by Wills Trophy Finals
Wills XI v Bengal
Brabourne Stadium, Bombay, 5 November 1995
Wills XI outplays Bengal in final - G. Viswanath
Wills XI which looked a champion side right through the week out-
played Bengal in the 17th final of the Wills Trophy limited
overs tournament at the Brabourne stadium, Cricket Club of India
on Sunday.
A crowd in the surplus of 6000 may have been disappointed that
Wills captain Sachin Tendulkar failed to repeat his rampaging
batsmanship, but Gagan Khoda, Sanjay Manjrekar and Praveen Amre
saw Wills XI set a target of 300. This was after Bengal
skipper Utpal Chatterjee threw a challenge after winning the toss
and inserting Wills XI to bat on a well rolled out batting track.
But Bengal faded without making a direct effort. Only Saurav
Ganguly displayed grit to combat the varied Wills XI attack to
get to his century, but it was defeated by 75 runs, finishing at
224 for 6 wickets against Wills XI`s 299 for 5 wickets.
After the match Tendulkar, said he was disappointed that he
failed to make another century. ``But then I played a rash shot
and got out. That`s the way I played at Rajkot and Ahmedabad. It
happens. But I was very much impressed with Manjrekar`s knock. He
is a very good No. 3 batsman in Tests and one-dayers. He paces
his game nicely... and gradually accelerates. Obviously Praveen
(Amre) was the pick of our team today. He played really well. And
also Rahul Dravid who batted extremely well in the end overs.``
The target set by Wills XI, the highest in 17 finals,
prescribed a hectic pace in the first 15 overs and clever batting
in the middle overs, but Bengal did not really put its heart in
the match. Said Tendulkar, ``I agree it was a big score. But I
don`t think they really tried to make a match of it. It was a
good batting track. Well, Sairaj (Bahutule) and Venkatramana got
appreciable turn and bounce, but I still feel that the Bengal
batsman did not try hard enough. Saurav played a compact in-
nings.``
There was the prospect of another rousing batting by Tendulkar.
The hype for the final had been so much focussed on him. Sure
enough the crowd was only too pleased to see Tendulkar walk out
with Gagan Khoda. But today Bengal looked at a ``gift`` when
Tendulkar`s forceful shot on the on side, took the leading edge
and soar over point and finally come down a couple of yards out-
side the 30-yard circle. Saurav Ganguly running sideways from
point came under the catch, but dropped the ball.
Scorching pace
This was in the second over of the morning from Arindham Sarkar.
Bengal paid heavily for that lapse. Tendulkar did not stay long
enough to score a century, but set a scorching pace for Wills XI
to accrue runs at seven an over. In the very same over, Tendulkar
had punched to mid wicket, flicked behind square and executed a
backfoot cut to pick up three fours. Then he stepped out to on
drive Sarkar and cover drive Utpal Chatterjee.
And it was a Sunday when Khoda almost matched Tendulkar. He had
more of the strike and stroked with perfect timing in front of
the wicket. The select shot of his first five boundaries was the
bent knee cover drive off Saurav Ganguly. This was followed by
a straight hit four of the same bowler. With both batsmen in
command Wills XI`s score raced past 50. With Khoda taking most
of the strike, Tendulkar, lost his rhythm and in the 12th over,
he made a cross hit only to see the leading edge land safely in
the hands of Ganguly in front of point.
After Tendulkar`s dismissal, Wills XI prospered through
Manjrekar and Amre`s fine efforts. Opener Khoda completed his
second half century in three matches. A backfoot drive of Chetan
Sharma and a lofted on drive of Chatterjee saw Khoda in good
nick, but in trying to hit off spinner Sardindhu Mukerjee over
mid-wicket, he mishit the shot to give a catch to Debang Gandhi
at mid-wicket inside the circle.
Manjrekar dazzles
Mukerjee`s third over and Bengal`s 24th saw Manjrekar in his ele-
ments. It was the beginning of a middle innings push from
where Wills XI went on to make 299 for five wickets. Manjrekar
pulled Mukerjee between square leg and mid wicket four times and
lifted one over mid wicket. Five fours in that over saw Mukerjee
concede 20 runs. It was his last over. The sudden burst
took Manjrekar closer to his half century, his third in as
many matches. But after making 51 (48 balls, 7 x 4s),
Manjrekar was brilliantly caught by Chatterjee at backward point,
diving to his left and holding the catch with both hands.
Manjrekar`s exit saw left-hander Robin Singh come to bat for the
first time in the tournament. But it was Amre who grabbed a
chance to collar the Bengal attack. Amre`s superb timing of the
lofted shots mostly over cover and extra cover and quick run-
ning between the wickets with Robin Singh and later with Rahul
Dravid depicted the batsman`s confidence against the slow
bowlers, Chatterjee and Ajay Verma.
Amre cuts loose
Wills XI added 81 runs in the last 10 overs. And in this
phase, Amre cut loose against medium-pacers Prashant Vaidya,
Ganguly and Sarkar. It was a magnificent *** from Amre which
brightened the chances of Wills XI eventually setting a target of
300. With Dravid, too, driving and pulling with power, the fifth
wicket stand between Amre and Dravid (34, 35 balls, 4 x 4s)
raised 75 runs in 9.4 overs. Amre`s 80 ball 80 with seven
fours was an effort which was accorded a better rating by Ten-
dulkar. ``I would pick him as the man of the match.`` For
someone who failed to score a run when three other batsman
notched centuries against Hyderabad, Amre strove hard and was
determined to prove himself. He turned out to be the man of
the big final for Wills XI.
Bengal which had tried Mukerjee as an opener against Board
Presidents` XI in the semifinals, was given another chance to
open with Ajay Verma. Bengal lost Verma, Debang Gandhi and Arun
Lal quickly with Srinath and Paras Mhambrey`s incisive bowling
proving hot to handle. Mukerjee tried to make the most of the
first 15 overs field restrictions. Wicket-keeper Sameer
Dighe very nearly brought of a spectacular catch, running three
quarters of the way to fine leg when Mukerjee, tried to hit out
at Mhambrey.
After that reprieve, Mukerjee played some authentic cricket
shots, driving and hooking Mhambrey. There were a couple of loft-
ed shots of Robin Singh, and once Mambhrey at long off drop a
skier. But after being in the middle for 28 overs, Mukerjee fi-
nally holed out a catch to Manjrekar at long on off the bowling
of Bahutule who extracted big turn and bounce during his 10 over
spell.
Bengal ought to have sent in a specialist batsman with a big tar-
get to achieve, but it preferred Mukerjee who made 42 runs,
but he was in the middle for 28 overs denying Bengal to make a
contest of the final. Bahutule and Venkatramana sent back Saba
Karim and Chetan Sharma and Bengal by the 36th over was precari-
ously placed at 125 for 6 wickets.
Ganguly, was confident while defending and placing his
shots, but found it difficult to hit effective shots against
Bahutule. By the 40th over the left-hander realised that it would
be impossible for him and Bengal to make a real effort. Ganguly
played for himself with the sole objective of recording a centu-
ry. The only six of the match was hit by him of Venkatramana. He
had been very watchful against Srinath who was used in four
spells by Tendulkar.
Srinath had conceded just 12 runs in his first six overs, but
Ganguly was bold enough to effect a few cross bat hits to long
on against the India new ball bowler. Ganguly`s specific aim in
the last 10 overs was to get to his century and he accom-
plished it in the fourth ball of the 50th over from Srinath. Ten-
dulkar had all his men inside the circle in the last over. Sri-
nath did not give the batsman any scope in the first three balls,
but he bowled one short for Ganguly to pull and reach the three
figure mark. Ganguly made an unbeaten 104 (140 balls, 1 x 6, 8 x
4s) and he had every reason to be satisfied. But his team had
given up the race, well before over No. 40 had commenced!.
The Cricket Club of India, President Mr. Raj Singh and the ITC
Branch Manager Mr. T. P. Mahesh gave away the prizes and
mementos. Wills XI received Rs. 1,25,000 and Bengal Rs. 75,000.
====> scorecard
Toss: Bengal
Result: Wills XI won by 75 runs.
Umpires:
Man of the match: PK Amre (Wills XI)
WILLS XI innings
G Khoda c Gandhi b Mukherjee 62
SR Tendulkar c Ganguly b Sarkar 35
SV Manjrekar c Chatterjee b Chetan Sharma 51
PK Amre not out 80
Robin Singh c Arun Lal b Chatterjee 16
R Dravid c Saba Karim b Sarkar 34
S Dighe not out 4
Extras (lb 7, w 8, nb 2) 17
TOTAL (5 wickets, 50 overs) 299
FoW: 1-74, 2-117, 3-170, 4-212, 5-287.
Bowling O M R W
Vaidya 8 1 49 0
Sarkar 10 0 63 2
Chatterjee 10 0 50 1
Ganguly 8 0 50 0
Chetan Sharma 8 0 37 1
Mukherjee 3 0 26 1
Verma 3 0 17 0
BENGAL innings
Ajay Verma lbw b Srinath 0
Sardindhu Mukherjee c Manjrekar b Bahutule 42
Devang Gandhi c Amre b Mhambrey 8
Arun Lal c Manjrekar b Mhambrey 5
Saurav Ganguly not out 104
Syed Saba Karim c Khoda b Venkatramana 7
Chetan Sharma c Dighe b Bahutule 2
Srikant Kalyani not out 34
Extras (lb 3, w 9, nb 10) 22
TOTAL (6 wickets, 50 overs) 224
FoW: 1-1, 2-12, 3-43, 4-98, 5-122, 6-125.
Bowling O M R W
Srinath 10 1 41 1
Mhambrey 6 0 38 2
Robin Singh 5 0 23 0
Bahutule 10 0 32 2
Venkatramana 10 0 43 1
Tendulkar 6 0 26 0
Dravid 3 0 18 0
Source :: The Hindu