Mongia's heroics see Chemplast into final

A marvellous all round performance from Dinesh Mongia saw Chemplast gatecrash into the final of the Moin ud Dowlah Cup in Hyderabad on Sunday. After tightening the screws on the Pentasoft middle order with a haul of 3/22 and keeping them down to a modest 213, Mongia slammed a rollicking century off 87 balls as Chemplast coasted through with more than 14 overs to spare in this semifinal clash at the NFC ground.

Sujith Somasundar and Ganesh Kumar provided the ideal foundation with a 54-run stand upfront. After Somasundar was caught behind off Satish, one drop Badrinath followed him back to the pavilion ten runs later for a duck, removed by Satish's elder brother Mahesh. Ganesh Kumar (63, 77 balls, 7 fours) was in sizzling form early on although he was later overshadowed by Mongia.

Ganesh's pet shot was the pull which he repeatedly played in the air to deep midwicket, kept vacant in spite of the batsman's predilection for the stroke. Ganesh and Mongia added 96 for the third wicket and while the latter had seemed in sublime touch from the first ball he faced, it was only after Ganesh's fall that Mongia began to cut loose.

In one glorious sequence of plunder, Mongia added an unbroken 54 with Paranjpe in 4.5 overs, of which Paranjpe's share was a princely four. The carnage began in the 32nd over by Kanitkar which went for 15 and at one point Mongia had hit three sixes in five balls. He duly crossed into three figures with a pull to the square leg boundary off Mahesh, remaining not out on 112 (97 balls, 13 fours, 4 sixes) for his second century of the tournament, the earlier one also having come on the same ground against Vidarbha.

A dominant win for Chemplast looked distinctly unlikely in the morning after Pentasoft got off to a roaring start. Having won the toss and batted, they surged to 121/2 in the 18th over with the run rate over six and a half an over and a match winning total seemingly there for the asking. Skipper Sadagopan Ramesh and M Arvind added 59 at the top of the order inside ten overs and after Arvind's departure for 27, the rate if anything quickened. Ramesh fell to medium pacer Veeranan for 35 (38 balls, 3 fours) but the cleanest hitting came from the bat of Pawan Kumar who caned 46 off just 38 balls.

The run out of Shiv Sunder Das in a mix-up with Pawan at 121 probably was the turning point of the innings. Then a double strike in the same over by Veeranan saw the Chennai based software firm slump to 136/5. Another foolish run out, this time of Hrishikesh Kanitkar, who cut L Balaji straight to the fielder at square third man and turned back for a suicidal second, virtually gave it away on a platter to Chemplast. Although Ravindran John and S Satish then added a gutsy 46 for the seventh wicket, they had to fight for every run against the double left arm spin attack of D Vasu and especially Mongia. Balaji returned to fire out Satish and the last four wickets fell for 25. Pentasoft were bowled out with eight balls of their innings remaining unused.