Steady openers help Jolly Rovers clinch league after two years
CHENNAI: Resuming on their overnight score of 60 for no loss, Jolly Rovers openers Kaushik Gandhi (41) and S Lokeshwar (76 no) played carefully on Wednesday morning to take them to 178 for 2 in 48 overs in their second essay against Vijay CC, when the match ended in a draw.
Jolly Rovers thus regained the Rajah of Palayampatti Shield after a gap of two years.
The final day’s play of the TNCA Elite Group Senior Division league final was called off at lunch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Wednesday.
Rahil Shah picked both the wickets to fall. Jolly Rovers won the title by virtue of their 16-run first-innings lead.
Gandhi, skipper of Jolly Rovers, was elated after win and attributed it to a team effort. “I’m happy to have won the final. It’s pleasing that it finally panned out our way. It’s not easy to defend such a small total, considering the fact that Vijay CC had a strong batting line-up. But our boys showed lot of character and fought well.”
B Aparajith’s wicket was the turning point for Jolly Rovers.Then on, they applied pressure and bagged the all-important lead. “Yes, Aparajith’s wicket, was crucial. But if you see the way they began and the line-up they had, all wickets were crucial, and (DT) Chandrasekar bowled well. It was a team effort. We knew we didn’t have that may runs on the board, and our strategy was to make it difficult for them to score. Luckily, things worked for us, and full marks to the boys,” added Gandhi.
In the final analysis, the difference between both sides was the cameo of Piyush Chawla, which helped Jolly Rovers make a respectable total.
R Prasanna, captain of Vijay CC, was disappointed and believed it was a case of so near yet so far. “We were on course and in command for most part of the game. As long as Aparajith was there, we knew we could take the lead. His dismissal was the turning point. Even after that, the lower-order could have tried to get the lead. But I’ll not blame them, as the middle-order failed. It was a collective failure and we’ll come back stronger next season,” he said.
Amir scalps five
Amir Gani’s 5 wickets for 12 runs enabled IOC (Mumbai) to beat RKM Vivekananda College by 9 wickets in the 48th All-India YSCA Trophy.
Brief scores: RKM Vivekananda College 80 in 25.1 ovs (Amir Gani 5/12) lost to IOC (Mumbai) 81/1 in 9.3 ovs.
Nelson SC 154/9 in 30 ovs (MS Sanjay 3/19) lost to Loyola College 157/5 in 24.3 ovs (R Rajkumar 57 no; Jeshwanth 3/19).
BPCL (Mumbai) 164/9 in 30 ovs (Akhil Herwadkar 52; Vishal 3/21, Swaminathan 3/21) bt SRM University 140 in 28.2 ovs (MUB Sriram 39).
Vijaya Bank (Bengaluru) vs AG’s Office (match called off due to wet ground conditions, 2 points shared by teams).
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