University of Madras triumph after hilarious ending

27^th June, 2007

Just fancy that!. It was supposed to be the first 20Twenty match in Malaysia between the Malaysian Cricket Association President's XI and the University of Madras (UoM) that turned into a tame affair after the final ball was bowled at the Kinrara Oval on Wednesday.

Set a target of 135 runs for victory the Malaysians reached 127 for the loss of six wickets in 18.3 overs and needed eight runs from nine balls to win. They inched closer to level  134 only  to fumble in the last ball of the day!.

All that last man standing Ariffin Ramly needed to do was push for a single off the last ball from Keder Nath and the seniors were set for their first 20Twenty win on home soil. Unfortunately, Ariffin was stumped and all hopes went down the well as the Indians celebrated.

And just when there was another chance to glue the pieces together as umpires M. Megathevar and Venkatesh Rao called the best of five bowlers from both sides to attack the wickets to decide on the winners (just like penalty strokes in hockey) it turned into a hilarious affair!

It began with the President's XI taking the cue first. Suresh Navaratnam, Rohan Vishnu Suppiah, M. Krishnamurthi, Shukri Abdul Rahim and Nasir Ali all missed the stumps, giving the Indians a high volume of confidence to pull off just one wicket on their part to claim victory, But they were amused faces all round as the University of Madras bowlers - Thalaivan Sargunam, Suresh Kumar, Keder Nath and S. Thiyagaranjan - fired blanks too and the score still read 0-0!.

However, it took the last bowler paceman K.B. Arun Kartick to knock the stumps down as the Indians celebrated once again with a one-wicket win under the 20Twenty rules.

Earlier in the Indian innings, University Madras' Vijayan Ragvan, batting at No 3, smashed 44 runs, No 4 bat Arun added 27 while opening batman Thalaivan knocked 25 runs to steer UoM to 134 runs after losing the first wicket for only two runs in the second over.

Shukri Rahim grabbed four wickets at the expense of 29 runs and Suresh had three for 8 runs in a four-over spell respectively.

In reply, President's XI lost two consecutive wickets in the fourth over. Rakesh Madhavan was caught by Arun Kartick off Suresh Kumar in the first ball of the fourth over and Naser Ali followed suit in the next ball for a golden duck as the Malaysians staggered at 37-2.

 Opening batsman and skipper Vishnu, however, held the innings together with a knock of 47 runs which included two sixers and four boundaries and was well supported by Dinesh Muthuraman (25) and Krishnamurthi (24) as the hosts strolled to 134 runs to tie the match at the end of the 20th over.

Both teams meet again Thursday at the same venue at 10am.