Indian news round-up

* Railways announce Rs. one lakh incentive to Ranji Trophy team

The Indian Railways on Thursday announced a cash incentive of Rs. one lakh for the Railways Ranji Trophy team, which has qualified for the final against Baroda. The award was announced by Ashok Kumar, Chairman, Railway Board at a felicitation function organised in Delhi.

This is the second time that Railways are entering the Ranji finals after a gap of 13 seasons. In their first attempt to win the Ranji Trophy, they lost to Tamil Nadu by an innings. This season Raliways have made steady progress through the qualifying rounds. They defeated Maharashtra in the pre-quarters in Pune, Karnataka in the quarters in Delhi and Punjab in the semis in Mohali.

Railways will take on Baroda for the title at Baroda from April 19 to April 23. The team will leave for Baroda on April 16.

* Jolly Rovers retains the 'Raja of Palayampatti Shield'

Jolly Rovers won the final match of the MAC-TNCA first division championship played against Globe Trotters at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Wednesday and hence claimed the 'Raja of Palayampatti Shield' for the second year in succession.

Jolly Rovers owe their win to their skipper Diwakar Vasu whose leftarm spin ripped through the Globe Trotters batting line up. Vasu, struggling with a finger injury in his right hand, bowled bravely to pick up 5/77.

Play started 94 minutes late owing to wet pitch conditions brought about by the unseasonal rains lashing the city for the last two nights. Jolly Rovers had scored 336 in 87.2 overs and the target for Globe Trotters was revised to 318 in 85 overs due to lost time.

S Sriram (48) played a responsible innings at the top before being trapped in front of the wicket by left-arm spinner H Ramkishen. Tanveer Jabbar (36) added 77 runs for the fifth wicket with Hemang Badani before being caught by Dinesh Mongia off the bowling of Vasu.

Captain M Senthilnathan played an explosive knock of 43 (39 balls, 6 fours) and put together a sixth wicket partnership with Badani that yielded 53 runs in just 8.5 overs. Badani played a sensible knock of 62 with the help of four boundaries. He was the ninth wicket to fall when he mistimed a shot off Vasu only to see wicket keeper TR Arasu take a splendid catch running towards point.

Globe Trotters finished with 282 in 75.3 overs, falling short of their revised target by 36 runs. Jolly Rovers who had failed to inspire with some poor fielding, raised it a notch when it mattered most. Last man T Jabbar was caught brilliantly by Ajay Kudua at deep mid-off epitomising their hunger for success.

Brief scores: Jolly Rovers 336 in 87.2 overs, Globe Trotters 282 in 75.3 overs