) South Central Railway, Secunderabad, drubbed last year's runners-up Comptroller and Auditors General of India, Delhi, 6-1 to storm into the final of the 51st All India Bombay Gold Cup Hockey Tournament at the MHAL Mahindra Stadium today.
SCR will meet Punjab National Bank, who outclassed former champions and fancied Indian Oil 3-1 in another semifinal, in the title clash tomorrow.
The Punjab bankers dominated the opening session and the oilmen boasting of four Olympians, including two current internationals V R Raghunath and Kothajit Singh, could not inspire them to victory.
PNB's custodian Jasbir Singh also played a key role in the win by thwarting the penalty corners attempts by ace drag-flicker Raghunath.
Gagadeep Singh Jr. Scored two goals, off a penalty stroke and a penalty corner, while teammate Arun Singh scored the other goal to secure the win for the Punjab bankers.
Indian Oil pulled one back through Raghunath midway through through the second half.
The hero of South Central's win over CAG was their roving and hard-working forward P Ranjan Ayappa who scored four goals on the trot after doing the spadework for the opening two goals scored by Raju Pal inside the opening 10 minutes.
CAG managed to reduce the margin of defeat through Chandan Singh's penalty corner conversion in the second half of the game.
CAG's skipper, Nitin Thimmaiah, was sent off by umpire Shakil Ahmed for showing dissent. The former international disputed the decisions of the umpire and kept arguing with him after receiving the green card which was followed with the yellow.
The umpire was left with no other option but to give the marching orders to the offending player which left his team to play with only ten men from the 13th minute of the semifinal.
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