Riding on left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar’s 6 for 45, UPCA defeated Kerala by four wickets in the semifinals of the Kalpathi-Buchi Babu All-India invitational cricket tournament at the IC-Guru Nanak College grounds.
Put into bat Kerala were in a comfortable position with both openers Abhishek (49) and Niklesh (73) in full flow. They added 109 runs in 24.5 overs for the first wicket, before calamity struck in the form of Saurabh. Subsequently, Kerala folded for a below-par 188 in 56.1 overs. UPCA’s chase was bumpy, but Prasanth Gupta (54) ensured they crossed the line, consigning to wasteful Vinoop S Manohar’s 5-60.
Meanwhile at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, B Indrajith cracked a magnificent 165 off 244 balls to help TNCA President XI pile a daunting 365 against TNCA XI. Admirable application, patience and shrewd shot selection sparkled his innings.
Not even an off-spinner of R Ashwin’s class intimidated him. He played the offie assuredly, defending the good deliveries and punishing the short ones to the fence. He showed excellent temperament and paced the innings well. Finally a tired Indrajith holed out Ashwin in the deep.
After a while, S Badrinath perished for 45 to a regulation catch in the slips to Prasanna off Ashwin. Indrajith and Badri added 122 runs in 32.3 overs for the third wicket.
Indrajith, then, added 110 runs in 24.5 overs with Vijay Shankar (49). R Ashwin (4-83) was TNCA XI’s most successful bowler, though he was not at his best and erred in length at times.
BRIEF SCORES: At IC-Guru Nanak: Kerala 188 in 56.1 overs (Abhishek H 49, Niklesh Surendran 73; Saurabh Kumar 6/45, Kuldeep Yadav 3/66) lost to UPCA 192/6 in 46.5 overs (Tanmay Srivastava 32, Prasanth Gupta 54, Umang Sharma 32, Arish Alam 42; Vinoop S Manohar 5/60).
At MAC: TNCA President’s XI 365 in 100 overs (S Badrinath 45, B Indrajith 165, Vijay Shankar 49; R Prasanna 2/33, Rahil S Shah 2/98, R Ashwin 4/83) vs TNCA XI 7/0 in 4 overs.