IOC qualifies despite losing thriller
New Delhi   04-Sep-2010

IndianOil (IOC) qualified for the semifinals of the Airtel Rajsingh Dungarpur Corporate Trophy despite losing a thriller to Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) here at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.

Group B's second successive last-ball finish precipitated a three-way tie, IOC, BPCL, and Tata Sports Club ending with a win and four points from two league matches. But IOC's net run-rate of 0.1402 enabled it advance to the last four ahead of BPCL (net run-rate: 0.0141) and Tata (-0.1025).
Chasing BPCL's 134 for nine — the match was shortened to 21 overs a side because of rain — IOC appeared poised to progress emphatically to the next stage.

The third-wicket partnership of 56 between Ravikant Shukla (47) and Rohit Sharma (37) helped IOC to 108 for two in 17.4 overs.
The first signs of worry appeared when Rohit, who had slapped Aavishkar Salvi over point for six, failed to keep the seamer's yorker from detonating his stumps.

However, Shukla assumed charge of the situation, carving and swiping Sreesanth for two fours in the 19th over.
Aditya Tare's cover-driven four earlier in the over meant the equation for victory was now 13 runs from 12 balls. Abhishek Nayar gave away seven runs in a largely eventless 20th over, setting up a dramatic last over.

The final over

Veteran Sitanshu Kotak bowled a dot ball to Cheteshwar Pujara to begin the 21s {+t} over. Manish Pandey ran Pujara out off the next ball, which was followed by two scrappily earned singles.

Shukla, aiming to finish the match with one hit, tried to slog-sweep Kotak, and only managed a top edge.

He tried to make the best of it, calling his partner through for two, but Anup Revandkar's throw caught him short. It was the fourth run-out of the innings.

Kotak bowled Javed Khan off the last ball of the match to seal the two-run win.

In vain was IOC's magnificent bowling and fielding effort that had reduced BPCL from 95 for two to 115 for eight.
In hindsight, Salvi's two fours and a six in the last over were game-changing hits for BPCL. But, they weren't enough to book the side a berth in the next round.

The scores: At Chennai: BPCL 134 for nine in 21 overs (Rajesh Pawar three for 34) bt IOC 132 for seven in 21 overs (Ravikant Shukla 47).
At Bangalore: State Bank of Patiala 135 in 46 overs (Sumit Narwal three for 17) lost to ONGC 138 for four in 22.3 overs (Tanmay Srivastav 49 n.o., Gagan Khoda 45).

MRF 283 for nine in 50 overs (Venugopal Rao 82, S. Sriram 58) lost to Income Tax 284 for four in 35.2 overs (A. Ubharande 76, J. Desai 56 n.o., A. Shrikhande 53, Hiten Shah 50).

At Hyderabad: State Bank of Mysore 144 in 39.2 overs (C. Sasi Kumar 42, D.S. Kulkarni three for 44, Ankit Chauhan three for 30) lost to Air India 148 for one in 19.3 overs (Chandan Madan 54 n.o., Naman Ojha 84).

BSNL 288 for nine in 50 overs (Manish Mishra 80, Arindam Das 43, Sanjay Bamel 49, L. Vignesh three for 49, Piyush Chawla four for 67) lost to Chemplast 289 for five in 45.5 overs (Murali Vijay 112, R. Satish 68 n.o., Salil Yadav three for 40).

At Visakhapatnam: All India Electricity Sports Control Board 128 in 41.2 overs (Manoj Tiwary 43) lost to India Cements 134 for three in 28 overs (Dinesh Karthik 62 n.o., A. Mukund 58 n.o., Manoj Tiwary three for 37).