Gallant century by Vinay Kumar lifts Hyderabad to 220

Satish Kumar and Gagandeep Singh combined to dismiss Indian Airlines for 206 on the first day of their Coromandel Cement Trophy semifinal at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Friday. At stumps India Pistons had progressed to 69/2 with Vikram Rathour and Pankaj Dharmani holding the fort at stumps. The other semifinal at the RSI Ground in Bangalore followed a similar pattern as Hyderabad were bowled out for 220 in the 62nd over, Vinay Kumar sparing their blushes with an exact hundred before he was run out by a direct hit from Tinu Yohanan. At stumps Chemplast were on 85/2 with Badrinath and Jacob Martin out in the middle.

After Indian Airlines won the toss and chose to bat, openers Onkar Singh and Arun Kumar fell cheaply, both trapped leg before by Gagandeep and Robin Singh respectively. Ravneet Ricky and VVS Laxman then put on 55 for the third wicket of which Ricky's share was 14 before he was caught at silly point off leg spinner WD Balaji Rao. Nine runs later Laxman was caught behind by wicket keeper Reuben Paul off the same bowler, one run short of his half century.

Shafiq Khan then guided the lower order to a moderately respectable total of 206, making 69 (130 balls, 3 fours, 2 sixes) before being caught at slip by Rathore off Gagandeep (3/58). Satish Kumar mopped up the tail to end with figures of 4/47 as Indian Airlines were bowled out in the 72nd over. In the hour and twenty minutes time that remained, Javagal Srinath trapped Anand George leg before for nought with the fourth ball of the innings and Harbhajan Singh saw the back of Satyajit Medappa for 12 before Punjab colleagues Rathore (30) and Dharmani (22) saw Pistons through to the close.

In the other match, Chemplast won the toss and put their opponents into bat. Mediumpacer L Balaji did the early damage, picking up the first three wickets while Yohanan took care of the lower middle order, both finishing with four wickets apiece. Vinay Kumar was ninth out for 100 (164 balls, 9 fours, 1 six), the innings being terminated off the very next ball. Chemplast openers Ganesh Kumar and Badrinath added 72 before the former was caught behind by wicketkeeper Vijay Kumar for an entertaining 53 off 45 balls (10 fours and a six). Hyderabad seamer Fiaz Ahmed then won a leg before decision against Dinesh Mongia off the first ball but Chemplast played out the remaining 5.4 overs without further alarm.