110, and Niranjan Godbole scored 53. Both shared an opening stand worth 112. Later, Dhruv Mohan hit 13 fours in his unbeaten 87. He put on 135 runs with Marathe for the 4th wicket. A draw is on the cards, but the battle for the lead will be an interesting game within the game.