A brilliant bowling effort by pacemen set up Canara Bank’s facile eight-wicket win over MRF in their final league match as the Bangalore side progressed to the semifinals of the BCCI Corporate Trophy in Indore on Monday.
Opting to bowl first, Canara Bank made early inroads with former Karnataka paceman Mansur Ali Khan striking twice in quick succession, including that of dangerman Venugopala Rao.
Part-timer Bharath Chipli and all-rounder Raju Bhatkal then got into act picking two wickets each to push the Chennai outfit into further trouble. Their in-form skipper NC Aiyyappa (3-25) then wiped off the tail to leave his batsmen with the simple task of chasing MRF’s modest total of 124 all out in 41 overs.
Chipli set the tone for a successful chase with a blistering 72 (49b, 13x4, 1x6) while the centurion in the previous match KL Rahul scored a brisk 37 not out (29b, 4x4, 1x6) to power Canara Bank to 126/2 in 16.1 overs.
The bankmen will now take on another Chennai-based side India Cements in their last-four tie in Raipur on Wednesday while Chemplast meet CAG in the other semifinal at Indore.
State Bank of Mysore, meanwhile, slumped to their third consecutive loss to bow out of the tournament. SBM sufferred a narrow one-wicket defeat at the hands of BSNL in Nagpur.
Brief scores: MRF: 124 all out in 41 overs (S Sriram 49; NC Aiyappa 3-25, Mansur Ali Khan 2-14, Bharath Chipli 2-27, Raju Bhatkal 2-13) lt to Canara Bank: 126/2 in 16.1 overs (Bharath Chipli 72, KL Rahul 37 n.o.).
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