In a Division 1 game at the GMIS Grounds on Sunday, the hosts took on the might of WPP India XI. Winning the toss and inserting the opposition in to bat, GMIS were not quite prepared for the onslaught of the WPP batsmen, who lead by Pallav Malhotra’s attacking 155 runs, amassed 315/9 in its full quota of 35 overs. Vasudevan Parthasarathy was the other main contributor scoring 73 runs. Surviving a close call for a catch when on 40 runs, Pallav went on the leather hunt as GMIS bowlers found no answers to his scintillating strokeplay. Mohammad Imran took 3 wickets, while Jalaj Chaturvedi and Karan Tiwari took 2 wickets each.
In a ground known to be full of runs, GMIS started the chase positively as big hitting batsman and skipper Naresh Gupta, while scoring his fifth half century of this season, hit a hurricane 52 runs off just 19 balls. Despite Mohammad Imran scoring an impressive 80 runs, and contributions from Ajeet Bhatt (33 runs) and Diwakar Mohan (30 runs) a target of 316 was always going to be a herculean task, as GMIS eventually finished on 251/9 at the end of 35 overs, falling short by 64 runs. Gaurav Pathak and Gaurang Kapadia took 2 wickets each. It was a good effort to chase, but WPP XI at the end of the day proved once again as to why they are a force to reckon with.
Thanks to Desandri & Mark Sims for umpiring the game
