ARUN, DEVANG LEAD INFOSYS TO VICTORY
On a day when everything Devang touched would have turned gold, WIPRO were humiliated at Infosys cricket ground by Infosys. WIPRO lost the first match of the Infosys Corporate Cricket cup 2008 by 128 runs.
Wipro went into bat with a humongous target of 222 in 20 overs. Sachin and Harish.K.Choudhary started off the proceedings for Infosys. Sachin soon scalped Wipro opener, Manjunath in his 2nd over. The off stump went for a walk. Sachin’s reaction looked as if this was such a normal routine day in and day out. Wipro had just added 11 runs before losing their opener in just the 3rd over of the innings. A strong LBW appeal was turned down soon after the fall of the first wicket. After the tight first spell by both the bowlers, Suyash.K.Srivastava and Sandeep Somasekharan took the attack to the opposition. There were no boundaries scored in the first 6 overs, during the field restrictions. Bharath Bhaskar stopped almost two certain boundaries. Captain Devang also managed two stop a couple of certain boundaries during the same over. The ground fielding on display was top notch with the offside field protected by the best of Infosys. It looked almost certain that the ball would never pierce the offside field with Rahul standing in slips, Vinay, the best fielder in Infosys standing in gully, and young turks Saurabh, Suyash in point and covers. Devang completed the offside field, by standing in mid-off. Runs were choked and the boundaries dried up. Wipro never looked up to the task in hand. Sucheet provided the much needed breakthrough as he stopped the single at square leg and threw back the ball on time to dismiss the other opener, Chirag for 12. Wipro were 41 after 9 overs were completed. There was no urgency showed by other batsmen as well. When a dot ball is considered golden in Twenty20 format, Vinay bowled an astonishing maiden over. The pressure showed on the batsmen as they tried to sneak a single which was not at all there. Bharath with a smart presence of mind ran out Wipro captain, Deepesh and the score card read 48/3 in 11.1 overs.50 came up in 12 overs. Infosys had reached the same landmark off a mere 27 balls. In the meanwhile, Pramod, Wipro’s mainstay had to retire after he had sustained an ankle twist. Dharmendra was later bowled by Vinay when he tried to up the ante. The score read 64 when Wipro lost their 5th wicket. Sucheet castled Thyagu’s off stump in the 16th over of the innings. When the match was almost lost, 3 boundaries were scored off Vinay’s final over. Anantha tried to make some match of it, but it was too late. When there were 6 balls left, Wipro needed 136 runs.
Earlier in the day, Wipro won the toss and elected to bowl first on a slow, dead pitch. The conditions were sunny and the openers were expected to make the most of it. Devang was joined by a new partner, Arun for this tournament. After the loss of big players due to various official commitments, Infosys’s batting was felt to be weak and jittery. But, it took just one over to prove the detractors wrong. Arun was dropped in the 1st slip off the 2nd ball of the day when he was on 0. That miss proved very costly and Arun just had too many gifts that Wipro were to offer him on the day. Devang made the bat talk with a crisp boundary through covers followed by a six over midwicket. Arun bludgeoned Anantha, Wipro’s opening left arm bowler towards midwicket as he flicked a boundary. The signs were ominous and Wipro had to take a beating now. Two consecutive boundaries off the legs by Devang towards the fine leg saw Infosys race to 44 off just 4 overs. Some sloppy fielding and shoddy wicket keeping allowed Infosys reach 52 off just 27 balls. Arun matched shot to shot with Devang. There was never a dull moment when this pair was in the middle. All of a sudden, 100 came in just 54 balls. Arun first reached 50 with 8 sparkling boundaries. Arun smashed boundaries all over the park. His straight drive, flicks towards midwicket, and cuts over point were too classical too be missed. Devang followed suit as he reached his 50 off just 27 balls. Devang had 7 boundaries and 2 huge sixes studded in his 50.
Arun was finally dismissed when he was on 75. There were 2 more reprieves for Arun after he reached 50. Arun’s dismissal brought an end to a stunning first wicket partnership of 171 runs off just 88 balls. Devang never looked to slow down as he collected boundaries over point and fine leg in one over.
Infy soon lost its way as they stumbled to 196 /5. Vinay was run out after a stupendous fielding effort. Devang lost his wicket when he was on 73 trying to increase the score. Saurabh was also castled and returned to the pavilion with a duck. Rahul came, scored a four with a slice over gully and was run out off the next ball.
Bharath on the other hand, took the late charge with a cameo of 30*(13). Bharath made most use of the opportunity he got when he was dropped on 0 at mid on. Bharath’s late flourish meant Infosys ended the innings on a high note. Infosys made sure that they never lost on the run rate. The target of 222 was just too many for Wipro to chase and they surrendered meekly without any effort.
Infosys have started their Corporate cup campaign in style. It is the perfect start for a team in any tournament. Infosys would like to keep up this momentum going for their next encounter as well.
Infosys XI: - Devang Praful Vasani (c), Arun (wk), Vinay.K.Chandra, Harish Kumar Choudhary, Rahul Garg, Bharath Bhaskar, Saurabh Dhawan, Sucheet, Sachin, Suyash Kumar Srivastava and Sandeep Somasekharan
Match summary
Infosys beat Wipro by 128 runs.
Infosys Wipro
Arun 78(51) Anantha 1-30
Devang 73(39) Donald 1-46
Bharath 30*(13) Thyagu 1-54
Wipro Infosys
Anantha 23* Sucheet 1-8
Pramod 23 Sachin 1-17
Chirag 12 Vinay 1-20
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