In form Mumbai southpaw Jatin Paranjpe blasted a quickfire century to take Chemplast to the semifinals of the Moin ud Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament. Earlier in the day BPL Sports Club won the toss, batted first and made a reasonable score of 192 thanks to a century from skipper Yere Goud.

Chemplast speedsters Veeranan and Balaji provided the Chennai team with early breakthroughs, dismissing opener Vinay Kumar before any runs were scored. Soon after, there was more bad news for BPL as Nizamuddin and Nitin Mulki made starts but could not capitalise. As they slumped to 106/5, there was little hope that they could post a competitive total. Goud held up one end well, to be unbeaten on 101. Given the circumstances, he could ill afford to attack and his century included just four boundaries. SH Jakati made a useful 30 late in the order. With eight wickets down, BPL sports club managed 192 in their allotted 50 overs.

Having made an unbeaten 95 earlier in the tournament, Paranjpe was full of confidence. The prospect of chasing a small total could have done nothing to hurt this. After Nitin Mulki removed Dinesh Mongia and S Badrinath with just 19 on the board, Paranjpe went into overdrive. The hard hitting Mumbai batsman scored quickly, despite the fall of wickets at the other end.

Ajay Kudua joined Paranjpe and that signaled the end for BPL. In a 101 ball blitz that yielded 122 runs Paranjpe all but took Chemplast to victory. His knock included 7 boundaries and 6 hits that cleared the ropes. This adds up to a remarkable 64 of 122 runs being scored off boundaries.

Reaching the target in less than 40 overs, Chemplast qualified for the semifinal where they will take on Pentasoft, another team from Chennai.

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