by The national OD tournament in India is currently in progress,
getting little or no attention with India playing Pakistan
at the same time (proves just how silly it was to not postpone
this tournament by a week - it is a straight knockout, and
if it could have been pushed back a week we could have seen
the national stars play in it, and there would have been lots
of attention and good crowds, probably). The tournament began
with 10 teams - 2 from each zone qualified after the zonal
tournament - and is now down to the Final Four, with the
tournament already having seen its share of big upsets.
Pre-Quarters, Karnataka vs Orissa:
First game of the tournament - 2 teams (Bombay and Bengal), last
years winner and runnerup, get byes into the quarters this
season, and this was one of two pre-quarters, the winner to
take on Bombay.
Karnataka batted first on a nice easy Brabourne track - and in
retrospect started too slowly, not taking full advantage of the
first 15 overs of restrictions. They progressed to only 67/1 by
the end of the first 15 (Uthappa 32 off 42). Rowland was
the other opener, and he was joined by captain J Arun Kumar,
and they stepped it up considerably - 153 run stand in just
over 25 overs. Rowland made a century, 104 off 123 balls; and
Arun Kumar 77 off 76 balls. Stuart Binny hit 35 off 18 balls
at the end, and Karnataka pushed up to 284/9 by the end, which
appeared a pretty good total.
It only appeared so, however, until Orissa came in to bat - the
2 openers Shiv Sundar Das and BBCC Mohapatra demonstrated just
how good the pitch was to bat on. BBCC hammered Dodda Ganesh
for three sixes in his second over alone! With these two
Orissa reached 50/0 after *four* overs!
BBCC fell immediately on reaching 50 - 50 in 26 balls with 5
fours and 2 sixes, and Orissa were 89/1 in 8.3 overs and the
asking rate was already well under 5/over. Rashmi Ranjan Parida
joined Das, and they continued on - Das hit 82* off 66 balls
before collapsing in the middle with cramps (it is very hot
in Bombay, just as it is around the country). By this time
Orissa were already 170/1 at a very fast clip however, and set
up perfectly. The retd-hurt led to a small side, with 3 wickets
going down quicly - but that still left Orissa 211/4 in 33
overs, needing only 73 in 17 overs. The 5th wicket pair promptly
put on 74 in 12 overs, and Orissa had cruised to a big upset-win
with 6 wickets in hand and almost 5 full overs to spare!
The pace bowlers were slaughtered on this pitch - Ganesh had
7 overs for 63, and "Speedster Winner" from a year ago NSC
Aiyappa had 6 overs for 55, neither getting a wicket. The only
good figures were from offie Raghu - who had 2/35 in 10 overs
in the middle of the innings and gave Karnataka a chance. But
a big upset on the first day of the tournament itself - Orissa
are a second division team that failed to progress to the first
division this season and so will remain a second division outfit
next year, and Karnataka was clearly fancied to beat them
handily and take on Bombay in the big QF game.
Quarters, Bombay vs Orissa:
Orissa's reward for upsetting Karnataka was to take on Bombay
the next day, this time at the ***hede - a pitch not quite as
flat traditionally as the Brabourne. It turned out to be a solid
effort from Bombay overall, with an excellent show by captain
Sairaj Bahutule.
Orissa won the toss and put Bombay in, Bombay opening with Jaffer
and OD keeper Manish Bangera (Bombay has left out Mane from the
OD squad, going with the keeper as opener instead). There was
a solid opening partnership of 74 before Bangera fell for 31.
Then Jaffer and Muzumdar pushed on - Jaffer got 50, Muzumdar
top-scored with 65 (off 86 balls). This set the stage for
the late *** - Vinit Indulkar, who had come in at 151/3,
ended with 62* off 56 balls by the end. And skipper Bahutule,
coming in with exactly 10 overs left, hit 42* off 27 balls,
as Bombay added 86 without losing a wicket in the last 10
overs to end at 289/4 off 50 overs.
Chasing only 6 runs more than against Karnataka (but on a
different pitch), Orissa found the going much more difficult
this time. The openers who had led the way in the previous
match both failed - BBCC Mahapatra caught behind off Usman
Malvi for 1, and SS Das caught behind off Avishkar Salvi for
9, and Orissa were 17/2. Wilkin Mota chipped in by getting
Rashmi Parida and Sanjay Raul - both also caught behind.
And then Bahutule took over with Nilesh Kulkarni bowling
in tandem - Bahutule bowled 8 overs, claiming 5/25, while
Kulkarni had a ***rdly spell of 7 overs, 1/12 at the
other end. Orisa folded for 131 allout in 33 overs, to lose
by 158 runs - a disappointing collapse by them after their
fine show against Karnataka.
Bahutule was clearly the star of the day, with 42* off 27
and 5/25 to followup. But overall a quite solid performance
by Bombay, with contributions with the bat from most players.
And a fine showing by keeper Manish Bangera (who is yet to
play a first-class game) - 31 with the bat to open the
innings, and 5 victims with the gloves (4 catches and 1
stumping).
Pre-quarters, Delhi vs Railways:
The first game at the ***hede, and a clash between the two
rival teams based in the same city. Railways has clearly been
the less hyped home team, but has now pipped Delhi twice in
the same year - edging them in the last game for the final
semifinal spot in the same group (and then going on and
claiming the Ranji title), and now in the OD tournament.
Another fine allround performance from JP Yadav to boot.
Delhi won the toss and batted first, looking to set a big
target - opening with test-opener Gautam Gambhir and Mithun
Manhas. 11 runs came off the first 8 balls, and there were
few alarms - but then Gambhir was caught by Bangar off Harvinder
for 8. Manhas hit a couple more boundaries, and 23 had come
in 3.5 overs as Delhi still tried to score fast early and set
up a big target - when Rajat Gupta fell to Harvinder as well.
And then the game changed completely - Manhas fell to JP Yadav,
Telhan to Yadav two overs later after only 1 run had been
added (as Delhi were now trying to defend everything), and Varun
Kumar the over after that to Harvinder. Delhi had slid to
27/5 and in deep trouble, with all the old plans going out
the window.
side before Bhatia fell for 46. Jadeja continued on his
way, sheparding the tail and pushing the scoring-rate up a
bit near the end - and finally fell on the very last ball of
the innings attempting to reach his century, but instead being
caught by Pagnis off Harvinder for 98. Delhi ended 213/8 off
50 overs, which was never going to be enough.
Railways came out blazing, hitting 37 off their first 5 overs
before Shankara Rao fell. They then lost a couple more wickets,
and were 68/3 - but off only 12 overs, still going at a very
rapid rate. JP Yadav and Bangar put on 106 for the 4th wicket
and settled the issue for good - Yadav 60 off 65 balls to go
with his 2/34 off 9 overs with the ball, and Bangar 55.
Raja Ali added 30* as Railways won comfortably by 5 wickets
with almost 9 full overs to spare.
Quarters, Bengal vs Railways:
Played last ngiht at the Brabourne, 2 days after Railways had
eliminated Delhi.
Railways were put in by Bengal, and followed a similar pattern
to their previous game against Delhi - once again they were
68/3 in 12 overs (except this time that came almost entirely
from Shankara Rao scoing 50 off 43 balls, and hitting SS Paul
all around the park). Once again there was a partnership between
Bangar and JP Yadav for the fourth wicket - but this time it
wasnt long enough, as they put on only 69. JP Yadav got 46,
Bangar 30. Then Raja Ali was runout for 31 and the lower order
fell away to Ranadeb Bose (who had a very good performance
with 4/33 from 10 overs, completely outshining SS Paul who
had 0/61 off 10). Railways ended with 214 allout in their
50 overs - again a score that wasnt going to be enough.
Bengal came in and batted slowly to start - they lost opener
Subhomoy Das to Harvinder and it was 17/1 in 7 overs.But
former India batsman Debang Gandhi came in at #3 and took
the game away completely - he hammered 98* off 117 balls
with 9 fours and 3 sixes. Supporting at the other end was
Sanywal with 66 off 91, and then Rohan Gavaskar chipped in
with 30 off 45. Bengal cruised home to 219/3, winning by 7
wickets with just over 3 overs to spare.
Given the fact that Bengal are a fine OD side and were runners
up to Bombay in the national tournament last season, this may
not be considered a surprise. However Railways had gelled as
a side lately, and won the Ranji Trophy only a week ago, and
then beat Delhi 2 days ago - so if not a surprise, it is a
very good win for Bengal, at the very least. They have struggled
in first-class cricket for the past couple of seasons, but have
really played very well as an OD outfit.
Quarters, Punjab vs Uttar Pradesh:
Punjab returned to Bombay once again, having knocked off Bombay
in Bombay in the Ranji Trophy only 2 weeks ago. This time,
however, they were playing at the Brabourne.
Punjab started well - they won the toss and put UP in, and claimed
the opener early and it was 1/1. Captain Jyoti Yadav, however,
came in at #3 and steadied the innings making 88 off 107 balls
before being runout. Young Suresh Raina failed with 9, but
Ravikant Shukla smacked 61 off 70 balls at #6 as UP recovered
nicely. However the last 3 wickets fell in 4 balls for 1 run
at the very end of the innings - and UP were 251 allout in
the final over.
Punjab chased, and started solidly but probably a little too
slowly. Ricky fell for 23 and Sodhi for 33 - but they had
managed only 65/2 in the first 15 overs (after hitting 62
in the first 12 overs, it slowed and both wickets fell to
young LAS Praveen Gupta). There was another partnership between
Dharmani and Muneesh Sharma - but again it was probaly too
...
read more »