Kumble gets two wickets in tour opener

The Indians received an unexpected hammering in their tour opening match against Nicky Oppenheimer XI, who piled up 244 for three in 52 overs, at Randjesfontein, Johannesburg, on Monday.

In a match which did not have any toss or restriction of overs, the Indian bowlers were thrashed by Jacques Rudolph, who cracked a brilliant century (109), and Loots Bosman (62) in a 100-run opening wicket partnership.

The match, which traditionally allows the visitors to take the first strike, saw history being made when the Indians suprised everyone by asking the home side to take bat first.

The Indians went in with a full strength team, except Javagal Srinath, and used as many as eight bowlers but only Anil Kumble, making a comeback from injury after almost a year, impressed.

The champion leg-spinner took two of the three wickets to fall - the third was a run-out - conceding 47 runs in 10 overs.

With no requirement of field restrictions in first 15 overs and the bowlers allowed to bowl more than 10 overs, the Indians started with Ajit Agarkar and Venkatesh Prasad. The eagerly awaited return of Kumble came in the 11th over. The leggie was bang on target with his first ball but was then was smashed for two fours and a six by Bosman in his first two overs.

Kumble had his revenge, beating Bosnan, who attempted a cut, with a fullish delivery to break the stumps. The hosts' first wicket fell in the 23rd over.

Bosman, who has been around for five first class seasons, was extremely compact and had set the tone for the rest of the innings.

After his dismissal, Rudolph, a left-hander with the Northern Province who hit eight hundreds in the domestic competition lok charge and completed his century off 145-balls in the company of Graeme Smith (54). The second wicket association between the two fetched 117 runs for the hosts.

Kumble, whose first spell read 8-0-27-1, got his team the second wicket when he had Rudolph, who in the meanwhile had completed his century, caught by Virender Sehwag. The 20-year- old Rudolph hit 13 fours and a six in his 151-ball knock.

Harbhajan Singh, who came in to bowl in place of Kumble, could not get any wicket but had a decent figures of 7-0-27-0.

Another notable performance for the visitors was the new wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta who was neat and tidy behind the wickets. There wasn't any lapse by him including by way of byes.

Mail Cricket Editor