Local League: Alwarpet crowned Plate Division champion

Ankeet Bawane waged a lone battle for Rovers top-scoring with 81 (171b, 11x4, 1x6). Alwarpet’s Abhishek Tanwar was the most impressive of the bowlers taking three wickets for 21 runs, while left-arm spinner M Siddharth scalped three for 127. Right-arm medium pacer B Rahul (2/14) and off-spinner M Monish Raj (2/8) shared four wickets between them.  In the Elite semifinal, Globe Trotters defeated India Pistons by 98 runs to enter the final. 

Trotters added another 137 runs to its overnight score of 72 for three to set Pistons a challenging target of 264. Trotters opener C Hari Nishaanth scored 54 (99b, 3x4, 3x6) while skipper MS Washington Sundar starred with an all-round show scoring 94 (110b, 5x4, 7x6). Pistons’ R Karthikeyan and left-arm spinner Maan K Bafna shared six wickets between them while captain M Prabhu took two wickets for 60. Setting off in its chase, Pistons kept losing wickets at regular intervals with no batsman able to make a meaty score. Akshay V Srinivasan scored 32 and A Venkatesh and Nidhish S Rajagopal scored an identical 27. 

Trotters left-arm medium pacer Chetan Sakariya claimed four wickets for 36 and bolwed well in tandem with Washington who picked three for 37 to finish with a match haul of 10 for 76. In the other semi-final, Grand Slam beat last season’s runners up Vijay CC by 77 runs to take on Globe Trotters in the final. 

Chasing 179 for a win, Vijay CC was bundled out for 101 in 34.5 overs. J Kousik top scored with 34. Grand Slam medium pacer V Yo Mahesh was the pick of the bowlers taking four for 35 and received good support from P Amarnath who sizzled with a three-wicket haul of 3 for 25. The lanky left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore bowled an economical spell taking three for 12. 

Brief scores: Plate: Final: Alwarpet 403 for eight decl. drew with Jolly Rovers 253 in 78.4 overs (V Ganga Sridhar Raju 26, M Kaushik Gandhi 45, Ankeet Bawane 81, Abhishek Tanwar 3/21, M Siddharth 3/127, B Rahul 2/14, M Monish Raj 2/8)

Elite: Semi-finals: Globe Trotters 232 and 209 in 76.3 overs (C Hari Nishaanth 54, MS Washington Sundar 94, R Karthikeyan 3/56, Maan K Bafna 3/37, M Prabhu 2/60) beat India Pistons 178 & 165 for eight in 25.5 overs (Akshay V Srinivasan 32, A Venkatesh 27, Nidhish S Rajagopal 27, Chetan Sakariya 4/ 36) 

Grand Slam 131 and 166 in 73.4 overs (K Bharath Shankar 55, L Suryapprakash 28, Rahil Shah 5/39, M Mohammed 4/55) beat Vijay 119 and 101 in 34.5 overs (J Kousik 34, V Yo Mahesh 4/35, P Amarnath 3/25, R Sai Kishore 3/12)