Combined XI hit back in style

Kunal Kapoor ton bolsters City XI

At the Chinnaswamy stadium on Tuesday, Combined XI failed to make the most of skipper Deepak Chougule winning the toss, being rolled over for just 201. Robin Uthappa, making his first appearance of the tournament, was bowled by Aditya B Sagar for 17 as President’s XI began their reply, and finished the day on 79 for three, Sunil N Raju holding fort with an unbeaten 30.

On a surface where more than the odd ball kept low, Combined were never comfortable, and would have struggled to touch the 200-mark had it not been for a late flourish from the tail.

Bharath Chipli top-scored with 37 and CL Akshay contributed 36, but Combined -- who have six points from two matches -- were undone mainly because several batsmen got off to starts but failed to build on them.

President’s XI, who bring up the foot of the table with two points, opened with Uthappa and Uthappa -- Robin and Vinay -- but both fell fairly early, the former having his furniture rearranged and the latter trapped leg before.

At the NRA grounds, City XI rode on a century by Kunal Kapoor to post 305 against Bangalore Zone in a match between two teams with four points apiece. Kapoor struck 111 laced with 16 hits to the fence (181b) to play the lead role in his team’s batting stint. At the draw of stumps, Bangalore Zone had reached 40 for one, skipper CM Gautam batting on 22.

Brief scores: At Chinnaswamy stadium: Combined XI: 201 all out in 60.4 overs (Bharath Chipli 37, Sudhindra Shinde 31, CL Akshay 36, Aditya B Sagar 28 n.o.; Mohd Arif 2-47, Raghavendra Rao AV 2-43, SK Moinuddin 3-17, Sinan Abdul Khader 3-54) vs President’s XI: 79/3 in 28 overs (Sunil N Raju 30 n.o.).

At NRA (T) grounds: City XI: 305 all out in 76.5 overs (Keshava Chitta 41, Kunal Kapoor 111, Stuart T Binny 35, K Gautam 25; David Mathias 3-66, Imran Khan 2-70, Darshan MR 3-90, S Vinodh 2-0) vs Bangalore Zone: 40/1 in 11 overs.