da winzada777： Vidarbha succumbed to a 124 run loss against a Chemplast side poweredto a commanding total of 252 by a Dinesh Mongia century in the Moin udDowlah Cup
Anand Vasu06-Sep-2000Vidarbha succumbed to a 124 run loss against a Chemplast side poweredto a commanding total of 252 by a Dinesh Mongia century in the Moin udDowlah Cup. The state side lost the toss and with that their fortunesslid from bad to worse.The Chemplast side led by veteran Tamil Nadu all-rounder Diwakar Vasugot to a bad start, losing opener Ganesh Kumar with just 6 runs on theboard. However, the in form Badrinath then strode out and managed tosteady the ship. It was not until the fall of the second wicket with24 on the board that fortunes really swung towards Chemplast. Inwalked Punjab middle order batsman Dinesh Mongia. He took the bull bythe horns, and pieced together an invaluable 101 (107b, 5×4). Althoughhe struck just 5 boundaries in the course of his innings, he did notwaste any time scoring his runs.At the other end, Mongia was well supported by Vasanth Saravanan whomanaged to make 38 in an 89 run stand for the 4th wicket before he wasrun out. The dismissal of Saravanan gave Mumbai southpaw JatinParanjpe a chance to prove his mettle with around 18 overs to go. The22 year old off spinner Amol Jichkar accounted for Paranjpe (25) andby this stage, Chemplast were sitting pretty with 185 to their credit.Ajay Kuduva, known as a clean striker of the ball, helped himself to22 off just 14 balls and the Chennai corporate side ended theirinnings on 252/7.Mongia’s century was the backbone of a score that would take somebeating.Although Vidarbha openers Amit Deshpande and Ali Akbar got them off toa reasonable start, the fall of the first wicket was indeed thebeginning of the end. With no batsman managing to stay at the wicketlong enough to make a significant score, the Chemplast bowlers mademerry. Opening seamers shared 5 wickets between them, giving away 81runs in the process. However, the second half of the Vidarbha inningsclearly lacked resolve. Left arm spinner Diwakar Vasu scalped 2/7 ofhis 5 overs while off spinner SR Ganesh Kumar returned the flatteringfigures of 3/12.Wickets falling at regular intervals meant that Vidarbha’s responsechasing 253 was a meek 128. Victory by 124 runs will mean all roundcelebrations in the Chemplast camp. The victory however, will besweetest for centurion Dinesh Mongia.