Maurindia Cricket Club played Seychelles Cricket Association at SMF grounds for the coveted Air India Challenge Cup late last month and aptly came out in "FLYING Colours". From the moment the annual cricket tourney was inaugurated by the honourable minister of Youth and Sports Mr. Ravi Yerrigadoo, Maurindia could do no wrong including winning the toss. Inspired by Mr Yerrigadoo's promise to don the white flannels for Mauritius in the near future - the team went about its task with a sense of determination bejeweled by some brilliant individual efforts.

The first half an hour of the game saw the openers back in the pavilion in contrasting fashion. Maj. Rohit Kapoor fell to an ambitious square cut before he could get his eye in and Ravi timidly ballooning a slower one to square leg after a strokeful run a ball 17.

Thus with the game poised delicately at 25 for 2 in 7 overs, in walked Ashwini armed to the tooth with his patent brand of pyrotechnics. He lost no time in dismembering the bowling with an urgent sense of purpose and taking the battle to the rival camp with élan.

In company of Gopal he put Seychelles attack to sword with a quick fire 69 studded with four boundaries and three sixes to as many parts of ground. More importantly the pair put on a vital 118 runs for the fourth wicket in just 12 overs. Eventually missing a straight one altogether in a candid old-fashioned attempt to hit it into tomorrow, Ashwini bowed out of the centre stage with 130 on the scoreboard. Gopal followed Ashwini also bowled by Ramesh and the remaining batsmen fell in a heap in an effort to maximize the score. The final tally was a challenging 163-9 in the allotted 35 overs.

Seychelles started their essay with caution, in hindsight an overdose of it since it did not augur well with their natural inclination and ability. The first seven overs yielded just 20 and Gopal reeled out three maidens in a row.

With the asking rate mounting a sense of panic got the better of the openers. This was very evident at the fall of otherwise flamboyant Deepak. Keeping his usually flashing willow under restraint he invited an immense amount of pressure on himself. Deepak unilaterally set off for a cheeky single and the ensuing melee found both of them at the same end not exactly exchanging pleasantries even while the bails were being removed from the other. Patrick then decided to meet the ball by stepping out. Patel held one back to counter his down the track "Sega" and the keeper had time enough to adjust his shoe laces before whipping off the bails. Mudhita tried to hit his way out of trouble but drove straight into Patel's waiting hands at point off Gaurav. Farooq and Shanta wound up giving some catching practice to Hemant off Gaurav and Romi respectively.

Dr Singh decide to indulge in strokeplay of the agricultural variety by trying to pick one from Patel Spinning away from him on the off and somehow cart it behind square. Predictablly the ball kissed the top edge and sat up to be pouched with minimum of fuss.

Kaushal took all of three balls that followed to run out of his reserves of patience and flirted with one a bit short and guided into the pair of eager gloves behind. Ramesh hit one back into the hands of Patel and Bartram spooned one off him to Gopal.

The proverbial last flicker of the dying flame was provided by Jaichandran as he walloped Romi for a six before the curtains were brought down by a faster one that castled Bijoo.Seychelles innings came to a close for a mere 65 in 25 overs and Mr Extras almost staked the claim for top scorer a shade behind Mudhita's 20.

The margin of defeat was almost 100 runs but Ashwini's cracker of a 69, which the entire Seychelles team for all their efforts found hard to match, can sum up the story. He earned the award of man of the match for his bludgeoning and Maurindia emphatically walked nay flew away with Air India Challenge Cup.

Teams: Maurindia - Ashwini Sood (Capt.), Maj. R.Kapoor, Sqn. Ldr. S.Maingi (wk), Roshan, Romi, Gopal, Patel, Gaurav, Hemant, Ravi, Ismail
Seychelles - Ramesh (Capt.), Patrick, Dipak, Mudhita, Shanta, Farooq, Dr. Singh, Kaushal, Bartram, Biju, Jaichandran
Umpires: Ishtiaq and Sudhir

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