Ends season with 4 titles
The Sanmar cricket team capped a splendid season by recapturing The Hindu Trophy after a lapse of 14 years. Earlier, the team won the all India Mumbai Cricket Association Corporate tournament in April 2006. Other national level triumphs this season have been the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup at Hyderabad and the Canara Bank trophy at Bangalore. We excerpt below newspaper coverage of the last two tournament victories.
An outstanding run-a-ball 89 by R Sathish helped Chemplast Sanmar, Chennai defeat Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Delhi by a comfortable margin of 42 runs in the final of the Corporate Shield cricket tournament at Wankhede Stadium, on 9 April, 2006. ONGC won the toss and elected to fi eld fi rst on a wicket that appeared green and seamer-friendly, when the day began. Sathish faced a toe-crusher off the very fi rst delivery and batted uncomfortably, with much pain, to help his team reach 250 runs. ‘‘It was diffi cult to play and I felt a lot of pain as I batted,’’ said the Man Of the Match. After being 70-5 at one stage, Chemplast appeared like they wouldn’t cross more than 175 runs. However, with Hemang Badani and Sathish’s 146-run partnership for sixth wicket, Chemplast were back in the game.
In reply, ONGC began well and could have easily won the match if not for some smart captaincy from Chemplast’s Ramkumar.
Although they looked in trouble at one stage, ONGC’s Rizwan Shamshad scored a quickfi re 45 to keep the hunt on. Along with wicket-keeper- batsman Ajay Ratra, they kept the scoring on and fast until spinners along with good fi elding helped Chemplast bounce back.
‘‘It was a team performance and everybody contributed towards the win,’’ said Ramkumar. The price money for the tournament was three and half lakh and was given away by former India captain Ajit Wadekar. Brief Scores: Chemplast Sanmar 250 for 9 (Sathish 89, Badani 57, Ramkumar 27, S Badrinath 24; Amit Bhandari 2- 46, Amit Sharma 2-48) beat ONGC 208 (Rizwan Shamshad 45, Ajay Ratra 32, Radhesham 37; J P Yadav 2-13, Ramkumar 2-47, Avinash 2-47, D Mongia 2-27).
Courtesy: The New Indian Express
Riding on opener V Subramania Siva’s splendid 90 and paceman Tinu Yohannan’s three-wicket burst with the new ball, Chemplast Sanmar romped home by 96 runs against India Pistons in the fi nal of The Hindu Trophy at the M A Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, on 20 April, 2006.
Pursuing a rather stiff target of 225 for victory under the lights, India Pistons ended with 128 for nine in 30 overs. Skipper Sadagopan Ramesh, who batted at No. 4, offered some resistance with an unbeaten 52 (74b, 4x4) but his team could not recover from an early collapse.
Yohannan and A Avinash bowled well at the beginning of the Pistons’ innings. Avinash prised out Jaffer Ashique Ali (2) with a delivery that bounced and left the right-hander. There was some movement for the pacemen because of the evening dew factor.
N Sankar, Chairman, N Kumar, Vice Chairman and Vijay Sankar, Deputy Chairman of The Sanmar Group with the cricket trophies won by Chemplast Sanmar this season.
Superb spell
Then Yohannan got into the act. The paceman, who moved the sphere away, had D Dandapani (5) pouched at first slip by Sujith Somasundar and uprooted V Devendran’s off-stump (9) when the batsman swung across the line.
To make matters worse for Pistons, R Sathish, who was adjudged the Man of the Series, sent back S Lakshmikumar (2) with a direct hit from point. And when Yohannan, whose first spell read 5-0-25-3, shifted his line well to have the left-handed Sunil Viswanathan (5) caught by Somasundar in the slip cordon, the contest was going to end only one way. Pistons was 48 for five after ten overs. Ramesh, fluent through the off-side, kept his end up, but received little support. For Chemplast, off-spinner J Ramdas (6-0-19-0) bowled tightly.
Crucial stand
Earlier, Chemplast, which elected to bat, gained momentum due to a second wicket partnership of 99 in 12.5 overs between Sportstar Man of the Match Siva (he received a cheque for Rs. 10,000) and skipper Hemang Badani (45, 41b, 2x4, 1x6).
Siva, who used his feet well, whipped paceman Devendran past the ropes, danced down to strike off-spinner M A Satish Kumar for a straight six and swung S Mahesh, sending down off-spin, over the square-leg fence.
Before he ‘walked’ after flashing at paceman M R Shrinivas - the best bowler in the Pistons’ attack - and nicking to the keeper, Siva (90, 75b, 8x4, 5x6) had put Chemplast well on the path to victory.
This was also an afternoon, when Pistons’ bowlers could not maintain discipline over length and line. They provided width and were taken to the cleaners by the Chemplast batsmen. N Ravi, Editor, The Hindu, was the chief guest. C R Vijayaraghavan, secretary, TNCA, and N Sankar, Chairman, The Sanmar Group, were present on the occasion.
The scores (final): Chemplast Sanmar 224 for six in 30 overs (Subramania Siva 90, Hemang Badani 45) bt India Pistons 128 for nine in 30 overs (S Ramesh 52 not out).
Courtesy: The Hindu
The IIT Sanmar cricket ground has played host
to some of the world’s leading cricket personalities
from time to time. We have featured many of them
in our pages in the past. Seen in this picture is
Brian Lara, one of the greatest batsmen in the
world and captain of the West Indies cricket team.