Joshi fashions Vultures' title triumph

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Anirudha Joshi’s command batting display powered Vultures Cricket Club to a comfortable victory over Jawans Cricket Club in the final of the Dell-KSCA YS Ramaswamy cricket tournament at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here on Monday.

After putting on a less-than-impressive 222 in 47 overs, Jawans had the onerous task of defending the small target. However, Anirudha’s unbeaten 94 put paid to their aspirations, as Vultures went past the target in the 46th over of the match with four wickets to spare.

Earlier in the day-night encounter, Jawans, batting first, benefitted from a watchful innings from right-handed batsman Ganesh Satish, who scored 70 runs off 86 balls with seven fours and one six. The Bhatkal brothers -- Rajoo and Rahul --  scored 29 and 39 runs respectively, but their cameos were far from enough to save the favourites from being bowled out for a lowly total.

Of the Vultures’ bowlers, SK Moinuddin was the best as the left-arm spinner scalped three wickets while conceding 44 runs in 10 overs. Paceman Ronit More (2/40) and Venkatesh H (2/18) did well too.

In reply, Vultures got off to a poor start, losing Nithin Bille in the sixth over with just 20 runs on the board. Opener Karun Nair (49 runs, 58 balls, 6x4, 1x6), however, remained firm and stitched a 54-run partnership for the second wicket with KV Bharath (18). Following the loss of Bharath, Joshi came to the crease and unleashed his might as he struck seven fours and three sixes to score 94 not out off 99 balls.

Even though Nair, Rohith Sabharwall, Pavan Deshpande and Keshav Chitta fell in quick succession during the course of a modest run-chase, Joshi, alongside Liyan Khan (10), went on to help Vultures wear the crown.

Brief scores: Jawans Cricket Club: 222 all out in 47 overs (Ganesh Satish 70, Rajoo Bhatkal 29, Rahul Bhatkal 39; Ronit More 2-40, Venkatesh H 2-18, SK Moinuddin 3-44) lt to Vultures Cricket Club: 223/6 in 45.5 overs (Karun Nair 49, Anirudha A Joshi 94 n.o.; Vinoo Prasad 2-37).