This article was first published 17 years ago

India 'A' in control against Kenya after day one

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August 06, 2007 00:40 IST

Yomahesh's incisive spell of seam bowling backed by Parthiv Patel's sparkling century gave India 'A' a stranglehold on their three-day cricket tour match against Kenya at Mombasa on Sunday.

Yomahesh cut through the Kenyan batting line-up on the opening day, claiming four wickets for 15 runs as the Africans were bundled out for a mere 97 in only 37.4 overs.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Patel then struck an unbeaten 100 as India, in reply, reached 205 for four at stumps. S Badrinath was the other unbeaten batsman with 29.

The Kenyans elected to bat but had a disastrous start losing two wickets with only one run on the board.

Skipper Steve Tikolo was the top scorer with 28 while Tanmay Mishra contributed 27. Opener David Obuya, with 24, had the only other significant effort in the innings.

For India, Pankaj Singh and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla captured two wickets each while left-armer Irfan Pathan and Pragyan Ojha had a scalp apiece.

The 37-run third wicket stand between Obanda and Tikolo and the 33-run sixth wicket stand between Jimmy Kamande and Mishra saved further embarrassment for the hosts.

India also had a shaky start losing two wickets for 14 with Cheteshwar Pujara and Robin Uthappa returning to the pavilion early.

But Patel, whose 126-ball knock includes 15 boundaries so far, steadied the ship with skipper Mohammad Kaif (25) adding 68 for the third wicket.

The 76-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Patel and Rohit Sharma (35) put India firmly in control. The fifth wicket stand has so far added 47 runs.

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