da esport bet： It was more of anti-climax at the Gymkhana ground in Hyderabad onSunday in the finals of the Moin-ud_Dowlah Gold Cup Invitationtournament
Staff Reporter20-Sep-2001It was more of anti-climax at the Gymkhana ground in Hyderabad onSunday in the finals of the Moin-ud_Dowlah Gold Cup Invitationtournament. India Cements overpowered MRF XI by seven wickets andregistered and emphatic victory. Chasing a modest target of 209 runsfor a win, India Cements knocked off the runs with 16.3 overs tospare. The highlight of the day was the brilliant all round perfomanceby the India international player Virender Shewag.Earlier in the day Sridharan Sriram won the toss for MRF XI and didnot hesitate to have a bat first. With just nine runs on the board MRFXI lost their opening batsman Aashish Kapoor (5) in the fourth over.India discards Vikram Rathour and Hrishikesh Kanitkar (22) took thescore to 55 in the fifteenth over. Kanitkar was caught by Sunil Oasisoff the bowling of skipper S Suresh.Rajat Batia (19) was caught behind by Padmanabhan Raju off the bowlingof Gokulakrishnan and MRF XI slipped to 86/3 in the 22nd over. VikramRathour and Hemang Badani steadied the innings and put together adecent partnership of 51 runs off 11.3 overs. Rathour made the onlyhalf century of the MRF XI innings, scoring 55 runs off 84 balls withthe help of half a dozen boundaries.It was Verender Shewag who claimed the valuable wicket of Rathour,trapping the batsman in front of the wicket. Shewag tasted moresuccess when he had Badani (27) stumped by wicket-keeper Raju. TanveerJabbar (19) and Sriram (19) were the other batsmen to get to doublefigures. The MRF XI innings wound up at 208 all out in 48.2 overs.Shewag with his off spin was the pick of the bowlers, finishing withthe figures of 10-0-38-3. Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan and Suresh claimedtwo wickets apiece.India Cements lost the skipper Suresh early in their run chase, caughtby Kapoor off the bowling of Kumaran in the fifth over after makingjust six runs. Shewag who opened with Suresh was in brilliant form,knocking the ball all around the park. Vidyut was promoted up thebatting order and cracked 22 runs off 23 balls, before being caught byMahesh off the bowling of Gautam in the 12th over.Rahul Dravid walked in and along with Shewag smashed the MRF XIbowlers for runs. They added 106 runs for the third wicket off just15.2 overs, taking the score to 158 in the 27th over. Shewagbludgeoned 92 runs off 91 balls before being bowled by Kumaran. Hisinnings was decorated with two majestic blows over the ropes and 11glorious boundaries.Sridharan Sharath came out to bat and did not waste any time, strikingsix boundaries to make an unbeaten 26 off 28 balls to take the IndiaCements past the target. Rahul Dravid remained unbeaten on 51 off 56balls with the help of four boundaries. MRF XI bowlers were completelydominated by the India Cements batsmen, only exception being Kumaran(10-1-35-2). Hemang Badani injured his back while fielding and laterwas found out that he a stress fracture. India Cements were the worthychampions and took home the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup.