Rahane powers IOC to victory
New Delhi   02-Sep-2010

Ajinkya Rahane (105) powered IndianOil (IOC) to a six-wicket win over Tata Sports Club in a Group 'B' match of the Airtel Rajsingh Dungarpur Corporate Trophy tournament here on Wednesday.

Tata, which elected to bat at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, scored 280 for three in its allotted 50 overs, thanks to an unbeaten 110 from Ishank Jaggi and 91 from Mandeep Singh.

Jaggi's innings was marked by his ability to work the ball around for ones and twos: during his 130-ball stay, he collected 58 singles and 12 twos; he also hit four fours and two sixes. Jaggi raised 187 for the third wicket with Mandeep before putting on 51 for the unbroken fourth wicket with Nishit Shetty (33 n.o.).

IOC began its chase in style. Its openers, Rahane and captain Wasim Jaffer, made quick runs with classical strokeplay, racing to 94 before being separated in the 14th over. Jaffer, who made 48, was in imperious form, striking medium-pacer Wilkin Mota for three consecutive fours before finishing the over with a gracefully pulled six.

Memorable shots

Rahane (117b, 9x4) played many memorable strokes himself - a back-drive and a late cut shone brighter than the rest. He consolidated the advantage gained by the opening partnership by adding 128 (150b) for the second wicket with left-hander Ravikant Shukla (84).

There was still work to be done after Rahane's departure - IOC was on 222 for two - but Shukla and Cheteshwar Pujara (32 not out) made good use of the batting Power Play to ensure IOC finished the contest with 10 balls to spare.

The scores: At Chennai: Tata SC 280 for three in 50 overs (Mandeep Singh 91, Ishank Jaggi 110 n.o.) lost to IOC 282 for four in 48.2 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 105, Wasim Jaffer 48, Ravikant Shukla 84).

At Bangalore: Income Tax 292 for six in 50 overs (A. Shrikhande 58, R. Dahiya 56 n.o., H. Shah 47) bt ONGC 121 in 30.4 overs (Argal four for 38, Dahiya three for 16).

State Bank of Patiala 187 in 48.1 overs (P. Dharmani 46, Sunny Gupta three for 45) bt MRF 174 in 43.3 overs (S. Sriram 46).

At Hyderabad: Air India 314 for five in 50 overs (S. Marathe 55, Manvinder Bisla 45, Mohd. Kaif 75, Hrishikesh Kanitkar 56, Naman Ojha 58 n.o.) bt BSNL 285 for nine (Mohnish Mishra 60, Arindam Das 103, B. S. Tomar 48, Ajit Chandala four for 36).

Chemplast 186 for seven in 25 overs (C. Hemant Kumar 53 R. Sathish 40, Chetan Williams three for 45) bt State Bank of Mysore 119 for seven in 25 overs.

At Visakhapatnam: India Cements 324 for six in 50 overs (K.B. Arun Karthik 112, Abhinav Mukund 86, Dinesh Karthik 42) bt State Bank of Hyderabad 199 in 43.2 overs (P. Srihari Rao 40) .