Paranjpe, Somasundar fashion moment to savour for Chemplast

It was sweet revenge for Chemplast who trounced India Pistons by seven wickets in the final of the Moin ud Dowlah Cup in Hyderabad today. A mammoth undefeated stand of 217 between Jatin Paranjpe and Sujith Somasundar helped Chemplast make light of a target of 281 to canter home with almost seven overs to spare in what finally transpired to be a ridiculously one-sided affair.

JR Madanagopal added another sorry episode to his past with another fateful dropped catch to let off another Mumbaikar. A dolly miss at long off from the bowling of Robin Singh relieved Paranjpe, then on 63 out of a total of 177, who had already turned towards the pavilion, in all preparedness to walk off. Robin fumed, Madanagopal squirmed but Chemplast just laughed all the way to the bank.

It was not all hunky-dory for the victors in the morning after the left-handed Hemanth Kumar pillaged a bustling century to lift Pistons to an imposing 280/9. Yet to play in a first class match, Hemanth surely on the evidence of his showing here, is just weeks away from being blooded by Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy this season.

The match started on the hallowed lawns of the Gymkhana Ground on whose precincts the first edition of the Moin ud Dowlah Cup had kicked off in the season of 1930-31. In that year such exalted personages as Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe opened the batting for the Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram's XI and a few years later the West Indian Learie Constantine gave a well rounded account of his multiple talents.

Just outside the main entrance there is a plaque which pompously announces the structure beyond as the Hyderabad Cricket Association Stadium. Well, stadium it may not be but the ground still retains a picturesque charm, surrounded on three sides by wide open spaces such as the Parade Ground, the Polo Ground and a Hockey Ground, and the panoramic view from what masquerades as a press box is a real steal.

From 70/3, Hemanth and Madanagopal added 65 for the fourth wicket, the two looking in control and firmly milking the singles with five men stationed on the boundary. Then Madanagopal played a foolhardy shot against the grain of play, lofting the ball in the air knowing full well there was a fielder at sweeper cover. Robin walked in at 135/4 and was warned for running onto the wicket almost immediately. He put that behind him and added a brisk 110 for the fifth wicket with Hemanth. The latter grew more innovative in his stroke play in Robin's reassuring company, stepping two inches outside off stump and persuading the ball away on the leg side on more than one occasion.

All hell broke loose in the 44th over bowled by Dinesh Mongia, which went for 20 runs including two sixes over midwicket, Hemanth moving from 90 to 110 in the space of five balls. Soon after, Robin holed out for 44 (51 balls, 2 fours) to deep midwicket just after being cautioned a second time for trespassing onto the pitch. The score at that point was 245 but Hemanth coaxed another 30 runs in the company of the tail, audaciously running byes more than once when the ball had been collected by the keeper. When he was run out from the last ball of the innings, he had accumulated an effortless 134 (126 balls, 10 fours, 2 sixes). Veeranan had the best figures among some badly mauled analysis, taking 2/34 from seven overs, but Ganesh Kumar had done a fine job too, bowling ten overs on the trot in the middle overs for a measly 37, without taking a wicket.

Having beaten Chemplast by eight wickets in the final of the KSCA Diamond Jubilee tournament a few weeks ago, Pistons must have experienced a feeling of deja vu at this point. Sujit Somasundar and Ganesh Kumar kept them on their toes with some fairly frenetic running as the 50 came up in 40 minutes inside eight overs. Ganesh Kumar was the more adventurous of the two, once picking Shahabuddin over midwicket for six.

In the 11th over, Shahabuddin, who plays his cricket for Andhra in the Ranji Trophy, had Ganesh caught behind by the keeper Vasudevan. And three runs later, in his next over, the disappointing Badrinath was consumed by first slip. Dinesh Mongia walked in with a weight of responsibility on his shoulders. Flailing wildly at one outside off stump, he was snapped up by Vasudevan for a fourth ball duck to complete a double wicket maiden for Shahabuddin, who had scalped three wickets in eight balls at this stage. Mongia's fall must have sent panic waves through the Chemplast dressing room and at 67/3, Pistons would have been licking their lips in anticipation of the kill, which had been well fattened up.

They had reckoned without one Jatin Paranjpe. He signalled his intentions immediately by picking on R Satish, who had replaced Shahabuddin from the Plaza end, for three boundaries in his first over. Railways leg spinner WD Balaji Rao was generating good nip and bounce off the wicket with an action that exuded vitality but he contrived to floor a return catch offered by Paranjpe with the batsman on 44. To be sure, the ball was fiercely driven back at him and Rao could not close his fingers around the ball in a one-handed parry.

To add injury to insult, he went off the field to receive treatment on his finger. Then followed the kindergarten miss by Madanagopal and a frustrated Robin bowled a rank bouncer off the last ball of the over, promptly called no ball. Indeed the bowling and fielding completely went to pieces in the end, with wides, no balls, byes, even a beamer from Shahabudin, and fumbles in the field abounding.

Just outside the ground a group of 64 city probables were limbering up for their forthcoming Under 19 tournament and Paranjpe scattered them with two clean hits over midwicket that landed in their midst, almost decapitating one unfortunate lad. He hit 21 off the over, the 36th, by Muthupandian and brought up his 100 off 81 balls with his fifth six, also in the same trademark fashion, this time off Balaji Rao.

If Somasundar has been ignored for much of this chronicle, the oversight can be rectified here and now. Having accumulated his runs with stealth, Somasundar finally abandoned such a covert, even insidious, manner of run making for some more unabashed hitting. When Rao tossed one up, he obligingly hit him over wide long off to enter the nineties. Robin finally invited Hemanth for a bowl in a gesture of surrender. He bowled a short one that sat up and beseeched to be hit, Somasundar carted it way out of the ground to end the mismatch of a contest and take his individual score to 97 (129 balls, 9 fours and 3 sixes). For his part Paranjpe had settled at a personal tally of 115 (91 balls, 10 fours and 6 sixes).

That brought down the curtain on a curious tournament in which neither last year's winner MRF, nor runner-up, ONGC took part. The Moin ud Dowlah Cup was presented to Chemlpast captain D Vasu who promptly raised it over his head with a violent gesture, only to watch in embarrassment as the cup rolled off its pedestal and plummeted to the ground. But that was a minor and easily forgiven blemish in what was otherwise a moment to savour for him and the entire Chemplast team.