da betsson： A solid unbeaten 66 in the middle order by Shafiq Khan helped IndianAirlines to end the first day at 242 for the loss of four wickets inthe MRF Buchi Babu All India invitation tournament quarterfinalagainst Jolly Rovers at the IIT-Chemplast ground
Natarajan Sriram24-Aug-2000A solid unbeaten 66 in the middle order by Shafiq Khan helped IndianAirlines to end the first day at 242 for the loss of four wickets inthe MRF Buchi Babu All India invitation tournament quarterfinalagainst Jolly Rovers at the IIT-Chemplast ground in Chennai onThursday.Put into bat, Indian Airlines started with a minor hiccup, losingManish Sharma in the 14th over. He was caught in the slips by Kuduvawhen he tried to go for an extravagent drive off Tinu Youhanan. Thisbrought in VVS Laxman to the middle. Laxman and J Arun Kumar madesteady progress. Arun Kumar reached his fifty off the 87th ball thathe faced.But soon after lunch, with the score on 133, Indian Airlines lost ArunKumar whose 75 was compiled off 124 balls and included ten hits to thefence. He was caught in the covers by Badrinath when he tried to driveRamkumar. Laxman also did not last long. Four short of his fifty, hewas superbly caught by Ramkumar off his own bowling when the formerattempted a full blooded drive.Ravneet Ricky and Shafiq Khan help Indian Airlines cross the 200 runmark after tea with a sedate 63-run fourth wicket stand off 22 overs.All through the partnership, Shafiq played his strokes freely andproceeded to his half century even as he lost Ricky along the way.The last session of play witnessed some attacking bowling and daringstrokeplay by Shafiq. The sedate presence of Ishan Ganda proved to bea moderating factor for Shafiq as the two saw their side through tothe close of play. Bad light stopped proceedings with nine overs stillto be bowled.