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| The Hindu - Sep 12, 2000 |
| Chemplast lifts Moin-ud-Dowla cup |
| Cricket / Hemanth Kumar’s classy knock in vain
as |
| Paranjpe, Somasunder make merry in Chemplast’s
win |
| By our Sports Reporter |
| Hyderabad, Sept. 11. Chemplast handed out an object
lesson in the art of scoring runs as it recorded a remarkable seven-wicket
win over India Pistons in the final of the Coromandel King Moin-ud-Dowla
cricket tournament, at Gymkhana grounds here on Monday. |
| The belligerence of southpaw Jatin Paranjpe, who
notched up his second century in this edition hitting an unbeaten
115 (90 balls, 10x4, 6x6) and the superbly-paced unbeaten 97 (128
balls, 9x4, 3x6) by opener Sujith Somasunder was just what Chemplast
badly needed, chasing a huge target of 281 on a perfect batting strip. |
| No doubt, both thrived on the luck as India Pistons
fielding was sluggish. Somasunder was dropped by W.D. Balaji Rao off
Robin Singh very early in the innings and in Robin’s first ball of
the second spell Madanagopal dropped a simple chance at long-off off
Paranjpe when the score read 178 for three in 33rd over. |
| In the ultimate analysis that was the turning
point as Jatin took off from there and never looked back and launched
an onslaught with a series of amazing shots. He scored 21 runs off
one over from Muthupandian, including two huge sixes over mid-wicket. |
| The 27-year-old Paranjpe was clearly the dominant
partner in the 216-run stand for the fourth wicket. Sujith was not
too far behind in terms of stroke-play. He drove and pulled Shahbuddin
with disdain and was never hesitant to essay some brilliant inside-out
strokes. |
| That Chemplast could rally from a double blow
from medium-pacer Shahbuddin, who sent back Badrinath (3) caught at
first slip and previous match centurion Dinesh Mongia (0) in the same
manner, was a tribute to the domination of Somasunder and Paranjpe,
who joined hands when Chemplast was reduced to 67 for three in the
13th over. |
| That was the last success for India Pistons even
though Robin Singh, who had an economical spell of 10-0-48-0 when
the batsmen on the rampage, shuffled his bowlers, only in vain. The
biggest problem for India Pistons was its atrocious fielding, and
the wicket keeping of Vasudevan was substandard. It was a fitting
finale when Somasunder swung Balaji for a huge six over mid-wicket
to post the victory in 43.1 overs. |
| Earlier, when India Pistons batted it rode on
the brilliance of another quality southpaw from Chennai, Hemanth Kumar.
He chalked out an amazing 134 (126 balls, 10x4, 2x6) with a near flawless
display and was elegance personified, unlike the brute power of Paranjpe.
In the company of captain Robin Singh (44, 51 balls, 2x4), who was
content in playing the second fiddle, Hemanth put on 110 for the fifth
wicket in just 95 balls. |
| The Pistons essay was more discernible in the
art of compiling runs with emphasis on sharp singles and twos. Hemanth
picked left-arm spinner Dinesh Mongia for special treatment hitting
two sixes and pulled four in the mid-wicket region in one over. Both
Hemanth and Robin treated the bowling on merit and never really went
all out till the slog overs. But the cumulative effect was the same
in posting a challenging 280 for nine. Madanagopal (31, 54 balls,
1x4) put on 65 runs off 96 balls for the fourth wicket with Hemanth,
who was finally run-out, the only way to dismiss him, in the final
overs. It was sad that such a knock should end up on loser’s side.
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| For Chemplast, Veeranan (two for 34) chipped in
with vital breakthroughs, while off-spinner Ganesh Kumar was instrumental
in putting the brakes in the final overs. |
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The scores: India Pistons 280 for nine in 50 overs
(Madanagopal 31, Hemanth Kumar 134, Robin Singh 44) lost to Chemplast
283 for three in 43.1 overs (Ganesh Kumar 33, Sujith Somasunder 97
not out, Jatin Paranjpe 115 not out). |
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