CHENNAI: People who prefer to watch their favourite sports programmes with customised Tamil commentary have got their wish. Star Sports Tamil, India’s first dedicated Tamil sports channel, was born on Sunday.
“A first-of-its-kind regional sports channel, Star Sports Tamil will bring fans across Tamil Nadu closer to their favourite sports and heroes,” a Star Sports press release said.
The channel’s Champions Trophy coverage promises to be big, as the likes of Hemang Badani, Kris Srikkanth and S Badrinath, all former internationals, have been roped in.
Grand Slam bag title
Half-centuries by PS Raghul and J Kousik enabled Grand Slam to bag a lead of 84 runs over UFCC T Nagar in the drawn final of the Plate Group match of the Senior Division league of the TNCA, played at MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Wednesday.
Raghul and Kousik added 108 runs in 28.4 overs for the fourth wicket. By virtue of their lead, Grand Slam won the final and bagged the SR Jagannathan Trophy.
Brief scores: Plate final: At MAC: UFCC (T Nagar) 294 drew with Grand Slam 378/5 decl in 119 ovs (N Jagadeesan 183, PS Raghul 55 no, J Kousik 81).
Siddarth scalps five
Left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai’s 5 for 34 enabled West Zone to restrict East Zone to 123 in their first essay in the BCCI inter-zonal U-19 two-day tournament at Southern Railway grounds.
At S Rly: East Zone 123 in 50.3 ovs (Siddharth Desai 5/34) vs West Zone 122/6 in 37 ovs (Pawan Shah 54; Subham Singh 3/45).
At VB Nest: North Zone 276 in 66.3 ovs (Anuj Rawat 57, Yashu Sharma 77; P Rakhade 3/71, Rajarshi Srivatsava 4/67) vs Central Zone 89/1 in 21 ovs.
Karthic shines
Karthic Kumar’s unbeaten 73 paved the way for DCA of Tiruppur to beat FSCA by six wickets in the final of the U-14 tournament for the Dicky Memorial Trophy, held at St Bede’s grounds.
Brief scores: FSCA 153/6 in 30 ovs (Veera Viswa 50) lost to DCA of Tiruppur 154/4 in 29.3 ovs (S Karthic Kumar 73 no, Shyam Vikas 47). MoM: Karthic. Best batsman: PS Jaswanth (CSSF A). Best bowler: Aswath (DCA of Tiruppur). Promising cricketer: SR Athish (FSCA). Man of the Final: Karthic Kumar (DCA of Tiruppur). Best fielder: G Jagannathan (FSCA). Man of the Tournament: CP Akshath (FSCA).
Vijay effort in vain
An all-round display by Vijay S Raja ( 5/34, 74 n.o) went in vain as IBM lost to Apollo Tyres by 31 runs in the GK Kuppuswamy Memorial League.
Brief scores: YSCA 200/5 in 30 ovs (P Raghavendra 48 no, R Ravikumar 62) bt WIPRO 75 in 17.1 ovs (R Ganesh 3/25, PS Nirmalkumar 3/10); Accenture 177 in 28.4 ovs (Ajay 47; Vijay 4/39) lost to Ashok Leyland 178/7 in 29.2 ovs (Vijay 61); Apollo Tyres 218/6 in 30 ovs (Parish 53; Vijay Raja 5/34) bt IBM 187 in 28 ovs (Vijay 74 no; M Manikandan 4/32).