Board President's XI to meet Karnataka in final

What a day of excitement it turned out to be in the Wills Trophy semifinals! Both the games at Chennai and Bangalore generated thrills galore but the latter match between holders Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka was the more pulsating. Amidst tremendous excitement, it ended in that rare result - a tie. This neccesitated in the spin of the coin to spot the winner and in the toss, Karnataka were lucky and qualified to meet Board President's XI in the final at Vizag on January 17. The strongly favoured President's XI had to beat back an unexpectedly strong challenge from Bengal before winning by six runs.

Few would have given MP much chance after Karnataka had led off by scoring 293 in 49.3 overs. But the holders who won the Central Zone one day league title by winning all their four matches, rose to the occasion with a splendid display of attacking batsmanship. Adopting a never say attitude, they took the match to the wire and were unlucky that the coin did not favour them.

Put in to bat, Karnataka were off to an excellent start with openers Arun Kumar (71) and Mithun Beerala (78) putting on 165 runs off 26 overs. Arun Kumar was the first to go when he was caught by Srivatsava off Abbas Ali. He faced 83 balls and hit six fours and a six. Beerala followed a little later, when he was stumped by Srivatsava off Majithia. He faced 104 balls and hit ten of them to the ropes.

The batsmen who followed however could not build upon this solid foundation. B Akhil came up with a cameo knock of 23 off 21 balls inclusive of a four and a six. AR Yalvigi then bolstered the scoring rate by hitting 32 off just 19 deliveries with four fours and a six. Abbas Ali was the most successful bowler with three for 38 while skipper Rajesh Chauhan, M Majithia and JP Yadav took two wickets each.

In complete contrast, MP made a poor start with Mansur Ali Khan dismissing JP Yadav and HS Sodhi in the same over with only 38 runs on the board. Amay Khurasia (79) and D Bundela (47) however initiated the recovery process with a third wicket partnership of 85 runs off 15.3 overs. Bundela was then stumped by Shiraguppi off Anand Katti. He faced 55 balls and hit four of them to the ropes. Abbas Ali (20) then helped Khurasia in a fourth wicket stand of 43 runs off six overs. Khurasia was then out, after facing 79 balls and hitting eight fours and a six.

The momentum was maintained by the middle order. SP Sahu and R Ali (21) added 31 runs off 6.5 overs for the sixth wicket. This was followed by a 36 run stand for the seventh wicket off 5.5 overs between Sahu and skipper Chauhan (12).

Now commenced the climactic act. In the mad scramble for runs, Srivastava and Majithia were run out making MP 267 for nine off 46.1 overs. Sahu was still holding firm but now he had only last man S Pandey for support. MP still required 27 runs for victory off 3.5 overs.

In the same over, Sahu hit Ganesh for a boundary and at the end of the 47th over, MP needed 19 runs from three overs. Johnson bowled an excellent 48th over and MP could get only two runs. This left them with a victory target of 17 runs from the last two overs. Sahu hit a boundary off Ganesh and eight runs came from the 49th over. MP now required nine runs for victory off the last over to be sent down by Johnson. Sahu hit the first ball to the boundary and a single followed off the next delivery. MP could not get any runs from the third delivery and two singles followed from the fourth and fifth balls of the over. When Johnson started to bowl the final delivery, MP required two runs for a win and one for a tie. The batsmen scampered a leg bye which left the result a tie. And then followed the anti climactic toss of the coin which left the hosts elated and MP shattered. And none was more shattered than Sahu who at the end was unbeaten with 67. He faced 63 balls and hit eight fours. Pandey was not out with six. Khan, the pick of the bowlers was rewarded with four for 54 from ten overs.

The Chennai match also saw a lot of excitement. Opting to bat, Board President's XI hit 263 for 7 in 46 overs with morning fog delaying the start of play by an hour. After SS Das left early, Jyoti Yadav and Md Azharuddin added 100 runs for the second wicket off 18.3 overs. Azharuddin delighted with a series of scintillating strokes in his 56. He faced 57 balls and hit eight fours and a six. Yadav too played some fine shots in compiling 52. He faced 71 balls and hit six of them to the ropes. Then after a middle order slump, Vijay Dahiya (30) and Sanjay Bangar (51 not out) stepped up the scoring rate with a 57 run seventh wicket partnership off eight overs. Dahiya faced only 30 balls and hit three fours while Bhangar was even more aggressive. He got his runs off just 34 balls with two fours and four sixes.

Tamil Nadu medium pacer J Gokulakrishnan dismissed both openers Nikhil Haldipur and LR Shukla with only 29 runs on the board. But S Panda (49) and Rohan Gavaskar (71) turned the innings around with a third wicket partnership of 120 runs off 26.1 overs. Panda faced 70 balls and hit six fours. The left handed Gavaskar, who was fifth out at 190 in the 36th over, faced 102 balls and hit six fours. Skipper Utpal Chatterjee did not last long but Saba Karim (50) and M Sengupta (10) kept Bengal's hopes alive with a seventh wicket partnership of 43 runs off 5.5 overs. Left arm spinner Karthik Murali however removed them both with successive balls and Bengal's hopes receded. Karim faced 40 balls and hit six fours. No 9 Mujumdar and No 10 Charanjeet Singh however in a last ditch fight took the total to 252 before Gokulakrishnan returned to dismiss the former for five with the first ball of the 46th over. Five more runs were added off three balls before Gokulakrishnan bowled Charanjeet Singh in the same over for 12 to signal Board President's thrilling victory. Gokulakrishnan finished with five for 55 off 8.5 overs while Karthik took three for 45 off ten overs.