Honours even after pulsating finale

By Vijay Lokapally

LUCKNOW, DEC 21. In the end they all stood as equals. No winners and no losers as dusk descended on the K.D. Singh `Babu' Stadium and the South and Central teams exchanged warm handshakes, leaving the acrimony behind and celebrating the `tie' which brought the Deodhar Trophy tournament to a grand climax here.

South and Central, in keeping with the rules, were declared joint-winners, in hindsight a fair result, since neither team deserved to lose such a pulsating contest.

There was plenty to keep the goodly crowd in a trance and all credit to the players for producing a contest which brought the positive side of the game when it mattered. Credit to Central for setting a target of 299 after being put in and credit to South for nearly pulling it off with the help of a brave tail.

Central once again rode on the shoulders of skipper Amay Khurasiya who cracked a chancy 86 (74b, 7 x 4, 1 x 6) as South put up a shoddy fielding display. The target was stiff but Central too made similar mistakes and paid the penalty for complacency in the middle overs.

A brilliant 91 (103b, 6 x 4) by V.V.S. Laxman was the feature of South's thrilling chase, not to forget the efforts by Prasad Reddy (30, 29b, 4 x 4) and W.D. Balaji Rao (31, 20b, 4 x 4).

Tempers flared and gamesmanship crept in, with Central taking time to bowl the last over - it lasted 15 minutes. But there was sportsmanship too when Mohammad Kaif did a `Walsh' and did not run out Venkatapathy Raju for backing too far. Raju responded with a `Thank You'' and the game continued in the right spirit. The young Kaif symbolised the spirit of the Central team by keeping his nerves even as South prayed for that one precious run which mattered so much.

It was eleven runs from the last over. The fielders stood in hope, the batsmen too in hope. Raju on strike. It might have looked easy on any other day but Raju just clobbered Kaif for a straight six. Balaji Rao snapped at Kaif for delaying, the bowler too responded and umpire Devendra Sharma stepped in. It added to the excitement.

Raju stood grimly, determined to pull it off, but all he managed was a tame push back the track and Kaif swooped in a flash, turned and hit the stumps with the batsman scrambling desperately. As the umpire raised his finger, the Central players burst into celebrations. They had not lost the match. South too realised that a `tie' was their destiny after some poor play in the morning and afternoon. It was only late in the day that it came back into the reckoning.

The bowlers showed the way for South when the chase entered the final stage. The asking rate had been stiff most of the middle overs after the South top order had faltered. It was the motivating partnership between Laxman and Reddy which set the tone and there was some brilliant response from Balaji and Raju which carried the match to a last-ball finish.

Central had the match nicely wrapped up when it snared Robin Singh, the most crucial wicket, given the Tamil Nadu cricketer's reselience. But Laxman swung the game in company of Reddy and at one stage Central seemed to have given up. But one tight over from Murali Kartik evened the equation and the spectators loved every moment of it, cheering both the teams.

Central had done well to recover from the early loss of Jai Prakash Yadav but two costly lapses by South gave Khurasiya the stage to thrive. On one, Khurasiya saw Vijay Bharadwaj drop a sitter at square-leg off Thiru Kumaran and at 56 Arun Kumar grassed him at long-off off Balaji. These chances apart, Khurasiya batted with a purpose before patting the ball back.

Some sensible batting by Gagan Khoda, Kaif and Raja Ali kept the momentum and South caved in gradually. The fielding suffered and the team ended up facing a stiff task in the second half of the match. Rarely had a South team fielded so poorly.

South also never got the start it desired. Arun Kumar was scrappy and Amit Pathak ran himself out after looking good. The move to promote Dodda Ganesh failed and when S. Sharath succumbed to the pressure, it was left to Bharadwaj to make up for his fielding lapse.

But the Karnataka batsman ran himself out, a good decision by umpire M.S. Mahal. Robin walked in to thunderous applause but failed for the first time, beaten by the turn. Central was now firmly in sight of a victory.

South hit back through Laxman and the gutsy Reddy, who actually triggered off the revival with a flurry of boundaries behind the stumps. Laxman fell in forcing the pace, driving straight to covers, and Kumaran was run out when sent back by Reddy. When Central claimed Reddy, run out, South was 41 runs away from win with four overs to spare.

Balaji swung his bat and Raju supported him by running like a hare. They sweated and panted and fought on but Central was not to be beaten. Not much separated the teams and it was aptly reflected in the result.

The scores:

Central: J.P. Yadav lbw b Ganesh 10, Rahul Kanwat c Reddy b Kumaran 13, Amay Khurasiya c and b Bharadwaj 86, Gagan Khoda st. Reddy b Raju 34, Mohammad Kaif c Laxman b Kumaran 41, Raja Ali c Reddy b Robin 41, Devendra Bundela (not out) 27, Ankit Srivastava (run out) 12, Murali Kartik c and b Ganesh 0, Zakir Hussain (not out) 0, Extras (b-7, lb-9, nb-4, w-14) 34, Total (for eight wkts in 50 overs) 298.

Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-57, 3-149, 4- 177, 5-246, 6-268, 7-293, 8-296.

South bowling: Ganesh 10-0-53-2, Kumaran 9-0-42-2, Bharadwaj 6-0- 42-1, Robin 8-0-47-1, Raju 9-0-52-1, Balaji Rao 9-0-46-0.

South: Arun Kumar c Kanwat b Zakir 21, Amit Pathak (run out) 47, D. Ganesh b Shalabh 0, V.V.S. Laxman c Khurasiya b Kartik 91, S. Sharath c and b Kartik 31, Vijay Bharadwaj (run out) 6, Robin Singh st. Ankit Srivastava b Kaif 15, Prasad Reddy (run out) 30, T. Kumaran (run out) 0, Balaji Rao (not out) 31, Venkatapathy Raju (run out) 10, Extras (b-1, lb-7, nb-3, w-5) 16, Total (all out in 50 overs) 298.

Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-52, 3-98, 4- 157, 5-175, 6-198, 7-254, 8-255, 9-258.

Central bowling: Zakir 7-0-44-1, Shalabh Srivastava 10-0-61-1, Kartik 10-0-58-2, Yadav 8-0-58-0, Kanwat 10-0-38-0, Kaif 5-0-31- 1.

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