BHOPAL, 9 March 2007 — Guts, gumption and self-confidence coupled with will to succeed saw Hyderabad Cricket Association, (HCA), squeeze past favorites Sonnet Club of Delhi into the final of Reliance Trophy 32nd All-India Iftekhar Memorial Cricket Tournament at the historic Bab-e-Aali Stadium here on Tuesday.
In a nail-biting finish HCA elbowed out Sonnet Club by one wicket on the penultimate ball of the last over of 40-over-each-a-side semifinal match.
The spectators remained glued to their seats till the very end as none was sure as to which way the match would ultimately go. M. P. Arjun slammed a boundary on the fifth ball of the last over past the bowler Akhand Rathore in the long region to the glee of his teammates when HCA needed only one run for victory with only wicket in hand as the two teams were then tied at 282.
The Hyderabad cricketers will now meet Indian Airlines in the final for Rs.111,000 winners’ prize money and the coveted Reliance Trophy. The runners-up team will get Rs. 55,000.
The self-belief of Abdul Azim, coach of HCA, who had claimed yesterday after his team had brushed aside the challenge of North Central Railway, Jhansi that his team would field first and chase target in the semifinal as he has got batting down till No. 11, came true.
In the absorbing semifinal Amool Shinde of HCA was adjudged Man of the Match for his all-round performance with ball and bat both. First he took two wickets for 42 runs then scored 39 valuable runs in 40 deliveries with the help of two boundaries at a crucial juncture. Shinde was involved in a match saving partnership with Anup Pai of 76 for the sixth wicket after their prolific scorer and captain Anirudh Singh and Rohit Sabharwal, who were in full flow clobbering the Sonnet bowlers at will, were both back in the dressing room in the 19th over of the innings with scoreboard 148 for five 18.4 overs.
Pai made 60 in 55 balls with five boundaries to his credit.
After HCA lost three quick wickets for 51 runs in 7.4 overs Arvind joined Sabharwal at the fall of opener T. Suman, who had contributed quickfire 34 in 20 balls, and the two continued to score in the same vein collecting nine or more runs per over in order to keep the required run rate of 7.07 runs per over in check to achieve the target of 283 runs set by Sonnet Club.
However, their onward whirlwind march was hampered by an unfortunate run out of Anirudh Singh in the 19th over when he was well set in the groove and had put Sonnet bowlers on leather hunt. On the first ball of 19th over Anirudh cut the ball to short third man region and set out for a single but Sabharwal at the other end seeing the ball fielded send back Anirudh.
However, it was too late as Anirudh could not regain crease from the middle of pitch and wicketkeeper whipped the bails following throw from Yogesh Nagar. Anirudh made 69 in in just 38 balls aided with nine hits to the ropes and three over it. Three balls later in the same 19th over Sabherwal also walked back to pavilion when he was clean bowled by Niraj Tiwari for 30 in 26 deliveries containing five boundaries. Kartar Singh of Sonnet Club was the chief wrecker as he claimed four wickets for 51 runs in his quota of eight overs. Yogesh Nagar and Niraj Tiwari picked a brace each.
Earlier, put in to bat Sonnet Club scored 282 for eight in their allotted 40 overs. The highlight of the innings was the century of Sunny Singh who made 109 in only 77 balls laced with 10 hits to the fence and three over it. However, his century went in vain. The other main contributors were Ankit Tiwari (58 in 41 balls; 10x4) and Rahul Diwan (57 in 66 balls; 5x4s).
Alfred Albosam, MP Arjun, and Amool Shinde took two wickets each while Indrashekhar Reddy and Ahmed Qadri one apiece for HCA. UK Samal, chairman of Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education, was chief guest whileRenu Challu, Chief General Manager State Bank of India, Madhya Pradesh Circle, was guest of honor at the prize distribution function in the evening. Bhopal Divisional Cricket Association, (BDCA) secretary Dr Shafquat Mohammad Khan, vice president Aruneshwar Singhdeo, organizing secretary Hamidullah Khan ‘Mamu’, Reliance State coordinator Dhananjay Singh, Junaid Kidwai, Shaiquddin, Asif Khan of AH Builders, Paramjit Singh and others were present at the prize distribution function ceremony.
