Challengers Metro CC who are in a battle to enter that playoffs took on Yadavas WISCI Tigers who were already assured of a place in the play-offs in a crucial game played on 9th January at the Cibubur cricket ground as part of the R.P. Singh memorial cup.
The CMC opening bowlers Karthigaideepan & Satheesh Kumar bowled tight lines to keep the Tigers openers in check with the first 4 overs only going for 15 runs. Ramdoni fell in the 5th over trying to accelerate and a double-wicket strike when spin was introduced in the form Yuvaraj Bhaskar made things even worse for the Tigers as they reached 55 for 3 after 10 overs. Anjar Tadarus was starting to look dangerous but Karthigaideepan accounted for him in the 12th over and Yuvaraj chipped in with 2 more wickets. Eventually, the Tigers could only manage 127 for 9 in their 20 overs.
CMC got off to a bad start losing both their openers to run-outs with just 6 runs on the board and Tigers were scenting the opportunity to go for the kill. Enter, Kirubasankar and what then followed was a lesson in counter-attacking batting. His first 6 came off the 3rd ball he faced and 9 more sixes followed, but it wasn’t just wild 6 hitting as interspersed within the big hits were many quickly run twos & singles with Arun Pandi providing able support at the other end. This dominant 125 run stand ensured that the Tigers couldn’t get any further wickets.
4 runs were needed to win at the end of the 15th over with Kirubasankar on 99 (having reached there thru two back to back sixes in the previous over) and he finished off in style reaching his century with a huge six and in the process hitting the first century in the tournament, and the first in two years of cricket!!
