However, the lingering feeling in the City XI camp will be one that of an opportunity lost to post a far more formidable total than the eventual 278 for eight that they made after electing to bat.
Sampath made a composed fifty before losing his concentration and wicket. Devraj Patil (37) and Aniruddha Joshi (30) too got starts but failed to capitalise on them. Kunal, in contrast, showed admirable application and a willingness to stay at the wicket, resisting the Combined XI bowlers for a large part of the day. He faced 187 balls and hit 13 fours en route to his unbeaten 88, and the hopes of City XI to add some more precious runs to the total on the morrow rest on Kunal. Pacemen S Arvind, Raju Bhatkal and Abrar Kazi shared the major chunk of spoils among them taking two wickets apiece.
Mayank smashes ton
Mayank Agarwal and Chetan William pulled their weight together to give Bangalore Zone a slight edge over President’s XI at the IAF grounds.
It was Mayank’s 121 (162b, 15x4, 3x6) that guided Bangalore to 290 all out in 83.4 overs after they elected to bat. CM Gautam (44) and Pavan Deshpande (51) too chipped in with vital knocks to power Bangalore.
AV Raghavendra Rao, Vinoo P Narayanan and Sinan Abdul Qadir shared nine wickets equally among themselves to keep the Bangalore total below 300. However, their joy did not last too long as Chetan snaffled two quick wickets to leave them at a shaky 18 for two at the end of the day.
Brief scores: At KSCA: City XI: 278 for 8 in 89.4 overs (Suraj Sampath 50, Kunal Kapoor 88 (n.o), Devraj T Patil 37, Aniruddha Joshi 30; S Arvind 2-86, Raju Bhatkal 2-29, Abrar Kazi 2-59) vs Combined XI
At IAF: Bangalore Zone: 290 all out in 83.4 overs (Mayank Agarwal 121, CM Gautam 44, Pavan Deshpande 51, Chetan William 23; AV Raghavendra Rao 3-33, Vinoo P Narayanan 3-80, Sinan Abdul Qadir 3-43) vs President’s XI: 18/2 in 4 overs (CB Karthik (batting) 5 , Karun Nair (batting) 6; Chetan Willam 2-14).
