Das, Kumaran shine in President's XI win

A star studded Board President's XI beat back a strong Mumbai challenge to win their Wills Trophy quarterfinal clash by 28 runs at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Tuesday.

The highlight of the well contested game was an unbeaten 133 by Orissa opener SS Das. Put in to bat, Board President's XI were given a sound start with Das and his partner Jyoti Yadav (45) putting on 111 runs off just 18 overs. Yadav faced 57 balls and hit six fours. Left hander S Sriram was run out for three but skipper Azharuddin (24) and Das got the innings going again with a third wicket partnership of 48 runs off 10.3 overs. S Sharath, another left hander was also, like his Tamil Nadu collegue Sriram, run out for two. But Das and Sanjay Bangar (38) provided the much needed filip to the scoring rate by adding 81 runs off 13.3 overs for the fifth wicket. Bangar faced just 43 balls and hit three fours and a six. During the association, Das reached his century and then kept going. By the time the President's XI innings ended at 272 for six off 50 overs, Das had faced 140 balls and hit 13 fours and two sixes.

Faced with a formidable target, Mumbai needed a good start. Wasim Jaffer (43) and RJ Sutar (12) got them off to fair beginning putting on 39 runs off 6.2 overs. T Kumaran dismissed Sutar and No 3 Jatin Paranjpe (1) in successive overs, dealing a severe blow to Mumbai's hopes. When Jaffer fell at 73 after facing 52 balls and hitting eight fours, Mumbai were in deep trouble. However skipper Amol Muzumdar (50) and Sushant Manjrekar (23) raised their hopes by putting on 47 runs off 11.3 overs for the fourth wicket. This was followed by a fifth wicket partnership of 41 runs off 8.5 overs between Muzumdar and AA Rane (26). But the fall of Muzumdar (he was the sixth batsmen to be dismissed) at 178 was the death blow to Mumbai's hopes. The skipper faced 88 balls and hit four of them to the ropes. And though SV Bahuthule (25) and Amit Dani (28) came up with valuable contributions, it was obvious by now that Mumbai were fighting a losing battle. And Kumaran came back for a second spell to take three quick wickets and bring the innings to a swift end. He finished with five wickets for 37 off 9.1 overs as Mumbai were all out for 244 in 48.1 overs.