Shamshad stars in ONGC's victory

A fine all round performance by Rizwan Shamshad (84 and 3 for 24) enabled Oil and Natural Gas Corporation to beat Bishnol Club by 38 runs in the 7th JP Atray Memorial tournament at the PCA stadium.

ONGC XI, making first use of the strip, lost the wicket of Sandeep Sharma cheaply as he was caught behind of the bowling off Laxmi Rathan Shukla. Gagan Khoda and Radhey Sham repaired the damage with a stand of 37 runs before Shukla had Radhey Sham caught in the slips by J Arun Kumar. Left arm spinner Tejinder Singh, introduced into the attack, clean bowled Khoda by a ball which came in with the arm. At the other end former Test player Ashish Nehra removed the dangerous Varinder Shewag with an outswinger which took the outside edge and landed safely in the hands of J Arun Kumar.

Tejinder Singh, who was giving nothing away, consumed Gautam Wadhera as the batsman was beaten in flight. ONGC XI had lost four wickets for 74 runs. A lot of hope now rested on skipper Rizwan Shamshad to keep his wicket intact and the scoreboard moving. He kept his cool and completed his 50 off 71 balls which included five fours. Mithun Minhas gave him good company as the pair scored 107 runs in 128 balls.

Rizwan scored a polished 84 off 98 balls which included eight hits to the fence. ONGC XI managed a healthy total of 267 runs in 50 overs.

Bishnoi CC got off to a flying start as J Arun Kumar and Nikhil Haldipur were in fine nick. Haldipur was unlucky to be run out by a direct hit from V Sehwag. SS Das joined Arun Kumar and they took the score from 20 to 76 beofre Das was caught at short fine leg by Sandeep Sharma of the bowling off Mohammad Saif. Das contributed 31 off 29 balls. Gautam Gambhir held the fort with Munish Arora and the pair took the score from 99 to 196 at the end of 38 overs.

When the target was looking achievable both Gambhir and Munish Arora fell to indiscreet shots. Gambhir made 68 (79b, 3x4, 1x6) while Munish Arora made a well compiled 45 with two hits to the fence.

In the last 10 overs Bishnoi CC required just 51 runs with five wickets in hand. Three of the batsmen were run out for non-existent runs as the entire team folded up for 229 runs.

Rizwam Shamshad was declared the man of the match.

In the semifinals, Punjab CC will take on Bishnoi CC on Sept 29, while ONGC will play Air India on Sept 30. The final is scheduled for October 1. All the matches will be played at the PCA Stadium, Mohali.