India Cements make it two out of two

India Cements posted their second successive victory in the Moin-ud- Dowla Cup, beating Indian Airlines by 15 runs at the Gymkhana ground in Hyderabad today. A solid 67 by Tamil Nadu Ranji star S Sharath bolstered Cements to 214/8 in 50 overs. New ball bowler MR Shrinivas then scalped 4/33 to send Airlines crumbling to 195 all out with five overs to spare, a gallant 87 (98 balls, 9 fours, 1 six) by Hyderabad Ranji player Youraj Singh going in vain.

In the morning, Cements weathered a strong Airlines attack comprising Javagal Srinath, Dodda Ganesh, Nikhil Chopra and Sarandeep Singh. Ganesh (3/43) took out the top three to leave Cements on the backfoot at 45/3. Sharath was then associated in three useful stands with George John, Sunil Oasis and J Gokulakrishnan. When he fell for 67 (106 balls, 1 four, 1 six) in the 44th over, he had conferred a tone of respectability to the innings and the tail helped inch the score to 214 before the overs ran out.

Airlines had a horror start losing J Arun Kumar, skipper Vijay Dahiya and star batsman VVS Laxman in the first nine balls of the innings with just two runs on the board. Opening bowlers Shrinivas nad Gokulakrishnan had done the damage and that Airlines finally reached 195 was due entirely to the efforts of Youraj Singh.

Although he lost Omkar Singh at 41, Saif Khan (39) gave him company for more than 17 overs as they added 94 for the fifth wicket in a stirring fightback. After Khan departed at 135, next man Chopra also did his bit with 24. Srinath was run out at 170 and Sarandeep was eighth out at 187 in the 43rd over. One run later Youraj was dismissed by Jesu Babu and that spelt an end to Airlines' resistance as they folded up for 195.