Karnataka regains Ghulam Ahmed Trophy

By Our Sports Reporter

KOCHI, OCT. 16. Karnataka regained the Ghulam Ahmed Trophy, the symbol of supremacy in South Zone under-19 cricket, in style on Monday. It defeated host Kerala by 173 runs in its last league match at the Ambalamugal KRL Oval and took the title after a seven-year break.

For a side which missed the inter-zone bus by just one point last year, it was a happy bounce-back. The team was a clear winner (32 points) and qualified for the forthcoming Cooch Behar Trophy without much fuss.

For a major part, Karnataka's wealth of talent flowered at just the right time this season with Dharmichand Mulewa, a 16-year-old who hails from Rajasthan, clearly being the champion's most valuable player. The off-spinner topped the bowlers' chart by taking 36 wickets, including two 11-wicket hauls, against Tamil Nadu and Goa, and a nine-wicket bag against Kerala here.

In fact, off-spinners accounted for 18 of the 20 Kerala wickets that fell in the match here and 16 of them were shared by two boys - Dharmichand and S. Santosh Kumar. And in Kerala's second innings, Santosh, playing in only his second match in the event, picked six wickets while Dharmichand had four.

For Kerala, R. Sujith (39, 23b, 6 x 4, 2 x 6) was the only player who crossed 20 in its second innings as the team was bundled out for a paltry 126 this afternoon. Sujith was the top scorer in the first innings also. With six points, the host shared the last spot with Goa in the six-team league.

``The match against Hyderabad early this month was the turning point,'' said the Karnataka coach Kamal Tandon soon after the South Zone victory. ``From 147 for six, the team moved past Hyderabad's 302 to take the first innings lead. Vamsy Krishna, playing with five stitches on his left hand, was our hero then with a valiant 73. And the outright victory over Tamil Nadu gave us a lot of confidence,'' added Kamal.

The side was fortunate to unearth similar heroes during the course of the tournament, including Deepak Chougule (97 v T.N.), Stuart Binny (96 v Kerala), H.T. Sudhir Rao (101 v Goa) and left- arm seamer Steve Lazarus (19 wickets overall).

A majority of the boys are under 17. ``Surely, you'll hear a lot about them in the future,'' said G.N.R. Maanay, the champion's manager.

The scores: Karnataka 204 and 246 all out in 70.5 overs (H.T. Sudhir Rao 33, Stuart Binny 96, Keerthi Vishnu Bhat 29, S. Suraj three for 27) bt Kerala 151 and 126 all out in 34.3 overs (R. Sujith 39, S. Santosh Kumar six for 32, Dharmichand Mulewa four for 64).

The Karnataka team which regained the Ghulam Ahmed Trophy in Kochi on Monday.

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