Jolly Rovers bag TNCA Senior Division title

By Express News Service

CHENNAI:  Baba Aparajith’s classy 89 and a valuable 59 not out by NS Harish enabled Jolly Rovers to bag a lead of one run over Vijay CC in the drawn final of the Senior Division league of the TNCA at the MA Chidambaram stadium here on Monday.

In the process, Jolly Rovers retained the Rajah of Palayampatti Shield. Having lost three wickets already and chasing Vijay CC’s 245, Jolly Rovers tail waged and made 246 for 8 in 84.3 overs dashing the hopes of the Vijay Shankar led side to have a crack at the crown. “It was a splendid performance by the team. Happy to have won the title. Full marks to the boys.

We entered the final day with a positive frame of mind. We expected one big partnership but that did not happen. From then on though it was ‘catch up’ game we finally managed the lead,’’ said Kaushik Gandhi, captain of Jolly Rovers. Aparajith waged a lone battle trying to stitch partnerships where ever possible. He added 56 runs for the fifth wicket with Sonu Yadav in 96 balls.

Desipte wickets falling at regular intervals Aparajith stood rock solid at one end and looked like staying on till the very end to finish the job. But just before tea, a momentary lapse of concentration saw him edge L Vignesh to KB Arun Karthik behind the stumps.

Brief scores: At MAC: Vijay C C 245 drew with Jolly Rovers 246/8 in 84.3 ovs (B Aparajith 89, Jalaj
Saxena 33, NS Harish 59 n.o., L Vignesh 5/84).

Rajagiri scalps five
R Rajagiri’s fifer (5/32) came in handy for Mugappair CC to thrash Standard CC by four wickets in the semifinals of a First Divison match of the TNCA-Thiruvallur DCA league.

Brief scores : I Division: Semifinals: Standard CC 90 in 25.1 ovs (R Ram Arvindh 36, R Rajagiri 5/32)
lost to Mugappair CC 93/6 in 29 ovs.

Sunayna moves into quarters
It was a safe passage into the next round for most of the big guns on the opening day of the third edition of the HCL SRFI Indian Tour Chennai leg at the Indian Squash Academy here on Monday. In the women’s section, Top seed Sunayna Kuruvilla took just 14 minutes to brush aside Shameena Riaz 11-3, 11-4, 11-3 and cruise into the quarterfinals, while second seed Tanvi Khanna ousted Pooja Arthi R 3-0. In the men’s field as No 1 seed Abhay Singh got the better of Navaneeth Prabhu in straight games. Harinder Pal Sandhu, who is seeded second, needed five games to come out on top against Jaideep Sethi. The only upset of the day was sixth seed Sanika Choudhari losing to Akshaya Sri in four games in the women’s category.