Kumble gets two wickets in tour opener
The Indians received an unexpected hammering in their tour opening match
against Nicky Oppenheimer XI, who piled up 244 for three in 52
overs, at Randjesfontein, Johannesburg, on Monday.
In a match which did not have any toss or restriction of
overs, the Indian bowlers were thrashed by Jacques
Rudolph, who cracked a brilliant century (109), and Loots
Bosman (62) in a 100-run opening wicket partnership.
The match, which traditionally allows the visitors to take
the first strike, saw history being made when the Indians
suprised everyone by asking the home side to take bat first.
The Indians went in with a full strength team, except
Javagal Srinath, and used as many as eight bowlers but only
Anil Kumble, making a comeback from injury after almost a
year, impressed.
The champion leg-spinner took two of the three wickets to
fall - the third was a run-out - conceding 47 runs in 10 overs.
With no requirement of field restrictions in first 15
overs and the bowlers allowed to bowl more than 10 overs,
the Indians started with Ajit Agarkar and Venkatesh Prasad. The
eagerly awaited return of Kumble came in the 11th over. The
leggie was bang on target with his first ball but was then was
smashed for two fours and a six by Bosman in his first two
overs.
Kumble had his revenge, beating Bosnan, who attempted a
cut, with a fullish delivery to break the stumps. The hosts'
first wicket fell in the 23rd over.
Bosman, who has been around for five first class seasons,
was extremely compact and had set the tone for the rest of the
innings.
After his dismissal, Rudolph, a left-hander with the
Northern Province who hit eight hundreds in the domestic
competition lok charge and completed his century
off 145-balls in the company of Graeme Smith (54). The second
wicket association between the two fetched 117 runs for the
hosts.
Kumble, whose first spell read 8-0-27-1, got his team the
second wicket when he had Rudolph, who in the meanwhile had
completed his century, caught by Virender Sehwag. The 20-year-
old Rudolph hit 13 fours and a six in his 151-ball knock.
Harbhajan Singh, who came in to bowl in place of Kumble,
could not get any wicket but had a decent figures of 7-0-27-0.
Another notable performance for the visitors was the new
wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta who was neat and tidy behind the
wickets. There wasn't any lapse by him including by way of
byes.
Mail Cricket Editor