da heads bet： Munaf Patel picked up two wickets on his return from an ankle injury, butthe Indian bowlers were made to toil on a hot and humid day at theNorthwood Crusaders Ground as their two-day match against a Kwazulu-NatalInvitation XI ended in a draw
The Bulletin by Dileep Premachandran in Durban23-Dec-2006
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Munaf Patel picked up two wickets on his return from an ankle injury, butthe Indian bowlers were made to toil on a hot and humid day at theNorthwood Crusaders Ground as their two-day match against a Kwazulu-NatalInvitation XI ended in a draw. Having declared on the overnight score of270 for 6, the Indians were given the runaround in the afternoon sessionbefore some quick wickets prior to and after tea gave the scorecard a morerespectable look. When play was called off an hour after tea, the homeside had progressed to 243 for 8, with Rivash Gobind and Michael vanVuuren having made eye-catching half-centuries.Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth, who shared the new ball at the Wanderers, tookit again on Saturday morning, and Munaf had to wait till the 12th over forhis chance. The impact was immediate, with Fabian Lazarus struck on thepad in front of the stumps. But Ross McMillan and Gobind then rebuilt theinnings slowly, as only 68 came in the 27 overs before lunch.It was a different story after the interval. Sourav Ganguly, on to relievethe frontline pace bowlers, picked up McMillan and Martin Bekker in quicksuccession, but Van Vuuren and Gobind then pounded out a rapid 97-runpartnership. Irfan Pathan was flayed all around the park, and even AnilKumble wasn’t exempt from rough treatment, with Van Vuuren slamming twosixes and a couple of fours.He and Gobind played superb shots all around the ground as the run-ratewent up to a gallop. Needing to staunch the flow of runs, the Indians wereforced to call back the likes of Zaheer and Munaf as the afternoon woreon. Munaf finally got Van Vuuren, brilliantly taken at slip by Laxman, andwhen Harbhajan Singh came on in the 54th over, an impetuous charge fromGobind presented Mahendra Singh Dhoni with a simple stumping. By then hehad made 88 from 128 balls, and the Indians gave him an ovation as theplayers trooped off for tea.Harbhajan added two more wickets in the final session, and there was onefor VRV Singh as well, as the Indians were forced to pull out all the stopsin stifling conditions. After the monotony of repeated net sessionsthough, this was one step closer to what awaits at Kingsmead on BoxingDay.