Robin Singh guides South home

By Vijay Lokapally

KANPUR, DEC. 15. His fan following increases by the day even though the National selectors, not one of them present here, look the other way when it comes to giving Robin Singh a fair deal.

Ousted from the Indian team despite showing great commitment, this all-rounder from Tamil Nadu produced a matchwinning reminder which should put his detractors to shame as he guided South Zone to a win over East in a tight finish at the Green Park.

South won the Deodhar Trophy quarterfinal by seven wickets and an over to spare to set up a clash with formidable North, which also happens to be the defending champion, on Sunday.

There were quite a few distinguished performers in this contest with Bengal's hard-hitting Devang Gandhi slamming a century which gave East such high hopes. The excellent knock by Gandhi formed the base for East even as Rohan Gavaskar came up with a workmanlike innings against a team which almost paid dearly for its complacency.

Set a target of 274 in 49 overs, South was off to a breezy start with Karnataka's J. Arun Kumar, a compulsive strokeplayer, in superb nick and Amit Pathak of Andhra matching his partner's instinct to attack. Their 160-run opening partnership created the right scenario even though the chase became tense with Robin required to play one of his characteristic cameos. His significant charge may have saved South the blushes today as East threatened to shut the opposition out.

East lacked the bite in its attack and suffered due to the erratic spells by seamers Debasis Mohanty and P. Jayachandra. The fielding was a let down with a reprieve to Pathak at 17 in the team's total of 33 being a sore point. The drive off Jayachandra was spilled by Rashmi Ranjan Parida who juggled with the ball at mid-on. When S. Sharath fell slashing the ball South was not out of the woods yet. At this stage Robin walked in and soon set about scattering the field with his robust strokeplay and eventually snatched the match away from East.

Robin's was a well-paced effort, guided by the basic need of not losing the wicket. He had a patient V. V. S. Laxman for company and Robin read the situation astutely enough to leave his mark on the contest.

Gandhi was the star for East, even though his innings included three let-off - at one by Laxman in the slips off Dodda Ganesh and twice by wicketkeeper Prasad Reddy, who grassed a sharp chance each off Venkatapathy Raju and Vijay Bharadwaj, the former commanding respect with his innovative spells. lThe scores: East: S. S. Das lbw b Kumaran 13, Nikhil Haldipur c Pathak b Kumaran 16, Devang Gandhi c Ganesh b Raju 108, R. R. Parida c Sharath b Raju 26, Rohan Gavaskar c and b Ganesh 58, P. Jayachandra c Kumaran b Ganesh 8, M. S. Dhoni (not out) 3, Sanjay Raul c Sharath b Ganesh 0, Utpal Chatterjee (not out) 1, Extras (b-4, lb-8, nb-5, w-23) 40, Total (for seven wkts in 50 overs) 273.

Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-42, 3-111, 4- 233, 5-255, 6-269, 7-271.

South bowling: Doda Ganesh 9-0-34-3, T. Kumaran 9-0-50-2, Venkatapathy Raju 10-0-40-2, Robin Singh 4-0-28-0, W. D. Balaji Rao 9-0-56-0, Vijay Bharadwaj 9-0-53-0.

South: J. Arun Kumar c Chatterjee b Gandhi 89, Amit Pathak c Das b Gandhi 66, V. V. S. Laxman (not out) 32, S. Sharath c Dhoni b Jayachandra 11, Robin Singh (not out) 63, Extras (b-4, lb-5, nb- 5, w-2) 16, Total (for three wkts in 48 overs) 277.

Fall of wickets: 1-160, 2-167, 3-190.

East bowling: Debasis Mahanty 10-0-52-0, P. Jayachandra 10-0-51- 1, Utpal Chatterjee 10-0-58-0, Sanjay Satpathy 6-0-33-0, Sanjay Raul 5-0-36-0, Devang Gandhi 7-0-38-2.

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