With a ball short of three overs in the Air India (Red) innings, the skies opened, the players came off and the covers came on. BSNL medium-pacer and skipper Joginder Singh dismissed AI-Red opening batsman Naman Ojha in the first ball of the innings.
With AI-Red chasing 259 for victory it was imperative that BSNL strike early and Joginder led from the front. Ojha hung out his bat to a delivery that moved away a wee bit and wicketkeeper Varun Kumar didn’t spill the chance. It brought Suresh Raina to the crease, who pulled the first short ball he faced. He was fortunate that the square-leg fielder only got a touch to it but the ball reached the boundary.
For someone, who has faced the flak for playing the pull too early in his innings it was a brave shot from Raina. He was in no mood to hold back. Shortly, he smashed a drive past Joginder. That’s when the skies opened.
BSNL, thin on first class experience, put up a good show after AI elected to the field on the opening day of the Corporate Trophy at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Openers BBCC Mohapatra and Arindam Das adding 70 for the first wicket. Mohapatra made 41 off 41 balls while Das hit 82 off 107. Mohapatra slashed at a wide delivery from medium pacer Moondeep Mangela but only succeeded in sending the ball to the third man fielder.
Mohapatra could have been dismissed earlier if only skipper Yuvraj had held onto to a chance at first slip off left-arm spinner Ankeet Chavan. Das and No.3 Varun Kumar then added 90 for the second wicket to steady the ship. Yuvraj Singh used seven bowlers, including himself. Yuvraj bowled six overs for 24 runs but couldn’t take a wicket. BSNL were pegged back in the last few overs when they lost four wickets in 16 balls.
After a second spell of rain the match was called off. The teams got two points each.
Brief scores: BSNL 258 for 7 (A Das 82, V Kumar 49; S Netravalkar 2/22, M Mangela 2/40) vs Air India (Red) 16 for 1
