Sanmar continues to win trophies and shields with predictable regularity this season, the latest feathers to adorn its collective cap coming in the form of the Twenty20 tournament at Kolkata and the VAP Memorial Trophy at Chennai.
The Group’s outstanding cricketers did Sanmar proud by acquitting themselves creditably at every level of competitive cricket, including the Ranji Trophy and international cricket.
Dinesh Karthik made it to the Indian team and grabbed the chances that came his way rather belatedly in South Africa. Leading India to victory with a swashbuckling innings in the first Twenty20 match India played
against South Africa, he also batted splendidly in the Cape Town test against South Africa this season. Pushed in as emergency opening batsman, Karthik responded with a fighting, impressive 63.
Back in India, he continued to impress in the one-day international series against the West Indies.
The Tamil Nadu selectors rewarded M Vijay of Jolly Rovers, opening batsman for his consistent performances by picking him to open the innings for the state in the Ranji Trophy. Vijay made a stunning start by scoring 179 in the second Ranji Trophy match of his career and following it with yet another hundred later in the season. He already has a total of 628 first class runs to his credit, averaging 52.33. He also scored a hundred in the one-day Ranji Trophy tournament, in which he has an impressive average of 45 runs so far.
Another star find of Sanmar has been off spinner R Ashwin. At 21, just a year younger than Vijay, Ashwin made rapid strides in his debut season in the Ranji Trophy to be named Ceat Indian Bowler of the Year, with a brilliant tally of 31 wickets at a miserly 16.93 runs apiece.
His remarkable first season includes two ten-wicket match hauls and four five-wicket innings hauls. Critics see a bright future for the young man if he continues to perform consistently in the years to come.
Winners of the VAP Memorial Trophy: Standing (L-R): S Arun (Scorer), Jayakumar, Satya (Physio), Ram Mohan Rao, Babu (Physio), Bharat Reddy, Vasanth Saravanan, R Ram Kumar, M Vijay, Jesuraj, R Sathish, Huzefa Patel, Abdul Jabbar and Ajay Kudua. Sitting (L-R): Dinesh Mongia, Dinesh Karthik, Vijay Sankar, U Prabhakar Rao, S Badrinath, Hemang Badani and Tinu Yohanan. Squatting (L-R): Petson Mathew
s, Yugandhar, Sriram, Sunil and Manikandan.