T

he TATA Motors JCA League on Sunday produced yet another interesting set of games, which saw defending champion WISCI trounced by TKCC Royals, host Indorama defeated by Mavcrics and an all Indonesian Chairos Tigers going down to Fez Rebels but not without a spirited performance.

At the GMIS Grounds, in a Division 1 encounter, defending champion KLN WISCI took on TKCC Royals.

Despite being asked to bat first after losing the toss, WISCI was sitting pretty on 197/2 after 24 overs and looking set to post an imposing total on the board. With run machine Viraj Bhammar at the crease, it did look like TKCC was going to be chasing a big score. But immediately after the drinks break, two back-to-back wickets, including that of Viraj for 72 runs by '€œMan of the match'€ Hitesh Malhotra, saw WISCI lose its remaining wickets to be all out for 234 runs in the 31st over.

Rajeev Rajeswaran was the other significant contributor with the bat, scoring 46 runs.

For TKCC, Swaroop Chavan was the main wrecker-in-chief taking 3/38, largely responsible for causing WISCI'€™s batting collapse, supported by Mukesh Kehetan who chipped in with 2 wickets.

While chasing, TKCC needed a good start and that'€™s exactly what they got, in the form of Neeraj Chaddha (65 runs) and Ravinder Negi (34 runs). Despite that, with WISCI tightening the screws on the scoring, TKCC needed 90 runs to win off the last 11 overs. It needed a special effort and it was provided by Hitesh, who finished off the innings with an over and a half to spare, scoring a quick-fire unbeaten 46 runs, and thereby leading his side to victory by 5 wickets.

William Noronha was the lone warrior with the ball taking 3/38 for WISCI.

In a Division 2 game at Purwakarta, host Indorama took on a resurgent Mavcrics CC. Batting first, Vinod Verghese (38 runs) and Arjun Chauhan (33 runs) helped Indorama CC reach 201 runs before being all out in 34 overs. At one stage, Indorama too looked poised for a big score at 142/4 before losing their last 6 wickets for 59 runs, thanks largely to a fine comeback lead by Miraz Monga 3/33 & Mayank 2/14.

In response, it was the in-form Miraz Monga (89 runs) and Mayank (35 runs) combination that helped the Mavcrics go after the target, before a fine bowling performance by Arjun Chauhan ( 3/33 ) caused a few jitters in the batting camp. An unbeaten eighth wicket partnership then saw the Mavcrics win the game in the last over.

In another Division 2 fixture at Cibubur, Chairos Tigers took on Fez Rebels.

After choosing to bat first, an explosive 34 runs in just 11 balls by Nando and a solid 35 runs by Aditya helped Chairos Tigers put up a fighting total of 196 runs.

Marten Eddy 3/37 & Mick Dumenil 3/42 were the main wicket takers for Fez Rebels. Warwick Peters then continued his sparkling form with the bat to score an unbeaten 96 that helped Fez Rebels overcome a disciplined bowling performance and some spirited fielding by Chairos Tigers to get to the target in 33.2 overs.

It needed Sam Levick'€™s quick-fire 33 runs off 16 balls in the end to stave off the threat from the Tigers whose bowling was lead by Agi Septyasa (3/35).

With still a long way to go in this season, Senayan Lions and Fez Rebels top the points table for Division 1 and Division 2 respectively.