NIIT lifts the Keane Cup

Delhi-based NIIT Ltd successfully defended its title when it won The Ninth Cyber Media Cricket Tournament For The Keane Cup third year in a row. In the final, which was a 30 over a side affair, it defeated Gurgaon-based Efunds International India (P) Ltd by 53 runs in a rather one-sided game.

NIIT won the toss and elected to bat first. It had a rather sedate start as it kept loosing batsmen at regular intervals. At the end of 10 overs NIIT had been able to score just 54 runs and at the same time had lost four wickets. By the 19th over, it had lost its top six batsmen with just 111 runs on board. Then came the 117 runs partnership between Kapil Gupta and Vikash Verma who pulverized the Efunds attack. Their scored the 117 runs in just about nine overs. Kapil departed after making a scintillating 89 of just 39 balls. His knock contained 10 sixes and four boundaries. Their effort enabled NIIT to score a very good 260 runs in their allotted 30 overs. For Efunds, Sumeet Bhutani was the most successful and economical bowler who conceded just 19 runs in his quota of six overs and snapped up two crucial wickets.

In reply, Efunds never looked in the race as they kept loosing wickets at regular intervals. Its captain Vikas Sharma waged a lone battle. But when he was out after a well made 81 of just 50 balls, the writing was on the walls for them. NIIT bowlers kept a tight leash on the Efunds batsmen right through the innings. While Kapil captured four wickets, Vikash and Ashish Sachdeva got three wickets each.

For his brilliant knock of 89 and also taking four wickets for 37 runs and one catch, Kapil was declared the
man-of-the-match.

Brief score: NIIT 260 for 9 in 30 overs (Kapil 89, Gaurav 32, Vikash 26, Sumeet B 2 for 19, Awais 2 for 28) defeated Efunds 207 all out in 28.5 overs (Vikas 81, Sanjay 26, Zameer 22, Awais 20, Kapil 4 for 37, Vikash 3 for 34, Ashish S 3 for 43) by 53 runs.

Vikas Sharma of Efunds who effected 10 stumpings and took eight catches, was declared the best wicketkeeper of the tournament. Pankaj Mohanty of Efunds who took 15 wickets by giving away just 207 runs, was declared the best bowler of the tournament. The best batsman award went to Rajesh Narwal of STMicro who scored a total of 315 runs including one century and two fifties at an average of 78.75. For scoring 319 runs, capturing 11 wickets and taking eight catches, Kapil Gupta of NIIT was adjudged the player of the tournament.

The award ceremony was jointly presided over by Pradeep Gupta, MD of Cyber Media (India) Ltd, and Parminder Miglani, MD of Keane India Ltd. In his address, Gupta touched upon the history of the tournament, how it started and how it had evolved over the last nine years and some interesting sidelights. Miglani congratulated all the participants and reaffirmed his commitment to the tournament.

Earlier, in a match to decide the second runner up, HP lost to STMicro.

Score: STMicro 294 for 3 in 30 overs (Mudit 125, Rajesh 114 not out) beat HP 188 all out in 26.4 overs (Sanjeev S 72, Vivek 42, Dheeraj 22, Sanjay 3 for 23, Vivek 2 for 22).

Mudit of STMicro was declared the man-of-the-match.

Cyber News Service