CHENNAI: Test star Cheteshwar Pujara will be seen in action in the TNCA first division league this season for MRC ‘A’. The team will be led by R Ashwin. Left-arm spinner Axar Patel too has been roped in. “Ashwin moved from Jolly Rovers to MRC A this season. It was his (Ashwin) idea to strengthen the team and thus we managed to rope in Pujara and Axar. Former India spinner M Venkataramana will be the coach,’’ a MRC ‘A’ team management source told Express.
Warriors clinch title
White Warriors beat Yellow Challengers by seven wickets in the final round of the TNCA-Indian Bank Trophy T20 tournament for women on Thursday. Warriors, with 16 points, bagged the title. Brief scores: Yellow Challengers 75/9 in 20 ovs (R Radha 3/18, S Anusha 3/11) lost to White Warriors 79/3 in 17.3 ovs. Pts: WW 16, YC 12. Green Invaders 138/6 in 20 ovs (N Niranjana 102 n.o) bt Red Rangers 126/7 in 20 ovs (B Rashmeka 48 n.o). Pts: GI 12, RR 12. Silver Strikers 84/6 in 20 ovs (P Anusha 3/24) lost to Blue Avengers 86/3 in 19.1 ovs. Pts: BA 8, SS 0.
Abilash shines
Abilash of SDAT-AKG defeated N Nithin of CTTF 3-1 in the men’s pre-quarterfinals of the second state ranking table tennis meet. Results: S Nikhil (CTTF) bt J Rakesh (RTTA) 11-6, 11-8, 11-4; L Sachin (SRSA) bt Praveen Kumar (CTTF) 11-6, 11-3, 14-12; M Abilash (Akg) bt N Nithin (CTTF) 11-8, 7-11, 11-2, 11-8; E Prabhakaran (SRSA) bt D Kishore Kumar (ITRC) 11-4, 11-9, 11-8; Sushmit Sriram (MVM) bt Sivananda Seshadri (ITRC) 11-8, 11-8, 11-4; V Abhinay (CTTF) bt RS Raja (CTTF) 13-15, 11-3, 5-11, 11-6, 11-7; D Sameera Kumar (CDL) beat Sachin V (CTTF) 11-8, 11-6, 12-10; Nitin Thiruvengadam (Db) bt Sathyanarayanan (CTTF) 11-4, 12-10, 11-6.