Local League: Swapnil ton helps Alwarpet consolidate

Alwarpet skipper P Shijit Chandran won the toss and opted to bat. The first wicket pair of M Kamalesh and B Rahul put on 32 runs before the latter was dismissed by pacer K Vignesh for 15. 

In-form batsman Swapnil Gugale continued his rich vein of form by stroking a masterful unbeaten 129 (240b, 20x4, 2x6). Swapnil joined hands with captain Shijit Chandran and the duo added 176 runs for the third wicket. 

Jolly Rovers’ leftarm spinner DT Chandrasekar struck removing Shijit who made 66 (151b, 6x4, 2x6). Chandrasekar picked four of the five wickets to fall. From 217 for two, it became 219 for four as K Vishal Vaidhya was caught plumb in front of wickets by Chandrasekar for two. 

All-rounder Abhishek Tanwar struck a four and a six during his brief stay of 12 (16b, 1x4, 1x6) at the crease as he was caught by V Ganga Sridhar Raju off Chandrasekar in the last over of the day. 

Rovers heaved a sigh of relief at the fall of Tanwar’s wicket as it just about evened out the day’s proceedings. Another leftarm spinner of Rovers, R Aushik Srinivas, toiled long and hard bowling 33 overs without taking a wicket. Pacer K Vignesh picked the wicket of opener Rahul. 

Brief scores: PLATE: FINAL: Alwarpet 249/5 in 89.5 overs (Swapnil Gugale 129*, P. Shijit Chandran 66, M Kamalesh 17, B Rahul 15, Abhishek Tanwar 12, D.T. Chandrasekar 4/65) vs Jolly Rovers