India Cements posted their second successive victory in the Moin-ud-Dowla Cup, beating Indian Airlines by 15 runs at the Gymkhana groundin Hyderabad today
Sankhya Krishnan05-Sep-2000India Cements posted their second successive victory in the Moin-ud-Dowla Cup, beating Indian Airlines by 15 runs at the Gymkhana groundin Hyderabad today. A solid 67 by Tamil Nadu Ranji star S Sharathbolstered Cements to 214/8 in 50 overs. New ball bowler MR Shrinivasthen scalped 4/33 to send Airlines crumbling to 195 all out with fiveovers to spare, a gallant 87 (98 balls, 9 fours, 1 six) by HyderabadRanji player Youraj Singh going in vain.In the morning, Cements weathered a strong Airlines attack comprisingJavagal Srinath, Dodda Ganesh, Nikhil Chopra and Sarandeep Singh.Ganesh (3/43) took out the top three to leave Cements on the backfootat 45/3. Sharath was then associated in three useful stands withGeorge John, Sunil Oasis and J Gokulakrishnan. When he fell for 67(106 balls, 1 four, 1 six) in the 44th over, he had conferred a toneof respectability to the innings and the tail helped inch the score to214 before the overs ran out.Airlines had a horror start losing J Arun Kumar, skipper Vijay Dahiyaand star batsman VVS Laxman in the first nine balls of the inningswith just two runs on the board. Opening bowlers Shrinivas nadGokulakrishnan had done the damage and that Airlines finally reached195 was due entirely to the efforts of Youraj Singh.Although he lost Omkar Singh at 41, Saif Khan (39) gave him companyfor more than 17 overs as they added 94 for the fifth wicket in astirring fightback. After Khan departed at 135, next man Chopra alsodid his bit with 24. Srinath was run out at 170 and Sarandeep waseighth out at 187 in the 43rd over. One run later Youraj was dismissedby Jesu Babu and that spelt an end to Airlines’ resistance as theyfolded up for 195.
