The Hindu : Chemplast is champion again

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2003

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Sport - Cricket

Chemplast is champion again

By Our Sports Reporter

The Chemplast team which retained the trophy in the Moin-ud-Dowla cricket tournament in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

HYDERABAD SEPT. 9. It was the day of the Lord Ganesh idol immersion in the City. And the parade of the Cricket Association of Bengal batsmen at Gymkhana Grounds while chasing a modest target of 210 in 50 overs was similar to the procession on the streets. In the end, defending champion Chemplast retained the title with an emphatic 111-run win over CAB in the final of the All-India Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup cricket tournament here on Tuesday.

Batting first, Chemplast shrugged off a dismal start as its captain Sujith Somasunder was trapped on the shuffle off the fourth ball of the innings by Laxmi Ratan Shukla. It went on to post 209 for seven in 50 overs with Badrinath again top-scoring with a polished 42 (90b, 1x4).

Jai Prakash Yadav (31, 46b, 3x4) and J. Harish (38, 53b, 2x4, 1x6) too played their part though they failed to convert their starts into big knocks. In fact, most of the Chemplast top-order batsmen had only themselves to blame for playing some irresponsible strokes after getting their eye in.

Badrinath was bowled while trying to reverse sweep spinner Sourashish Lahiri. Yadav swung the same bowler straight to deep mid-on and Harish was involved in a suicidal run-out.

To the credit of the Bengal bowlers, they stuck to their task with Shukla (two for 30) and Lahiri (two for 47) being the main wicket-takers. The bowlers were backed up by some good fielding. That there were just 10 fours and two sixes in the Chemplast innings was enough proof of this.

When CAB began its chase, a contest was on the cards given that the team had successfully overhauled 252 against Associate Banks in the semifinals. But it was a different story today on a pitch that aided the seamers. The absence of frontline batsman Rohan Gavaskar (who left for the National camp in Bangalore on Monday evening) was a big setback for CAB. But then, Chemplast was also deprived of the services of internationals L. Balaji and Hemang Badani.

CAB had a disastrous start as mediumpacer T. Kumaran (not the one who represented India) bowled a lively spell, generating disconcerting bounce around the off-stump. None of the CAB batsmen had any clue against the swinging delivery and they were just swinging their bats.

CAB was reduced to 57 for five in the 20th over when left-arm spinner Ramkumar struck twice in one over, deceiving Das in flight to accept a simple return catch and luring A. Chakravarthy to drive straight to short-covers.

When Shukla, the last CAB hope was bowled neck-and-crop by Kumaran, the writing was on the wall and the team was bundled out for 98 in 37.2 overs with left-arm spinner Sreekumar Nair mopping up the tail to finish with three for 10.

The winner was richer by Rs. one lakh while the runner-up got Rs. 50,000. Mohan Kanda, Chief Secretary to Government of AP, gave away the prizes. M. Ranga Reddy, president of HCA, and N. Shivlal Yadav, secretary of HCA, were present at the function.

The scores (final): Chemplast 209 for seven in 50 overs (Badrinath 42, J.P. Yadav 31, J. Harish 38) beat Cricket Association of Bengal 98 in 37.2 overs (T. Kumaran three for 28, Sreekumar Nair three for 10).

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