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Earlier AUAMCL report: Sameer Patankar leads GroupM to national finals

The national semi finals were held between four teams, which included Mudra (Mumbai), Mercantile (Delhi), The Telegraph (Kolkata) and GroupM (Mumbai)

The second national semi final match of the Amar Ujala Agency & Media Cricket League 2009 between GroupM and The Telegraph was played at Thakur Stadium, Mumbai on February 21, 2009.

The Telegraph was the winning team from Kolkata, while GroupM was one of the two semi finalists from Mumbai (as hosts’ privilege, Mumbai fielded two teams as opposed to one each from Delhi and Kolkata).

The Telegraph won the toss and elected to field. GroupM’s innings was opened by Sameer Patankar and Sachin Putran and this partnership spelt the death knell of Telegraph. Sameer scored an unbeaten 68 runs off only 28 balls to lead GroupM to victory.

In the very first over, Sameer hit four boundaries. By the end of the second over, GroupM’s score had climbed to 27, rapidly rising to 41 runs in the third over.

By the end of sixth over, GroupM had taken the total score to 65, when it lost its first wicket. Sachin was bowled out by Kaushik Pal. He scored 27 runs off 16 balls which included 2 fours and 1 six.

GroupM lost its second wicket in the eighth over when Vinayak Rane was caught and bowled by Jayant Singh. He scored 14 runs of 7 balls, which included 3 fours.

By the time the tenth over came to an end, GroupM had put up a mammoth score of 131 runs.

The Telegraph had a slow start. In the first two overs, the two opening batsmen Avik Dey and Kaushik Pal could put together only 15 runs. In the second over, The Telegraph lost two wickets off two consecutive balls. It never recovered, losing its third wicket at 28 and its fourth wicket in the sixth over when the score was 37 runs.

The Telegraph lost its fifth wicket in the ninth over. By the end of the innings, it could put up a score of only 79 runs, thus losing the match by 52 runs.

GroupM’s Sameer Patankar was, not surprisingly, declared the man of the match.

Amar Ujala Agency & Media Cricket League is a leather ball cricket tournament, organized by afaqs!, for media agencies, advertising agencies and media publishers. The ten-10 tournament was being held in Delhi, Kolkata & Mumbai. Forty eight teams participated in this three-city, month-long tournament. The national final was also held on February 21, 2009.

For detailed scores, log on to http://amcl.afaqs.com.

The Amar Ujala Agency & Media Cricket League was sponsored by Amar Ujala in association with Indian Cricket League and STAR News. Fairplay Awards Sponsor: Colors - Viacom 18. Supported by DNA. Outdoor partner: Laqshya Media. Airline Partner: Fly Kingfisher. Hospitality Partner: Make my trip. Lounge Partner: All Sports Bar. Magazine Partner: All Sports. Event Management by: Sportz Consult.

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