JOIN USPraveen, Sandeep shine in ONGC's easy victory
Blame it on complacency or the hunger for success of their fired-up young rivals, the defeat against Taxmen had woken up ONGC from their slumber. In a must-win situation to escape an early elimination from the tournament, the Gautam Gambhir-led side brought in five changes to their playing XI and it had the desired effect.
Only medium pacer Sumit Narwal (3/37), who justified his retention with a man-of-the-match show, survived the axe among the frontline bowlers as Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel made an expected return while off-spinner Suhail Sharma and left-armer Praveen Gupta replaced Sarandeep Singh and Amit Mishra.
The revamped attack, after Gambhir once again chose to bowl first, did admirably well to restrict MRF to 242 for six in 50 overs. The target in itself was none-too-intimidating but having conceded a bonus point to IT in the first match, ONGC needed to reach the target in 40 overs to earn one and they did so with more than 12 overs to spare here at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Thursday. For ONGC to qualify for semis now, they have to beat State Bank of Patiala with a bonus points and pray that MRF win against IT in Friday’s clashes.
New-ball bowlers Praveen and Munaf went wicketless in their opening spells but their parsimonious ways ensured MRF scored no more than 36 runs in the first Power Play.
Openers Thalaivan Sargunam and Anirudha Srikkanth, after a rather long look-in, unfurled some strokes to breathe some urgency into the innings. Just when the duo was beginning to take to its wings, left-armer Gupta drew the first blood to remove Saragunam (39) and end an 87-run association. As it often happens after a lengthy partnership, Anirudha perished soon when Virat Kohli brought up an excellent catch at point off Narwal.
Skipper S Sriram (45, 3x4, 1x6) and Y Venugopala Rao (83, 89b, 6x4, 2x6) summoned all their experience to the fore and put on fruitful 77 runs between them before the former was dismissed. It was a vintage Venu on show after that. The right-hander was particularly severe against Munaf, whom he hit for three consecutive fours in one over.
The Baroda bowler had conceded just 17 runs in his first seven overs, but finished with figures of 52/0 after 10 overs. However, MRF’s inability to capitalise on Power Play overs saw them finish with a sub-par total. The 20 overs of field restriction fetched them a disappointing 93 runs.
Contrast this with ONGC who scored 124 runs in 20 Power Play overs. By sending Praveen to open their innings along with Sandeep Sharma (75, 77b, 9x4, 1x6), ONGC made their intentions clear of going for a bonus point. The right-hander, primarily a bowler but no mug with the bat either, played an entertaining 53-ball 54 (6x4, 4x6) and raised 96 for the opening stand in just 16 overs.
Another pinch-hitter Narwal walked in and though he wasn’t as effective with the bat, Sharma’s belligerence kept ONGC on track.
Notwithstanding a mini collapse later that saw Narwal, Mithun Manhas and Gambhir depart in quick succession, ONGC sailed home safe once the cool heads of Tanmay Srivatsava (36 n.o.) and Kohli (26 n.o.) took control of the situation.