da bet7： The second day of the Coromandel Cement Cup final saw mediumpacer LBalaji steal the limelight once more
Staff Reporter14-Aug-2001The second day of the Coromandel Cement Cup final saw mediumpacer LBalaji steal the limelight once more. The Maharaja JayachamrajendraWodayar Sports Centre (2) played host to the clash between Chemplastfrom Chennai and Roofit XI from Mumbai. Starting the day on 67/1 intheir first innings in reply to Roofit’s 263, Chemplast fell behind by13 runs. They however hit back by restricting Roofit XI to 143/8 intheir second knock.Sujith Somasunder was unable to add to his overnight score of 35 andfell soon after play began on the second day. S Badrinath (44) helpednudge the score along, but it was the batting of J Hariesh and AdithyaSrikkanth that saved the day for Chemplast. Hariesh made 46 from 117balls while Aditya played a vital hand. Coming in at number six, theleft hander made 50 (96 balls, 5 fours), the top score of the innings.In the 87th over of the day, Chemplast were dismissed for 250, withAnand Yalvigi (3/31) being the pick of the bowlers.The real fireworks came however when Roofit XI began their secondinnings. Chemplast’s hero with the ball in the first innings, Balaji,rocked the Roofit XI boat in the second essay as well, picking up5/45. The young Tamil Nadu mediumpacer now has twelve wickets in thematch, having bagged 7/73 in the first innings. Baroda opener SatyajitParab was Balaji’s first victim, falling in the first over for a duck.Altaf Merchant (23) and skipper Jatin Paranjpe (12) followed in quicksuccession and the Roofit XI side were in all manner of strife at52/3. Yalvigi and Kiran Powar attempted a revival, putting together 52for the fourth wicket. Following the wicket of Yalvigi at 102, wicketsbegan to fall at regular intervals. Hrishikesh Kanitkar was run outbefore he could trouble the scorers, Parthiv Patel was trapped lbw fornought and Roofit XI were in total disarray. Off the last ball of theday, Balaji trapped Kiran Adhav in front of the stumps with the scoreon 143 and the mediumpacer had his five wicket bag.Roofit XI now have an overall lead of 156 runs with two wickets inhand and 11 second innings overs left to be bowled. It must be saidthat Chemplast have given themselves a chance while Roofit XI arestill very much in the running for the title as well.