JOIN USAkshay, Joshi put City on top
At stumps on day one of the three-day league encounter, City XI had reached 79 for one in their first innings in reply to the modest President’s XI total of 245.
Medium-pacer SL Akshay and Aniruddha Joshi were the City XI bowling heroes, taking four wickets apiece after President’s XI skipper C Raghu won the toss and opted to bat. A fair few batsmen got off to starts but no one kicked on, Karun Nair’s 45 representing the highest score of an innings that never touched any great heights.
While Akshay finished with four for 52, off-spinner Joshi had returns of four for 45.
Left-arm spinner C Raghavendra picked up the remaining two wickets at the cost of 52 runs.
With opener KL Rahul (41 batting) in the forefront, City XI had made rapid inroads into the President’s XI total.
The bowlers called the shots in the other encounter at the IAF grounds too, paceman A Mithun the stand-out performer for Combined XI.
After CM Gautam opted to bat first, the skipper took it upon himself to prop up the Bangalore Zone innings with 89, but only Pawan Deshpande (53) of the rest made any meaningful contribution as Mithun (7/42) ran riot.
Support came from left-arm spinner KP Appanna, who took the other three wickets, as Bangalore Zone were bundled out for 213.
Combined had reached six without loss at stumps on a truncated day when only 61 overs were possible.
DH News Service
Brief scores: At Chinnaswamy stadium: President’s XI: 245 all out in 64.5 overs (Vinay Uthappa 26, CB Karthik 31, KB Pawan 36, Karun Nair 45, Sunil N Raju 38; SL Akshay 4-52, C Raghavendra 2-52, Aniruddha Joshi 4-45) vs City XI: 79/1 in 25 overs (KL Rahul 41 n.o.).
At IAF ground: Bangalore Zone: 213 all out in 57 overs (CM Gautam 89, Pawan Deshpande 53, SP Manjunath 25; A Mithun 7-42, KP Appanna 3-68) vs Combined XI: 6/0 in 4 overs.