Shrugging off a poor start, Chemplast, Chennai completed a five wicket
victory over Roofit XI, Mumbai to win the Coromandel Cement Cup in the
KSCA Diamond Jubilee invitation tournament at the Maharaja
Jayachamdaraja Wodayar Sports Centre in Bangalore on Wednesday.
Roofit XI, who were 143 for eight in their second innings at close of
play on the second day after gaining a first innings lead of 13 runs
were all out without adding any run. Left arm spinner R Ramkumar took
both wickets to finish with three for 24 off 6.4 overs.
This left Chemplast a target of 157 in the allotted 40 overs. But they
made a a shocking start. Sujith Somasundar (2), S Badrinath (3) and
Aditya Srikkanth (0) were out with only 27 runs on the board. However
the other opener Jinju Joseph and skipper Ajay Kudua put the innings
back on the rails with a fourth wicket stand of 91 runs off 19.3
overs. By the time Joseph was out for 61 off 84 balls with seven hits
to the ropes, Chemplast were well on the road to victory. Kudua and J
Hariesh (29 not out) then virtually finished the job but with the
scores level, Kudua was out for 54. He faced 74 balls and hit six
fours. Off the next ball, Hariesh got the winning boundary.