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| Press Coverage Home > Press Coverage |
DOON VS SANAWAR- Friendship Cup
Nalin Khanna
After seeing the enthusiastic turnout in the DSOBS Inter House cricket, Donny and Nalin put together 2 teams to play against the Sanawar Old Boys in Delhi. The Dosco's turned up for practice the day before and hence were able to organise the 2 teams with a mix of youth and experience. Youngsters like Amitoj 'Jonny' Singh (class of 2004) right upto stalwarts like Arun Khanna (class of '73) and Indu Shekar (class of '74) reported to the ground promptly and the matches got underway on a pleasant winter morning.
DSOBS 'A' vs SANAWAR 'A'
Nalin won the toss and elected to bat. Dhruv and Amitoj opened the batting but Dhruv fell early to Apoorva's swinging delivery. Raghav and Amitoj rectified the situation before Amitoj got stumped trying to push the scoring rate. Arun Khanna led the way with a blistering 61 off 42 deliveries and with a late flourish from Shashi Vaish (20 off 15 balls) the DSOBS 'A' team finished at 205 in the stipulated 30 overs.
Sanawar replied strongly - largely helped by the butter (or beer) fingers of the Dosco team. Kim Sinha led the way with a 78 of 63 balls. Asheet, Manas, Abhishek 'Boozy', Dhiru and Ambuj all tried their luck - to no avail. Raghav struck back with some quick wickets and in the last 10 overs, Sanawar still required more than run a ball. But they had in their midst Himachal Ranji Trophy player Sangram Singh who seemed to have continued from his unbeaten double century scored the previous day against Kerala. His 45 off 29 deliveries took the game away from the Dosco's with 6 balls to spare. Perhaps the Dosco's need to recall their ex-Ranji stars. A few more Gaekwad's, Khanna's and Dalvi's are required next year.
DSOBS 'A' 205 for 8 (30 overs): Arun Khanna 61, Raghav 43, Amitoj 32 Sanawar 'A' 206 for 4 (29 overs): Kim 78, Sangram 45, Raghav (4 for 40) DSOBS 'A' lost by 6 wickets.
DSOBS 'B' vs SANAWAR 'B'
The Dosco 'B' team led by Donny Singh included players like Vipin Malhotra (class of '76), Indu Shekhar (class of '74), Sanjay Mediratta (class of '75), Sandeep Chandra, Yadav Rai, Pepe Duggal and young guns like Bawa Uday Singh, Pranav Sahai, Psycho, Franko and Manu Saxena. Sanawar won the toss and put us in. Uday 44(off 34 deliveries) and Pepe 30 (off 27 deliveries) opened the batting and gave us a rollicking start by putting on 81 in 9 overs. Pranav went in at one down. We were going along really well at 9 runs an over, when Donny, Medi, Vipin(despite Mr. Vohra's appearance on the ground) and Sandeep Chandra were out in quick succession. However, Indu 25 and Pranav had a great partnership of over a 100 runs in quick time. Pranav played the innings of his life in getting 100 off 59 balls, the last 43 coming of only 9 balls. Franko 15 (of 10 balls) got us to a formidable score of 276 off 30 overs.
Yadav Rai and Franko opened the bowling for us, and restricted the Sanawar opening pair of Chabra and Shivneet to a reasonable score. Chabra the more belligerent of the two started to step up the tempo. Donny came on first change to bowl his off spinners. His 'doosra' was working well, however, neither the batsmen nor Pepe, the keeper was picking them. Medi came on with his leg breaks from the other end. Unfortunately, due to several missed chances (BEVERAGES at lunch I&Mac226;m sure), their batsmen grew in confidence and started to hit the ball around. Finally, we got the break through we needed in the 15th over, when Shivneet 44 was caught by Yadav off Donny and DRINKS were called. We could have finished the match off the very next ball, as Chabra 73 was dropped at mid wicket (are you wondering what was served at the break). The required run rate had come down to 100 of 10 overs with 9 wickets in hand. The turning point came when Yadav in his second spell, bowling off spinners claimed 3 wickets in an over. Medi from the other end claimed 4 wickets and finally Indu wrapped it up with his in dippers, claiming the last 3 wickets. Thanks to the great team effort and inspirational leadership, it was a comprehensive victory for the 'B' Team by 50 runs.
DSOBS 'B': 276 for 9 in 30 overs ( Pranav 100, Uday 44, Pepe 30, Indu Shekhar 25, Franko 15) Avtar 3 for 37, Sondhi 3 for 68. SANAWAR 'B' : 226 all out in 29 overs (Chabra 73, Shivneet 44, Sondhi 17, Avtar 31) Indu Shekhar 3 for 7, Yadav 3 for 32, Medi 4 for 56, Donny 1 for 44.
DSOBS 'B' wins by 50 Runs
The cricket was followed by a dinner at a Lebanese restaurant. True to the occasion Shomie Das gave away the trophies donated by the Malik & Khanna family respectively though it was the presence of Diya Mirza which caught the attention of all the Dosco's present. Rohit Roy and Kim Sinha from Sanawar and Asheet Lanba and Dhruv Rathore from the Dosco's ensured that the event was well funded. The Malhotra's led by Vipin made sure that everybody thirst was quenched on and off the field. A note of thanks to Tata Asset Management Company, Taj Hotels, Raymonds, Air Canada and Surya Crowne Plaza who sponsored the event.
Our next cricket event will be the DSOBS Inter House slated to be held on February 19, 2005. See you all there.
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