[1]Man of the match Mayank Sidhana (116) and Lakhan Singh (107 not out) hit enterprising centuries to power Food Corporation of India into the final of the 40th Goswami Ganesh Dutt Memorial cricket tournament.
In the first semi-final on Saturday, FCI beat eight-time champions Oil and Natural Gas Commission by seven wickets to make the title round after a gap of 21 years. They await the winners of the second semi-final between Air India and Sonnet Club.
FCI skipper Paras Dogra won the toss and elected to field. ONGC were given a solid start by openers Unmukt Chand (37) and Gautam Gambhir (49). Prashant Bhandari (58) and Mayank Tehlan (54) continued from where the openers left as ONGC consolidated their position.
A score of over 300 was well on the cards for ONGC but their last five overs fetched only 34 runs and they lost five wickets in the process. Despite losing their way towards the end of the innings, ONGC put up a competitive 278 in 39.5 overs. Medium pacer Rishi Dhawan was the most successful FCI bowler with 3/49 from his 10 overs. Pacer Javed Khan And left-arm spinner Manan Sharma took two wickets each.
The FCI reply was largely built around the impressive knocks by Sidhana and Singh, who shared a 138-run stand for the second wicket to take the game away from ONGC.
While Sidhana took 80 balls for his knock, studded with 12 boundaries and five sixes, Singh took 88 balls with 11 boundaries and three sixes, for his unbeaten innings. FCI reached the target in 37.4 overs, reaching the final for the first time since 1990-91.
Scores: ONGC 278 in 39.5 overs (Unmukt Chand 37, R.S.Sharma 18, Gautam Gambhir 49, Prashant Bhandari 58, Mayank Tehlan 54, Saran Rawat 22; Rishi Dhawan 3/49, Javed Khan 2/56, Manan Sharma 2/48) lost to FCI 279/3 in 37.4 overs (Chetan Sharma 14, Mayank Sidhana 116, Lakhan Singh 107 not out, Paras Dogra 25; Vikramjeet Malik 1/58, Saurab Kumar 1/62, Sarang Rawat 1/30)
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