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 (7×4) 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, 8×4) 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, 6×4) 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).

After winning the toss, Air India Blue got a flying start from their openers – Maninder Bisra and Chandan Yadav, who accumulated 71 runs in the first 11 overs before the game was stopped due to rain.

Rain wasted over an hour of the play and the game was reduced to 42-overs a side.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni came to bat first down at the departure of Yadav, who scored 74 runs. Dhoni played a quick-fire innings, remaining unbeaten on 106 runs of just 61 balls. Maninder, who studded his innings with 7 sixes and 14 fours, also remained not out on 152 runs.

The team scored 362 runs for the loss of one wicket in 42 overs.

The lone wicket-taker for Indian Revenue was Rakesh Badrapur.

Playing under floodlights, Indian Revenue could only score 222 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 42 overs. Amesh Shrikande and Ankit were the highest scorers for them with 121 and 33 runs respectively.

Indian Revenue’s Avik Chowdhary, who got man-of-the-match award for scoring 110 runs against ITC Wednesday, was run out by Mohammed Kaif on 24.

Things were not going good for Indian Revenue team as their leading batsman Hekin Shah was retired hurt after a bouncer hit him directly on the nose.

After preliminary first aid, Shah was immediately shifted to Fortis hospital in Mohali.

RP Singh and Mohit Singh grabbed two wickets each for Air India Blue.

With this win, Air India Blue has registered their place in the semi-final match Sunday. In the points tally they are leading with six points, whereas Indian Revenue and ITC have managed with only four and two points respectively.

Dhoni was adjudged man-of-the-match and received a trophy and a cheque of Rs.50,000.

The 12-team tournament, aiming at reviving the waning corporate interest in the game, will be held in four venues across the country – Mohali, Vishakhapatnam, Dharamsala and Bangalore.

The trophy was unveiled by BCCI secretary N Srinivasan, joint secretary Sanjay Jagdale and corporate communications chief of Sahara Group Abhijit Sarkar.

Most of the Indian cricketer, including captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, will be seen in action during the one-day tournament to be held from September 1-8.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, which appeared to be a low-key event without much fanfare despite the presence of Tendulkar and Yuvraj, Srinivasan said over the years corporate interest in the game has declined.

However, Srinivasan was quick to add that introduction of the Indian Premier League has indeed “revived the corporate rivalries” to an extent.

Former India captain Rahul Dravid, speaking on behalf of the cricketers, lauded the BCCI’s initiative to conduct such a tournament and termed it a “great step in reinvigorating” corporate interest in the game of cricket.

The participating teams are Indian Revenue, ITC, Air India – Blue, BPCL, MRF, ONGC, AIPSSPB, Tata Sports Club, Indian Oil, Air India-Red, India Cements and BSNL.

With Air India fielding two sides in the 12-team tournament, Yuvraj will play for Air India Red team, while Dhoni will represent Air India Blue.

Yuvraj will have the likes of Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina and Irfan Pathan in the Red team, which will be coached by selector Narendra Hirwani.

Apart from Dhoni, Air India ‘Blue’ team will also feature Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, R P Singh and VVS Laxman.

Pravin Amre was named coach of the side. Despite missing the service of Virender Sehwag, the Oil and Natural Gas Commission will field a strong squad as well, featuring star players like Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel and Praveen Kumar.

India Cements will not be a pushover either since they would have Rahul Dravid, S Badrinath, Hemang Badani, L Balaji and Sudeep Tyagi in their ranks.

With former India captain Sourav Ganguly skipping the event, Tata Sports Club will pin hopes on the likes of Rohan Gavaskar, Ajit Agarkar and Ramesh Powar.

Mohali hosts the first match of the tournament between Air India Blue vs ITC on September 1, while the final is slated for September 8 in Bangalore.

Dharamsala and Visakhapatna are the two other venues.

Four matches are scheduled on the opening day of the tournament for the Sahara Corporate Trophy at Mohali (Group A), Vishakhapatnam (Group B), Dharamsala (Group C) and Bangalore (Group D).

Three teams make up each group and the winners of each pool would enter the semi finals to be held on September 5 and 6 at Bangalore and Mohali.

Nimbus Communications is the media partner for the event and three preliminary matches, the two semi finals and the final would be shown live on Neo Sport, BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement today.

The winners of the September 8 final at Bangalore are to receive Rs one crore as prize money while the runners-up would get Rs 50 lakh.

The man of the series would pocket Rs two lakh and the man of the match Rs 50,000, the release added.

The match schedule:

Sep 1: ITC v Air India – Blue, Mohali (Group A); BPCL v MRF, Vizag (Group B); Tata SC vs All India Public Sector Sports Promotion Board, Dharamsala (Group C); BSNL vs Air India Red, Bangalore (Group D).

Sep 2: ITC vs Indian Revenue, Mohali; MRF vs ONGC, Vizag; AIPSSPB vs Indian Oil, Dharamsala; BSNL vs India Cements, Bangalore.

Sep 3: Indian Revenue vs Air India Blue, Mohali; BPCL vs ONGC, Vizag; Tata SC vs Indian Oil, Dharamsala; India Cements vs Air India – Red, Bangalore.

Sep 5: 1st semi-final (B1 v D1), Bangalore. Sep 6: 2nd semi-final (A1 vs C1), Mohali. Sep 8: Final at Bangalore.