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Bangalore: Air India Red found an unlikely batting hero in 23-year-old Sushant Marathe as they sent fancied ONGC crashing to defeat in the BCCI Corporate Trophy semifinal at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.
After their bowlers had done extremely well to dismiss the strong ONGC batting lineup for a poor 213, left-handed Marathe, coming in at the fall of opener Naman Ojha, played a superb hand to steer his side into the final.
The five-wicket victory, that came with 10 overs to spare on a surprisingly rain-free day, was well earned given that the Airmen were up against a virtual Indian attack.
It was local lad Robin Uthappa who provided the initial impetus with a 49-ball 47 (7x4) but the cynosure was certainly Marathe. Looking at him bat on the day, it was tough to believe that he has just four first-class games (Mumbai) behind him.
Comfortable against pace and spin alike, Marathe (80 not out, 106b, 8x4) handled all that Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra could come up with. Only against offie Sarendeep Singh (2-36 from 10) was he circumspect.
Fellow Mumbaite Ankeet Chavan too played a cameo to bring about ONGC's premature exit in the tournament. Marathe and Chavan notched up 67 unbroken runs off 69 balls, with Chavan hammering a quickfire 41 (45b, 6x4) in the process.
Earlier, ONGC, asked to bat by Yuvraj Singh, had just one substantial partnership, for the third wicket between skipper Gautam Gambhir (63) and Virat Kohli (47).
