The National Cricket Academy (NCA) lads today showed that they truly have come of age. Having lost openers Sridharan Sriram (8) and Shiv Sunder Das (12) cheaply, Mohammed Kaif and Yuvraj Singh came to the wicket. And the two did not part till the job was all but done. At the end of the day, the NCA had 350/5 to their credit and had secured the vital first innings lead.

At 21/2, Vasu Paranjpe, the coach of the NCA team must have been a worried man. Although Yuvraj Singh is a mighty clean striker of the ball, one is never sure how long he will stay at the wicket. Today, he spent 160 minutes at the crease. That was enough to make a thumping century. Although a tough catch was dropped at forward short leg when he was on 82, Yuvraj never really gave anything away. Playing with supreme confidence, Yuvraj scattered the bowlers to all parts of the park. Indian left arm spinner Sunil Joshi, flown in especially for this match found himself at the end of a severe lashing. The Karnataka tweaker sent down just 8 overs, and that was slammed away for 36 runs. The highlight of that dual being a straight six that left not only the cricket field, but in all likelihood the neighbourhood as well.

While Yuvraj was blazing away at one end, Mohammed Kaif was carving a place out for himself at the other end. Playing with the solidity and technique that saw him tackle the South African quicks, Kaif, shut the door on anything the Indian Airlines bowlers sent at him. Whether it was the mediumpace of Dodda Ganesh or the spin of Nikhil Chopra, Kaif had no problems whatsoever. Tapping the ball neatly into the acres of free space, Kaif grafted his way to a well made 50.

When Yuvraj Singh was on 93 there was a buzz around the ground. Nikhil Chopra was bowling to the lad, attempting to play on his nerves. A clean swing later, Nikhil Chopra had his hands on his hips, as he watched the ball sail over the ropes. From 99 to the three figure mark, Yuvraj cantered an easy run and waved his bat animatedly to the dressing room. He had taken the NCA well out of the woods with his knock.

After crossing his hundred, Yuvraj continued in the same vein, striking the ball cleanly. On 114 he flashed hard at a ball from Dodda Ganesh well outside his off stump. Loud shouts for caught behind ensued and the dreaded finger went up. The young man was not impressed. Around the ground people concurred that the ball looked like it went past the outside edge. The one man who mattered however, thought it was out. Yuvraj Singh exchanged a few words, none of them pleasant I'm sure, with the Indian Airlines stumper Vijay Dahiya as he made the long walk back to the pavilion. His spanking ton included 14 shots that skidded across the turf to the fence and three clean hits that cleared the ropes by a fair bit.

Not distracted by the loss of his partner, Kaif took on the battle with renewed concentration at 188/3. He found an able partner in southpaw Gautham Gambhir. While Kaif stymied the bowlers at one end, Gambhir kept the scoreboard ticking over at the other end. Taking no risks, Gambhir moved swiftly on. When the loose ball was on offer however, he put it away efficiently. In no time, he had a half century to his name and the NCA XI had taken the crucial first innings lead.

After the first innings lead was taken, there was very little to play for. This might have had something to do with Kaif's dismissal on 98. After playing carefully at a series of deliveries that came in to him, Kaif guided a ball leaving him straight to the hands of Murali Kartik at point. Kaif's knock was an invaluable one in the scheme of things. With Yuvraj blazing away, the NCA desperately needed someone to keep a cool head and play a long innings. Kaif did just that.

Gambhir was trapped LBW earlier, and this brought Reetinder Singh Sodhi (29) and Rakesh Dhruve (19) to the crease. The two managed to stay together till bad light called of play well before the scheduled close.

The fact that the Indian Airlines team had four bowlers who have played for India and yet could not contain the colts from the National Cricket Academy bodes well for Indian cricket. Sunil Joshi, Murali Kartik, Nikhil Chopra and Dodda Ganesh certainly had the ability to do better than concede 333 runs in a day. However, they never looked inspired enough. Big names playing for corporate team just could not match up to youngsters trying to make a name for themselves. Having taken the first innings lead, the NCA XI are almost certain to make it to the finals of the Buchi Babu Invitation Tournament 2000. However, at the end of the second day's play of this semifinal, it was cricket and not the NCA XI that was the biggest winner.

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