India Cements clinch the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup

It was more of anti-climax at the Gymkhana ground in Hyderabad on Sunday in the finals of the Moin-ud_Dowlah Gold Cup Invitation tournament. India Cements overpowered MRF XI by seven wickets and registered and emphatic victory. Chasing a modest target of 209 runs for a win, India Cements knocked off the runs with 16.3 overs to spare. The highlight of the day was the brilliant all round perfomance by the India international player Virender Shewag.

Earlier in the day Sridharan Sriram won the toss for MRF XI and did not hesitate to have a bat first. With just nine runs on the board MRF XI lost their opening batsman Aashish Kapoor (5) in the fourth over. India discards Vikram Rathour and Hrishikesh Kanitkar (22) took the score to 55 in the fifteenth over. Kanitkar was caught by Sunil Oasis off the bowling of skipper S Suresh.

Rajat Batia (19) was caught behind by Padmanabhan Raju off the bowling of Gokulakrishnan and MRF XI slipped to 86/3 in the 22nd over. Vikram Rathour and Hemang Badani steadied the innings and put together a decent partnership of 51 runs off 11.3 overs. Rathour made the only half century of the MRF XI innings, scoring 55 runs off 84 balls with the help of half a dozen boundaries.

It was Verender Shewag who claimed the valuable wicket of Rathour, trapping the batsman in front of the wicket. Shewag tasted more success when he had Badani (27) stumped by wicket-keeper Raju. Tanveer Jabbar (19) and Sriram (19) were the other batsmen to get to double figures. The MRF XI innings wound up at 208 all out in 48.2 overs. Shewag with his off spin was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with the figures of 10-0-38-3. Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan and Suresh claimed two wickets apiece.

India Cements lost the skipper Suresh early in their run chase, caught by Kapoor off the bowling of Kumaran in the fifth over after making just six runs. Shewag who opened with Suresh was in brilliant form, knocking the ball all around the park. Vidyut was promoted up the batting order and cracked 22 runs off 23 balls, before being caught by Mahesh off the bowling of Gautam in the 12th over.

Rahul Dravid walked in and along with Shewag smashed the MRF XI bowlers for runs. They added 106 runs for the third wicket off just 15.2 overs, taking the score to 158 in the 27th over. Shewag bludgeoned 92 runs off 91 balls before being bowled by Kumaran. His innings was decorated with two majestic blows over the ropes and 11 glorious boundaries.

Sridharan Sharath came out to bat and did not waste any time, striking six boundaries to make an unbeaten 26 off 28 balls to take the India Cements past the target. Rahul Dravid remained unbeaten on 51 off 56 balls with the help of four boundaries. MRF XI bowlers were completely dominated by the India Cements batsmen, only exception being Kumaran (10-1-35-2). Hemang Badani injured his back while fielding and later was found out that he a stress fracture. India Cements were the worthy champions and took home the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup.