India Pistons coast to title triumph

With India Pistons having taken a stranglehold on the final of the KSCA Diamond Jubilee tournament for the Coromandel Cement Trophy at stumps on the second day at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Wednesday, the final day held out little interest. The only interest was whether Chemplast would at least put up a fight before bowing to the inevitable.

But it turned out to be abject surrender on the part of Chemplast. With the indisposed skipper Diwakar Vasu not in a position to bat, Chemplast were all out for 125 in just 29.5 overs. Left with the simple task of getting 53 runs in 40 overs for victory, India Pistons raced home for the loss of two wickets in 9.5 overs.

The start of the Chemplast second innings was quite encouraging with openers S Badrinath (24) and Ganesh Kumar (22) putting on 39 runs in 7.5 overs. But the rest of the innings was a fair disaster as medium pacer Shahbuddin and leg spinner WD Balaji Rao picked up the wickets at regular intervals. Only Jacob Martin put up some defiance by scoring 28 off 76 balls. The rest of the batsmen succumbed meekly and the best partnership after the opening stand was 22 runs for the seventh wicket off 6.5 overs between Martin and R Ramkumar (16). Sahabuddin (4 for 67) and Balaji Rao (3 for 29) helped bring the Chemplast innings to a swift end.

Left with a token task, India Pistons lost Satyajit Medappa (1) early but Vikram Rathour (27) and Hemant Kumar (14 not out) added 40 runs for the second wicket off six overs. Rathour, who faced 38 balls and hit three boundaries, fell with only two runs required and Hemanth Kumar and Pankaj Dharmani (1) applied the finishing touches to a game which promised much but turned out to be hopelessly one sided. Tinu Yohannan picked up both the wickets in five overs for 29 runs.

It somehow seemed fitting that Dharmani should get the winning run for the Punjab player did a fine job earlier in the day. Keeping wickets for Reuben Paul, who had an injured thumb, Dharmani caught three and stumped one. Opening batsman Anand George too was hurt, nursing an injured right index finger. But then India Pistons' superiority was so marked that they never really had need of the two while coasting to victory.