Local League: Alwarpet to face Vijay CC in the final

Grand Slam won the toss and chose to bowl first. Alwarpet captain P Shijith Chandran top scored with an unbeaten 88 from 88 balls with seven fours and two sixes. Ashwin Venkataraman made a valuable contribution with 41. V Yo Mahesh, legspinner M Ashwin, offspinner B Arun and the lanky left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore picked two wickets apiece.  Grand Slam wicket-keeper N Jagadeesan, recently bought by Chennai Super Kings, came at the fall of first wicket and batted aggressively en route to an entertaining 80 off 92 balls consisting of nine fours and one six. Jagadeesan raised 118 runs for the second wicket with L Suryapprakash (35). Once the pair got separated, things went on a downhill for Grand Slam as it kept losing wickets. 

Right-arm medium pacer Abhishek Tanwar (3/42) and left-arm fast bowler Prasanth Parameswaran (2/42) bowled impressively to keep the run rate down. In the other semi-final, Vijay CC cruised to a seven-wicket win over Young Stars. Vijay CC captain Vijay Shankar led from the front with an unbeaten 80 and in the company of southpaw G Rahul Singh 88 not out took the team to a facile win.

BRIEF SCORES: SF: Alwarpet 234/9 in 50 overs (M Kamalesh 31, Swapnil Gugale 26, P Shijith Chandran 88*, Ashwin Venkatraman 41, V Yo Mahesh 2/49, M Ashwin 2/48, B Arun 2/38, R Sai Kishore 2/51) bt Grand Slam 229/9 in 50 overs (N Jagadeesan 80, L Suryapprakash 35, M Ashwin 23, V Yo Mahesh 31, Abhishek Tanwar 3/42, Prasanth Parameswaran 2/42, L Kiran Akash 2/55). Young Stars 221/9 in 50 overs (Jalaj Saxena 31, J Gowjith Subash 37, GH Vihari 36, Rahil Shah 3/36, M Mohammed 2/37, B Aparajith 2/22) lost to Vijay CC 225/3 in 47 overs (KB Arun Karthick 27, Vijay Shankar 80*, G Rahul Singh 88*).