The Coromandel Cement Cup semifinal between KSCA XI and Chemplast XI is poised for an interesting finish. By stumps on the second day of the match at the RSI ground in Bangalore on Friday, KSCA XI had taken a first innings lead of 16 runs and in their second innings, after two overs, had not opened their account.

With KSCA XI having made 365 for nine in the allotted 90 overs on Thursday, the onus was on Chemplast to make a fitting reply in their first innings. Openers Sujith Somasundar and Ganesh Kumar (43) gave them a sound start putting on 86 runs off 20.4 overs. Ganesh Kumar then left after having faced 66 balls and hitting three boundaries. S Badrinath joined Somasundar and the two shared a second wicket partnership of 112 runs off 35.2 overs. Somasunder was heading towards a hundred when he was out for 92. He faced 169 balls and hit 12 fours. Aditya Srikkanth then joined Badrinath and they increased the score by 73 runs during a third wicket association that lasted 17 overs.

At 271 for two in the 73rd over, Chemplast were in a strong position. At this stage, Aditya, son of former Indian captain K Srikkanth was bowled by David Johnson for a bright 43. He faced 56 balls and hit four fours and two sixes. Now KSCA XI came back into the match. Johnson and off spinner Vadeyaraj got among the wickets to effect a middle order collapse as Chemplast slid to 288 for six. Badrinath however stood firm and he found an able ally in J Hariesh (31) with whom he added 51 runs for the seventh wicket off 7.3 overs. Badrinath who had come in the 21st over, was finally out in the 87th over after scoring 102. He faced 187 balls hitting seven fours and two sixes. Sunil Joshi them came on to polish off the tail and Chemplast were all out for 349 in 89.3 overs. Vadeyaraj was the most successful bowler with four for 71 while Johnson had three for 94 off 16 overs. Joshi finished with two for 51. Play was halted due to bad light at 11.48 and resumed after lunch. Play was again stopped due to rain at 2 pm and resumed after six minutes.

Pistons-Roofit clash interestingly poised

Despite posting a healthy score of 295 in their first innings on Thursday, India Pistons found themselves on the back foot at the end of the second day's play in their semi-final clash against Roofit XI at MJWSC ground in Bangalore. The Mumbai side notched up 331 all out in 78.3 overs, earning a first innings lead of 36 runs.

It was the quick batting of Baroda opening batsman Satyajit Parab that set the ball rolling. Scoring an 82-ball 83 (15 boundaries), Parab was involved in a second wicket partnership of 95 with Mumbai southpaw Jatin Paranjpe. Striking the ball well, the skipper of the Roofit side, Paranjpe, made 76 (118 balls, 13 fours). Hrishesh Kanitkar's sedate 46 in the middle order helped the Roofit side get past the India Pistons total. In the 79th over of the innings, Roofit XI were dismissed for 331.

In the India Pistons second innings, Reetinder Sodhi followed up his first innings duck with another failure. The Punjab all-rounder made just 4 before being sent back by Gujarat seamer Rakesh Patel. S Mahesh, promoted up the order was unbeaten on 23 and Hemanth Kumar had 32 to his name when the second day's play ended. India Pistons were 64/1 in 11 overs and now lead by 28 runs. The second innings is restricted to 40 overs a side.

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