JOIN USRitesh Bhatkal dished out a fabulous show with the ball to hand Combined XI three points from their drawn encounter with Bangalore Zone in the Safi Darashah tournament at Alur (1) ground on Friday.
In their first hit on Thursday, Combined had amassed 331 for eight and then had Bangalore reeling at 25 for four.
Bangalore were then rattled by Bhatkal, who claimed impressive figures of seven for 54, to be skittled out for 158 in 40.3 overs.
Following on, Bangalore put on a better show with the bat as to reach 128 for two when the match concluded in stalemate. Abhinav Manohar showed resolve with the bat for Bangalore scoring 62.
In the other fixture, the star-studded President’s XI collected three points from their match against Vice-President’s XI. Pavan Deshpande’s ton had propelled President’s to 326 for eight on Thursday. Resuming at 23 for one, Vice-President’s batsmen squandered good starts and were bowed out for 240 in 74.3 overs.
Sujith NG (55), Kunal Kapoor (55) and Praveen Dubey (54) failed to go on and get big scores as their side had to settle for a solitary point.
Brief scores: At Alur (2): Combined XI: 331/8 in 90 overs drew Bangalore Zone: 158 all out in 40.3 overs (Naga Bharath 32, Anurag Bajpai 68, Ritesh Bhatkal 7-54) and 128/2 in 37 overs (Abhinav Manohar 62, Samarth Ooty 39 n.o.). Combined XI: 3; Bangalore Zone: 1.
At Alur (1): President’s XI: 326/8 in 90 overs drew Vice-President’s XI: 240 all out in 74.3 overs (Sujith NG 55, Kunal Kapoor 55, Praveen Dubey 54; Gowtham K 3-40, Shreyas Gopal 3-71, Suchith J 3-53). President’s XI: 3 points; Vice President’s XI: 1 point.