Resuming on 182/5 on the second day of the quarterfinal of the Buchi Babu Invitation Tournament 2000, the Karnataka State Cricket Association XI side slumped to 243 all out. In characteristic fashion, the tail twitched instead of wagging and gave the National Cricket Academy's (NCA) Reetinder Singh Sodhi three wickets.

Responding to the smallish total, the NCA side was in command from the word go. Although Tamil Nadu southpaw Sridharan Sriram managed just 13, his opening partner, Shiv Sunder Das slammed an unbeaten 139, effectively blocking up one end. Gautham Gambhir, who was sent up in the order, made 39 before he fell to Vadiaraj.

Although young hopefuls Mohammed Kaif and Yuvraj Singh were dismissed cheaply, Das' 230 ball essay saw the NCA team take the crucial first innings lead. His knock, a steady one given the circumstances, included 14 shots to the fence.

Indian utility player Vijay Bharadwaj rolled his arm over, and as he has done so many times in the past snapped up four wickets after tea. At stumps, the NCA were 245/6, with Das (139) and Ramesh Powar (7) at the crease. Having taken the first innings lead, with just one day's play remaining, it will take some remarkably bad cricket on the part of the NCA, extraordinarily good cricket on the part of KSCA or both to keep the NCA side from advancing to the next round.

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