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 Brisbane,
Dec 1: Sadagopan Ramesh made a strong case for his
selection in the Test team even as the visiting Indians
came off second best for the third successive day against
a second grade opposition in Queensland Academy of Sports
here today. Indians never went for the target of 305 runs
from 65 overs but still lost a clutter of wickets before
Ramesh steadied the ship and took the tourists to a draw
with an unbeaten knock of 37 runs. Resuming at their
overnight score of 79 for two, the hosts declared at the
lunch score of 208 for six which included the second
century of the match for Lee Carseldine.
Indians,
who trailed by 96 runs in the first innings, were thus set
a 300-plus target in glorious sunny conditions and
finished on 121 for four from 52 overs. Three contenders
for the opening berth -- Virender Sehwag (4), Akash Chopra
(11) and Deep Dasgupta (8) -- gave little consolation to
the tourists but Ramesh offers a ray of hope for at least
one of the two berths. Ramesh, with scores of 87, 36, 21
and 37 not out from four innings on the tour has looked
the most consistent of all Indian batsmen and certainly
saved them some blues today.
Indians
lost Sehwag in only the third over of their second
innings, when the out-of-form opener fell leg before after
scoring four runs from 13 deliveries. Sehwag now has
scores of 23, 20, 6 and 4 on the tour. Chopra's propensity
to edge catches to the slips was once again highlighted
today by the home attack as the Delhi opener departed for
11 caught off hardworking Steve Magoffin as the Indians
slumped to 32 for two.
Deep
Dasgupta left at the same total after looking solid in his
47-minute stay before a straight delivery went past his
defence and bent back his off-stump. Ramesh and Sourav
Ganguly then built up a solid stand of 56 runs before the
Indian captain was ruled caught in the lone slip off
off-spinner Chris Simpson, a decision which did not go
well at all with the batsman who went off shaking his head
in disapproval. Ganguly batted for 82 minutes and faced 62
balls, hitting six fours to register his highest score on
the tour so far.
 Earlier,
Carseldine again dominated the tourists' attack to score a
blazing 109 not out, to go with his 112 in the first
innings. He batted for 199 minutes and hit 18 fours from
155 balls. Carseldine, overnight 31 not out, took only
half an hour to reach his half century which arrived from
93 balls and included 10 sizzling boundaries. Left-arm
paceman Irfan Pathan mouthed a few words at the departing
batsman Craig Philipson after having him caught at the
square leg boundary after the batsmen had driven the
bowler over mid-off for a staggering six.
Philipson
too shot back a few words at the rookie Indian fast
bowler. Kumble had his second scalp of the morning when
Steve Farrell was stumped for two having learnt nothing
from a reprieve in similar fashion a couple of deliveries
earlier. Ryan Le Loux faced just four balls for his
unbeaten 12 which included a straight driven four off
Lakshmipathy Balaji and a mighty six over the press box
off Virender Sehwag.
Vice-captain
Rahul Dravid stood in for Sourav Ganguly on the field
today who chose to have an extended batting nets for
himself while the game was on. Even when Ganguly came back
to field in the second hour, Dravid continued to lead the
side. (Agencies) Scorecard
Published:
Monday, December 01, 2003
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