It was sweet revenge for Chemplast who trounced India Pistons by seven
wickets in the final of the Moin ud Dowlah Cup in Hyderabad today
Sankhya Krishnan11-Sep-2000It was sweet revenge for Chemplast who trounced India Pistons by seven
wickets in the final of the Moin ud Dowlah Cup in Hyderabad today. A
mammoth undefeated stand of 217 between Jatin Paranjpe and Sujith
Somasundar helped Chemplast make light of a target of 281 to canter
home with almost seven overs to spare in what finally transpired to be
a ridiculously one-sided affair.JR Madanagopal added another sorry episode to his past with another
fateful dropped catch to let off another Mumbaikar. A dolly miss at
long off from the bowling of Robin Singh relieved Paranjpe, then on 63
out of a total of 177, who had already turned towards the pavilion, in
all preparedness to walk off. Robin fumed, Madanagopal squirmed but
Chemplast just laughed all the way to the bank.It was not all hunky-dory for the victors in the morning after the
left-handed Hemanth Kumar pillaged a bustling century to lift Pistons
to an imposing 280/9. Yet to play in a first class match, Hemanth
surely on the evidence of his showing here, is just weeks away from
being blooded by Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy this season.The match started on the hallowed lawns of the Gymkhana Ground on
whose precincts the first edition of the Moin ud Dowlah Cup had kicked
off in the season of 1930-31. In that year such exalted personages as
Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe opened the batting for the
Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram’s XI and a few years later the West
Indian Learie Constantine gave a well rounded account of his multiple
talents.Just outside the main entrance there is a plaque which pompously
announces the structure beyond as the Hyderabad Cricket Association
Stadium. Well, stadium it may not be but the ground still retains a
picturesque charm, surrounded on three sides by wide open spaces such
as the Parade Ground, the Polo Ground and a Hockey Ground, and the
panoramic view from what masquerades as a press box is a real steal.From 70/3, Hemanth and Madanagopal added 65 for the fourth wicket,
the two looking in control and firmly milking the singles with five
men stationed on the boundary. Then Madanagopal played a foolhardy
shot against the grain of play, lofting the ball in the air knowing
full well there was a fielder at sweeper cover. Robin walked in at
135/4 and was warned for running onto the wicket almost immediately.
He put that behind him and added a brisk 110 for the fifth wicket with
Hemanth. The latter grew more innovative in his stroke play in Robin’s
reassuring company, stepping two inches outside off stump and
persuading the ball away on the leg side on more than one occasion.All hell broke loose in the 44th over bowled by Dinesh Mongia, which
went for 20 runs including two sixes over midwicket, Hemanth moving
from 90 to 110 in the space of five balls. Soon after, Robin holed out
for 44 (51 balls, 2 fours) to deep midwicket just after being
cautioned a second time for trespassing onto the pitch. The score at
that point was 245 but Hemanth coaxed another 30 runs in the company
of the tail, audaciously running byes more than once when the ball had
been collected by the keeper. When he was run out from the last ball
of the innings, he had accumulated an effortless 134 (126 balls, 10
fours, 2 sixes). Veeranan had the best figures among some badly mauled
analysis, taking 2/34 from seven overs, but Ganesh Kumar had done a
fine job too, bowling ten overs on the trot in the middle overs for a
measly 37, without taking a wicket.Having beaten Chemplast by eight wickets in the final of the KSCA
Diamond Jubilee tournament a few weeks ago, Pistons must have
experienced a feeling of deja vu at this point. Sujit Somasundar and
Ganesh Kumar kept them on their toes with some fairly frenetic running
as the 50 came up in 40 minutes inside eight overs. Ganesh Kumar was
the more adventurous of the two, once picking Shahabuddin over
midwicket for six.In the 11th over, Shahabuddin, who plays his cricket for Andhra in the
Ranji Trophy, had Ganesh caught behind by the keeper Vasudevan. And
three runs later, in his next over, the disappointing Badrinath was
consumed by first slip. Dinesh Mongia walked in with a weight of
responsibility on his shoulders. Flailing wildly at one outside off
stump, he was snapped up by Vasudevan for a fourth ball duck to
complete a double wicket maiden for Shahabuddin, who had scalped three
wickets in eight balls at this stage. Mongia’s fall must have sent
panic waves through the Chemplast dressing room and at 67/3, Pistons
would have been licking their lips in anticipation of the kill, which
had been well fattened up.They had reckoned without one Jatin Paranjpe. He signalled his
intentions immediately by picking on R Satish, who had replaced
Shahabuddin from the Plaza end, for three boundaries in his first
over. Railways leg spinner WD Balaji Rao was generating good nip and
bounce off the wicket with an action that exuded vitality but he
contrived to floor a return catch offered by Paranjpe with the batsman
on 44. To be sure, the ball was fiercely driven back at him and Rao
could not close his fingers around the ball in a one-handed parry.To add injury to insult, he went off the field to receive treatment on
his finger. Then followed the kindergarten miss by Madanagopal and a
frustrated Robin bowled a rank bouncer off the last ball of the over,
promptly called no ball. Indeed the bowling and fielding completely
went to pieces in the end, with wides, no balls, byes, even a beamer
from Shahabudin, and fumbles in the field abounding.Just outside the ground a group of 64 city probables were limbering up
for their forthcoming Under 19 tournament and Paranjpe scattered them
with two clean hits over midwicket that landed in their midst, almost
decapitating one unfortunate lad. He hit 21 off the over, the 36th, by
Muthupandian and brought up his 100 off 81 balls with his fifth six,
also in the same trademark fashion, this time off Balaji Rao.If Somasundar has been ignored for much of this chronicle, the
oversight can be rectified here and now. Having accumulated his runs
with stealth, Somasundar finally abandoned such a covert, even
insidious, manner of run making for some more unabashed hitting. When
Rao tossed one up, he obligingly hit him over wide long off to enter
the nineties. Robin finally invited Hemanth for a bowl in a gesture of
surrender. He bowled a short one that sat up and beseeched to be hit,
Somasundar carted it way out of the ground to end the mismatch of a
contest and take his individual score to 97 (129 balls, 9 fours and 3
sixes). For his part Paranjpe had settled at a personal tally of 115
(91 balls, 10 fours and 6 sixes).That brought down the curtain on a curious tournament in which neither
last year’s winner MRF, nor runner-up, ONGC took part. The Moin ud
Dowlah Cup was presented to Chemlpast captain D Vasu who promptly
raised it over his head with a violent gesture, only to watch in
embarrassment as the cup rolled off its pedestal and plummeted to the
ground. But that was a minor and easily forgiven blemish in what was
otherwise a moment to savour for him and the entire Chemplast team.
