The Hindu : Railways wins Irani Cup

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 03, 2002

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Railways wins Irani Cup

By Kirti Patil

NEW DELHI NOV. 2. The first-timer Railways lived dangerously, but stayed on the track to win the season-opener Irani Cup cricket match beating the `Rest of India' by five wickets, at the Karnail Singh Stadium here on Saturday.

The Ranji Trophy champion, Railways, broke the three-year winning streak of the `Rest of India' with its sheer determination, and now famous `team unity'.

"We have again shown that ours is a good unit. Individually our players may not qualify as stars but we have proved that our Ranji Trophy win was not a fluke," said the Railways captain, Abhay Sharma.

Railways have shown immense fighting spirit, both against the `Rest of India' here, and in Pune last week against the West Indies in a tour match.

"This is what it counts. We want to continue with our winning form, but probably it may put more pressure on us to do well this season as the expectations would be high," Abhay Sharma added.

Railways takes on Delhi in the Ranji season-opener here next week.

Railways planned its chase well, overhauling the challenging victory target of 243 runs by scoring 244 for five in 70.2 overs. Middle-order batsman Yere Goud stood solidly at one end while others also contributed, if not with big scores, but that was enough to carry the Railways home.

With this win, Railways became the first team after Karnataka to hold both the prestigious cups, the Ranji Trophy and the Irani Cup. Karnataka had done it in the 1998-98 season.

Goud survived some close chances, but overall he was in command of the situation--stylishly hitting the winning four off the leg-break bowler Timil Patel. He remained unbeaten on 87 after spending 233 minutes at the crease.

After a debatable caught-behind decision against Railways skipper Abhay Sharma, the responsibility fell on Yere Goud to salvage the situation. The `Rest of India' skipper, Yuveraj Singh, insisted with the pace-spin combination that bore fruits in the morning session.

Goud and Jacob Martin steadied the innings and occasionally punished the bad balls that kept them going. Martin was more experimental as he sorted out Delhi spinner Sarandeep Singh for special treatment. In his 42-ball 27 runs, Martin hit five boundaries before he departed in the same fashion as his captain. He compiled 41 runs for the fourth wicket with Goud.

But unlike Abhay Sharma, Martin walked out soon after the umpire raised his fingers. Nonetheless, he showed his disgust by stomping the bat in the ground. Abhay Sharma had stayed at the crease like a statue though the umpires declared the lunch break. Later, after small hearing, the Match-referee, S.K. Ghosh, warned Abhay Sharma for his behaviour.

Ali upsets Rest's plan

Now was the chance for Raja Ali, who so far has failed to impress, to get going. Raja Ali was more aggressive than Martin. The close-in fielders for Sarandeep, who bowled from the far end, put immense pressure as appeals were made on almost every ball Raja Ali defended.

Any more wickets at that juncture would have put Railways in trouble. Raja Ali then decided to attack by stepping out against Sarandeep Singh. In his 37-ball 29, Raja Ali stroked five fours and a six, sending the calculations of the `Rest of India' astray. That helped ease the pressure on Railways considerably.

In the meanwhile, Goud completed his half-century, off 93 balls including four fours and a six. Raja Ali's over-exuberance cost him his wicket as Yuveraj's move of replacing Sarandeep with Timil Patel helped.

As he pulled Sarandeep over the mid-off and mid-on region, he tried the same against Patel the move backfired. Substitute fielder Ambathi Rayudu completed a diving catch in the mid-on region.

But then it was 184 for five, still 59 runs behind the target. Shreyas Khanolkar, centurion against the West Indies, showed maturity and rotated the strike well and allowed set batsman Goud to make the strokes.

A confident Goud pulled Sarandeep for a six, drove Yuveraj to two successive fours and put the match beyond the `Rest of India's reach.

"We didn't bat well in the first innings and I think that made the difference," said the `Rest of India' captain Yuveraj Singh.

"We dropped some chances, and had we taken them the match would have become more interesting.

"Overall it was a good experience," he said adding that the `Rest of India' team should have had one left-arm spinner. "If we had a left-arm spinner in the team, we could have made the difference to the final result," Yuveraj said.

The scores:

Rest of India_1st innings: 266.

Railways_1st innings: 316.

Rest of India_2nd innings: 292.

Railways_2nd innings: J.P. Yadav lbw b Yohannan 25, Amit Pagnis c and b Sarandeep Singh 15, Abhay Sharma c Dahiya b Lahiri 30, Yere Goud (not out) 87, Jacob Martin c Dahiya b Yohannan 27, Raja Ali c (sub.) Ambathi Rayudu b Patel 29, Shreyas Khanolkar (not out) 18, Extras (b-3, lb-1, nb-3, w-6) 13, Total (for five wickets in 70.2 overs) 244.

Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-45, 3-98, 4-139, 5-184.

Rest of India bowling: Tinu Yohannan 19-5-56-2, Irfan Pathan 6-0-23-0, Sarandeep Singh 23-2-81-1, Timil Patel 9.2-1-32-1, S. Lahiri 10-1-29-1, Rohan Gavaskar 1-0-2-0, Yuveraj Singh 1-0-10-0, Akash Chopra 1-0-7-0.

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