Air India’s Himanshu Asnora (150, 266b, 18x4, 2 x6) dashed former champion MRF’s hopes of making the final in the Coromandel King all-India Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup cricket tournament here at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium on Saturday.
Needing an outright win to make the final, MRF could manage only a draw in the third and final round match.
A wet outfield, that delayed the start of the match by 90 minutes, and then a brilliant century southpaw Asnora ended MRF’s hopes.
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Air India scored 301 in 83 overs in reply to MRF’s 352 in 89.5 overs.
The top teams from each group — India Cements (12 points) from Group II and Hyderabad XI (11 points) from Group I — qualified for the three-day final at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium from September 14.
In another match, Hyderabad XI drew with FCI at Vijayanand Gardens.
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The scores: Final day:
MRF 352 in 89.4 overs drew with Air India 301 in 83 overs (Himanshu Asnora 150, Rahul Yadav 40, Sunil Sam three for 58, Nathu Singh four for 79, Sunny Gupta three for 83).
Hyd XI 349 for two decl in 71 overs drew with FCI 283 in 77.4 overs (Sandipan Das 83, Pulkit Narang 74, Prasanth Choudhary 32, Mehdi Hasan four for 95).
Hyd President’s XI vs ONGC – Play abandoned.
India Cements vs Sri Lanka Devlopment XI – Play abandoned.
Points table:
Group I: 1. Hyderabad XI 11 pts, 2. Air India 6, 3. MRF 9, 4. FCI 1. Group II: 1. India Cements 12 pts, 2. Sri Lanka 6, 3. ONGC 5, 4. Hyd President’s XI 3.