Although India Pistons suffered a seven wicket drubbing at the hands of Chemplast in the final of the Moin-ud-Dowlah Cup in Hyderabad last September, the game served to bring the sublime talents of a slim, soft spoken 20-year-old Chennai lefthander to the fore. Hemanth Kumar pillaged a bustling century to lift his team to an imposing but, alas, inadequate 280/9.

The match started on the hallowed lawns of the Gymkhana Ground on whose precincts the first edition of the Moin ud Dowlah Cup had kicked off in the season of 1930-31. In that year such exalted personages as Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe opened the batting for the Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram's XI and a few years later the West Indian Learie Constantine gave a well rounded account of his multiple talents.

Just outside the main entrance there is a plaque which pompously announces the structure beyond as the Hyderabad Cricket Association Stadium. Well, stadium it may not be but the ground still retains a picturesque charm, surrounded on three sides by wide open spaces such as the Parade Ground, the Polo Ground and a Hockey Ground, and the panoramic view from what masquerades as a press box is a real steal.

From 70/3, Hemanth and Madanagopal added 65 for the fourth wicket, the two looking in control and firmly milking the singles with five men stationed on the boundary. Then Madanagopal played a foolhardy shot against the grain of play, lofting the ball in the air knowing full well there was a fielder at sweeper cover. Robin walked in at 135/4 and was warned for running onto the wicket almost immediately. He put that behind him and added a brisk 110 for the fifth wicket with Hemanth. The latter grew more innovative in his stroke play in Robin's reassuring company, stepping two inches outside off stump and persuading the ball away on the leg side on more than one occasion.

All hell broke loose in the 44th over bowled by Dinesh Mongia, which went for 20 runs including two sixes over midwicket, Hemanth moving from 90 to 110 in the space of five balls. Soon after, Robin holed out for 44 (51 balls, 2 fours) to deep midwicket just after being cautioned a second time for trespassing onto the pitch.

The score at that point was 245 but Hemanth coaxed another 30 runs in the company of the tail, audaciously running byes more than once when the ball had been collected by the keeper. When he was run out from the last ball of the innings, he had accumulated an effortless 134 (126 balls, 10 fours, 2 sixes). Yet to play in a first class match, Hemanth on the evidence of his showing was just weeks away from being blooded by Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy this season. Sure enough he made his debut in the Ranji Trophy in November with a colossal splash. But that is another story.