da winzada777： A breathtaking 99 from Sadagoppan Ramesh and unbeaten half centuries byskipper Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman helped South to a formidable 296/2 onthe second day of their Duleep Trophy clash against West Zone at Surat’sLalbhai Contractor’s Stadium
Staff Reporter19-Jan-2001A breathtaking 99 from Sadagoppan Ramesh and unbeaten half centuries byskipper Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman helped South to a formidable 296/2 onthe second day of their Duleep Trophy clash against West Zone at Surat’sLalbhai Contractor’s Stadium. This was after a dismal collapse earlier inthe day by West, which slipped from their overnight 310/3 to 376 all out injust over 21 overs.After a trying time for the South bowlers on the first day, they swiflyclaimed the ascendancy on the second morning as West lost four wickets inthe first six overs for the addition of sixteen runs. With the fourth ballof the day, Dodda Ganesh removed Jacob Martin for 89, caught by Laxman inthe slips. The other overnight batsman, Vinod Kambli duly completed hishalf century in 60 balls before knocking one back to Ganesh for 56.Three balls later Abhijit Kale was run out for one and skipper Nayan Mongiafollowed shortly afterwards for the same score, caught off Aashish Kapoor.Ajit Agarkar and Sairaj Bahutule added 30 for the eighth wicket beforeGanesh fired out both men in successive overs. Sunil Joshi claimed histhird scalp by bowling last man Lalit Patel to terminate the innings in the112th over. The persevering Ganesh collected the best figures of 4/81 in 29overs.South openers Sridharan Sriram and Sadagoppan Ramesh proceeded to add 139for the first wicket in just 29 overs. They scored the runs in contrastingstyles, Sriram labouring for 95 balls to make 38 before he was caughtbehind off Iqbal Siddique. Ramesh on the other hand caned a 99-ball 99, 76of which were scored off boundaries, before being bowled by Bahutule. Fromthere on Laxman and Dravid forced the West attack into submission, addingan unbroken 141 in 32.2 overs. Laxman, with nine centuries in his last ninegames, marched inevitably towards yet another, unbeaten on 80 (111 balls,12 fours) while Dravid was keeping him company on 60 (106 balls, 7 fours).