da bwin： Guru Nanak College Ground, Chennai was the venue for the South Zone Ranji TrophyOne Day Tournament match between Kerala and Hyderabad
Santhosh S08-Dec-2000Guru Nanak College Ground, Chennai was the venue for the South Zone Ranji TrophyOne Day Tournament match between Kerala and Hyderabad. Kerala who had scoredback to back wins against Goa and Andhra Pradesh were hopeful of an upsetvictory against Hyderabad. Mohammad Ghouse dashed all Kerala hopes with awhirlwind knock of 20 in just 8 balls including three consecutive sixes and thenbowling an economical spell of 10-2-29-1.On a crisp Friday morning, Hyderabad won the toss and elected to bat. The grassyoutfield had more to it than what met the eye. Grass was uneven and the outfieldbumpy and to add to the misery the Kerala fielders found it painful divingaround. Hyderabad amassed 272/7 in their 50 overs. Thanks to the useful knocksby Daniel Manohar (60), Vanka Pratap (55) and D Vinay Kumar an unbeaten 53. ForKerala Ananthapadmanabhan picked up 3/45. The 48th over of the innings bowled bySreekumar Nair produced 28 runs as Mohammad Ghouse swung three sixes in a rowover the midwicket fence. Tinu Yohannan who bowled the 49th over, sent Ghouse’soff stump cartwheeling of a no ball, which summed up Kerala’s day.Clear blue skies, brilliant sunshine and a stiff breeze that swayed the treesthat stood all around the ground, was just picture perfect for a cricket match.Kerala batsmen strolled into the middle with absolutely no idea of making amatch of it. The pitch also made things worse with an uneven bounce. At onepoint, Kerala were batting as if to save a four day match, defending the ballswith dour determination. Opener MP Sorab who has had a reasonable run with thebat in this tournament again got a start and made 44 in 85 balls. KChandrashekhara tried his best with an innings of 55 in 62 balls. The reliablecaptain Sunil Oasis disappointed as he tried to steer an arm ball from Indiareject Venkatpathy Raju and was bowled for 24 (33 balls). Sreekumar Nair hithard to make 16 in 10 balls, but all was over for Kerala in the 48th over whenthe innings folded for 208. Raju had an afternoon out with no effort at all tofinish with 3/32. Hyderabad took two points while Kerala took none.