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hairos Tigers roared up the points table as they defeated favorites Metro Indians by 5 wickets in a division 2 game in the TATA Motors JCA League at the Cibubur grounds in Cibubur on Sunday.

Batting first Metro started well by reaching 61/2 inside 12 overs. The key wicket of Prabhu Kaliraj, who was run out while going for a nonexistent second run, gave the opportunity for the Tigers to claw their way back into the game.

Known for their never-say-die attitude, the Chairos led by man-of-the-match Ardan'€™s fine spell of 4/10 had Metro all-out for 107 runs. Nando, who supported with 1/14 accounted for the prized wicket of Kiruba Shankar.

To complement the bowler'€™s efforts, the tiger'€™s batsmen overhauled the target by the 25th over with Rizky holding one end with an unbeaten 34 runs while Nando provided the supporting role at the other end.

This victory gives the Tigers a much needed push as it moves toward the business end of the league.

In another game at the GMIS grounds, Menara CC ran WISCI too close for comfort in a game that appeared to have been done and dusted by the second drinks break of the Menara chase.

What looked like was going to be a runaway victory for the defending champions, turned on its head when Menara'€™s Mohit Keshwani and Prakash Kewlani threw counterpunches to forge an unfinished 122-run partnership for the ninth wicket that brought Menara within 22 runs of the target only to run out of overs.

Menara finished on 234/8 in response to WISCI'€™s 256/8 in 35 overs.

Earlier put into bat, WISCI started cautiously reaching 62/1 after 12 overs through its openers Viraj Bhammar and Wilfred Schultz (20 runs) who put on 37 runs for the first wicket.

From then on, Bhammar combined well with debutant Naveen Param in balancing caution with aggression as they took the score up to 150/1 in 24 overs. When Bhammar was brilliantly caught at short mid-off for a well made 87 runs, the stage was set for some big hitting.

Naveen, who played risk-free shots in the beginning, opened his shoulders to up the ante before he was out for 68 runs. After a few meaty blows from Bob Plath (28 runs off 10 balls) notwithstanding, Menara then came right back into the game when they started taking wickets at regular intervals to restrict WISCI to 256/8. Harish Tiwari was the pick of the bowlers with 4/39.

In response, the Menara top order found the going tough against the swing bowling of Deepak Singh (3/28) and William Noronha, as they capitulated to 62/4 after 12 overs and then 112/7 after 24 overs.

When it just seemed to be all over, Mohit (76*off 39 balls) and Prakash (43* off 29 balls) showed their colleague batsmen what grit and gumption coupled with intelligent stroke-play can do as they threw caution to the wind with some lusty hitting that caused a few jitters in the WISCI camp.

Eventually it was too tall an order as Menara finished at 234/8. Sudah was the other successful bowler with 2/30, even as Tim Watson gave most youngsters a run for their money sending down six consecutive overs of medium pace from one end.