President's Eleven on top against Tripura

Stalin Hoover was the pick of the pacers as a clinical bowling performance from KSCA President’s XI ensured that they took the day’s honours against Tripura CA on the first day of their Safi Darashah match at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here on Monday.
 
After upending Tripura for a paltry 194 from 74.4 overs, the hosts further embellished their chances of an outright victory when they finished the day at 69/1 on a rather bleak day for Tripura, who would look back at the day’s play as an opportunity lost after winning the toss and opting to bat.

While the medium pace of Hoover did most of the early damage, Ronit More, another medium pacer, and the two spinners – left armer SK Moinuddin and off-break bowler Sunil Raju – all chipped in with two wickets apiece as the Tripura innings struggled for momentum throughout the innings.

Middle-order batsman Nirupamsen C (94, 156b, 10x4) was the only one who displayed a sense of calm amid all the chaos.

Both the Tripura openers – Udiyan Bose and Aniruddha Shah – had just about survived the first hour but Hoover removed both of them in the space of six balls to set the tone for the innings.

After inducing a nick from Bose that was held by Pawan Deshpande in the slip cordon, Hoover accounted for Shah whose feather was held by wicketkeeper Avinash KC.

The conditions were not exactly seamer friendly but Hoover soon removed new man Abhijit Dey in similar fashion which brought together Nirupam Sen and Nirupamsen C.  Nirupam Sen left soon after when he was caught at point by Liyah Khan off Moinuddin.

The spinners were bowling in tandem and soon Sunil Raju accounted for the new batsman Kaushal Acharjee, whose prod was held at first slip by Kunal Kapoor.

Tripura continued to slip further into a rot after lunch when they lost Swapan Das who gave catching practice to Avinash behind the stumps.

At the other end, Nirupamsen C was beginning to open up and two boundaries down to the vacant third man region signalled his intentions. While the rest struggled to put Moinuddin away, he executed a flawless sweep behind square for another four.

But there was no support at the other end and Tripura soon lost three more wickets with the addition of only 27 runs.

Manishankar M exited after Avinash held on to another catch off Raju, Banty Roy was caught in front of the stumps by More and Moinuddin cleaned up Sanjay Majumdar.

With just the last man Vicky Saha for company, Nirupamsen C struck a barrage of boundaries to bring Tripura within striking distance of 200 but More came back to remove him leg-before.
The hosts did not waste the initiative they had earned with a breezy 50-run partnership for the first wicket but Liyah Khan was run out just before stumps which was of some consolation for the visitors.


Brief scores: Tripura CA: 194 all out in 74.4 overs (Nirupamsen C 94; Stalin Hoover 4-48, Moinuddin 2-25, Sunil Raju 2-31) vs KSCA President’s XI: 69/1 in 18 overs (Samarth R 31 batting).