NEW DELHI, May 27: Young Pradeep Chawla stood firm amongst the ruins as Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) recovered from a disastrous start (56 for three) to down Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) by three wickets with 22 deliveries to spare in their Pool C league match of Lala Raghubir Hot Weather Tournament at the Modern School grounds here on Wednesday.With Feroz Ghayas sending back Pitamber Dutt and Deepak Anand off successive deliveries, SAIL, chasing a target of 138, were in trouble. But Ashu Dani (33) and Sanjay Raul (21) helped Chawla redeem the situation. With 25 runs remaining for victory, SAIL lost four wickets but Chawla, wicketkeeper in the victorious Lombard World Challenge Cup two years ago, remained calm to steer the team to victory. Earlier, star-studded ONGC failed to put up a decent show by losing the first three wickets for 12 in four overs. After a partial recovery through Gautam Vadhera, Manoj Mudgil and Chetan Sharma, they folded up in 37.4 overs. Sanjay Raul claimed three wickets.
ONGC: 137 all out in 37.4 overs (Manoj Mudgil 29, Gautam Vadhera 27, Chetan Sharma 27, Sanjay Raul 3 for 21, Oniel Wilson 2 for 24, Surender Kumar 2 for 26, Hira Lal Yadav 2 for 17); SAIL: 138 for 7 in 36.2 overs (Ashu Dani 33, Pradeep Chawla 54 not out, Sanjay Raul 21, Feroz Ghayas 2 for 18, Yuvraj Singh 2 for 26).
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
