CHENNAI: Vijay CC earned a thumping nine-wicket win over Nelson SC in the tenth and penultimate round of the TNCA First Division League here on Saturday.
This is Vijay’s fourth successive win and takes it to the top of the points table with 45 points. Vijay has stormed into the semi-finals followed by UFCC (T Nagar) and Jolly Rovers with 44 points and 43 respectively. The identity of the fourth team will be known in the final league match.
Resuming from its overnight score of 28 for 1, Nelson SC was bowled out for 145 with left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey taking five for 40, his fourth fifer of the season. He received good support from left-arm medium pacer Gurjapneet Singh who took three wickets for 25 runs. Set to chase a target of 161 in a minimum of 41 overs, Vijay reached home in 20.4 overs with captain and opener N Jagadeesan scoring an unbeaten 80 (68b, 8x4, 2x6). Southpaw B Sachin came up with a fine knock of 65 not out (45b, 5x4, 3x6) and added an unbroken 133 runs for the second wicket with Jagadeesan in 16.1 overs.
Elsewhere, MRC ‘A’s Sanjay Yadav took five for 56, his fourth fifer of the season, against Alwarpet. But the final day belonged to Alwarpet with captain S Rithik Easwaran scoring 99 (144b, 10x4, 2x6), while opener S Radhakrishnan scored 61 (105b, 9x4). Alwarpet declared its second innings at 311 for six.