Date:07/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/07/stories/2008070760312000.htm

Sport - Cricket

IOC wins title in a thriller

Sports Reporter

Chennai: Paresh Patel’s heroic, unbeaten 59 (48b, 7x4, 1x6) sealed a dramatic one-wicket win for Indian Oil Corporation against Chemplast Sanmar ‘B’ here on Sunday in the ICICI-YSCA cricket Trophy final, with one ball to spare.

A green light on the scoreboard signalled IOC’s win, the third umpire ruling that Patel had beaten short-fine leg’s throw. Last man B.S. Sandhu played the winning leg glance, and shared a 22-run stand with the left-handed Patel.

Chasing 185 to win in 30 overs, IOC had been reduced to 91 for seven when Patel and fellow left-arm spinner Gaurav Jathar, who had earlier shared five wickets, came together.

Patel counter-attacked immediately, smiting off-spinner Huzefa M. Patel straight for four and cutting him the next ball for another. Jathar slog swept Ramkumar for a boundary in the next over.

Vidyut strikes

Combining aggressive strokeplay with hard running, the pair put on 70 in just 57 balls, until S. Vidyut broke through.

Reintroduced in the 27th over, he got the first ball to bounce sharply at Jathar, whose top-edged pull ended up in R. Raghuram’s hands at point. His 23-ball 28 suddenly looked like a good effort in a lost cause, more so after Anand Rajan was run out in the very next over. Nine down for 163 and 22 to get.

Patel swung it back in the Mumbai team’s favour immediately, hitting Raghuram over his head for four, refusing a single to the off-side sweeper the next ball, and then clouting a six and another four down the ground. That brought the deficit down to eight, and Sandhu’s calm and Patel’s last-gasp dash, saw IOC through.

Earlier, Chemplast made 184 in its 30 overs losing seven wickets. Vidyut made 74 off 66 balls, with 10 fours. Ajay Kudua made 30 and Petson Matthews an entertaining 22 with a hooked six off Sandhu. Dr. G. Natarajan, Joint Secretary, TNCA, gave away the trophy.

The scores: Chemplast Sanmar ‘B’ 184 for seven in 30 overs (S. Vidyut 74) lost to IOC (Mumbai) 185 for nine in 29.5 overs (Paresh Patel 59, Harshad Khadiwala 45).