Two hat-tricks on opening day

Two hat-tricks featured in the opening day's programme of the Moin ud Dowlah Cup tournament in Hyderabad on Monday.

India Cements medium pacer MR Srinivas produced a hat-trick to star in his team's six wicket victory over Karnataka State Cricket Association at the NFC ground while Hyderabad's seam bowler Mohd Mohiuddin performed the feat while playing a leading role in his team's five wicket victory over Vidarbha at the Gymkhana ground.

Overnight rain meant that there was a delayed start due to the wet outfield and the match at the NFC ground was reduced to 35 overs a side. Opting to bat first, KSCA soon ran into trouble. In the third over of the match, Srinivas broke the back of the KSCA XI innings. First he bowled D Rajesh for six when the total was eight. Off the next delivery he had A Mahesh leg before. And he completed his hattrick by bowling K Ramesh.

From eight for three, KSCA XI made a tortuous recovery. First the other opener Rowland Barrington (19) and B Akhil (49) added 42 runs for the fourth wicket off 10.3 overs. Then Akhil and V Madyalkar (12) pushed the score along by 32 runs during a fifth wicket association when the former was out for a bright 49 off 47 balls with six hits to the fence. Amit Kumar (16) and A. Yalvigi (17 not out) made valuable contributions but KSCA XI could make only 137 for eight in 35 overs. Srinivas finished with three for 22 from seven overs while B Suresh who caused most of the later damage took three for 26.

India Cements did not have any problems in chasing their modest target. Openers VB Chandrasekhar (49) and S Suresh (17) put on 69 runs off 11.2 overs. After Suresh was run out, Vadia Raj picked up the wickets of Chandrasekhar and JB Honeywell in quick succession. Chandrasekhar made his runs off only 40 balls with the help of seven fours and two sixes. George John played a cameo innings of 20 off 29 balls and then S Sharath (17 not out) stayed firm as DJ Gokulakrishnan, with a flurry of strokes, steered India Cements to victory in the 28th over. Gokulakrishnan's unbeaten 22 came off just 18 balls and he hit two sixes.

At the Gymkhana ground, Mohiuddin performed the feat in the sixth over of the game. Mohiuddin first bowled Amit Deshpande for two. With the next delivery he had M Sabir caught by Vanka Pratap. And off the last ball of the over - his third - he had Y Ghare edging him to wicketkeeper Sabarwal.

At nine for three, Vidarbha were reeling. But most of the other batsmen made valuable contributions for them to make a recovery of sorts. The other opener Ali Akbar (25) and Ulhas Gandhi (16) added 43 runs for the fourth wicket off 12.4 overs. Both batsmen fell in successive overs but the innings was kept afloat by P Hedav (25) and Manish Doshi (51) putting on 63 runs for the sixth wicket off 15.2 overs. Doshi who hit his runs off 77 balls with the help of four boundary hits, was seventh out at 148. Then Abhijit Piprode coming in at No 10 hit out boldly to get 32 off 28 balls with three fours and a six before he was last out. Mohiuddin who dismissed Piprode finished with four for 45 as Vidarbha were all out for 198 in 49.5 overs. His hat-trick being completed just hours before Srinivas', it was the second of the tournament after Abdul Bari Wahab pulled off the feat at the Lal Bahadur stadium in 1974.

Hyderabad coasted to victory with eleven deliveries to spare. They started off with a first wicket partnership of 66 runs off 18.3 overs between Daniel Manohar (44) and skipper Nandakishore (22). Then Vinay Kumar got going and pushed the Hyderabad score along during a fifth wicket partnership of 40 runs off 5.2 overs with Parth Satwalkar (33 not out).

Former Indian captain Md Azharuddin who was named to lead Hyderabad in the tournament, missed the game. According to team coach Arshad Ayub, Azharuddin had a talk with him on Sunday night and told him that he had some very important domestic work. ``I was satisfied with the explanation,'' said Ayub.

The matches between India Pistons and IOC and between Canara Bank, replacements for MRF, and Combined Districts XI could not be played. The IOC team are stranded at Ballarshah Railway station due to the disruption of railway traffic while Canara Bank made it only this morning and they will be playing tomorrow.