da apostaganha： Sachin Tendulkar carried Mumbai’s hopes on the third day of the RanjiTrophy semifinal against Tamil Nadu at the Wankhede stadium onThursday
Anand Vasu13-Apr-2000Sachin Tendulkar carried Mumbai’s hopes on the third day of the RanjiTrophy semifinal against Tamil Nadu at the Wankhede stadium onThursday. Moving from 34 to 213, he anchored the home team to a scoreof 470 for eight at close of play. This was in reply to Tamil Nadu’sfirst innings total of 485.Old school chums Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli batted throughout themorning as Mumbai progressed from 141 for four to 262. The partnershipthat took Mumbai towards safety ended abruptly when Kambli top edged apull shot just after lunch. Mediumpacer Mahesh surprised him with aquick bouncer. A shade late on the shot, Kambli ended up skying theball straight up in the air. Waving everyone else away, Maheshcompleted the catch himself. The left hander made 75 and the fifthwicket partnership had added 139.The Tamil Nadu seam attack was ineffective on a pitch that grewincreasingly slower. Aashish Kapoor who got the ball to a do a bityesterday was used sparingly and he too could not break through.After Kambli was dismissed, Amol Muzumdar kept Tendulkar goodcompany. Though he did not go after the bowling in the same manner asTendulkar, Muzumdar played his role to perfection. His silken drivesthrough the off side were a perfect foil to Tendulkar’s power andtiming.Tendulkar crossed landmark after landmark in his stay at thewicket. Smashing Gokulkrishna for two consecutive sixes over fine leg,Tendulkar stamped his domination over the Tamil Nadu bowlers. When hebrought up his first double hundred in Ranji Trophy cricket, theMumbai crowd was on their feet. Tendulkar has so far played 313 balls,and has hit 19 fours and four sixes.However, the loss of quick wickets at the other end dampened thespirits of the crowd. Ajit Agarkar was given a life when he wasdropped by Mahesh at cover point off the bowling off Kumaran.However, that was not the costly miss of the day. Madanagopal atsecond slip dropped a catch that certainly should have been held offthe bowling of Mahesh. Tendulkar then was only 42. Abey Kuruvilla, yetto get off the mark, was at the crease with Mumbai 16 runs short ofthat all important first innings lead mark. The first half hour ofplay tomorrow will, in all likelihood, decide who goes through to thefinal.