Vijay CC face Alwarpet in VAP final

CHENNAI: Vijay CC will lock horns with Alwarpet CC in the finals of the VA Parthasarathy Memorial One-day tournament at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Wednesday. In the semifinals on Tuesday, Vijay CC scripted a comfortable seven-wicket win over Young Stars, while Alwarpet edged past Grand Slam CC by 5 runs.
The architects of Vijay CC's win at the SSN College ground were their star all-rounder Vijay Shankar (80, 3x4) and Rahul Singh (86, 4x4, 2x6).Vijay CC chased down Young Stars' target of 222 with 17 deliveries to spare. Taking first strike, Young Stars' G Subash (37, 4x4), Hanuma Vihari (36, 2x6) and S Swaminathan (32, 1x4, 1x6) did get starts but couldn't go on to make a significant contribution. For Vijay CC, left-arm spinner Rahil Shah was the wrecker-in-chief, returning with figures of 3 for 36 from his 10 overs. M Mohammed (2 for 37) and Vijay Shankar (1 for 32) too shone with the ball.
Vijay Shankar and Rahul got together with their team total reading 70 for 3 in the 21st over. The duo added 154 runs for fourth wicket in 157 deliveries to see their side through. While Rahul was the aggressor of the two, Vijay Shankar played a subdued knock as 111-ball essay contained just 3 boundaries.
Vijay CC's opponents in Wednesday's final - Alwarpet CC - scripted a five-run win over Grand Slam. Alwarpet rode P Shijith Chandran's unbeaten 88 to end on 234-9 from 50 overs. In reply, Grand Slam stayed in the contest thanks to N Jagadeesan's 92-ball 80. In the company of L Suryapprakash (35), Jagadeesan added 118 runs off 162 deliveries for the second wicket. Once the two departed, Grand Slam's chase began losing steam and they fell short by a narrow margin. For the winners, Prasanth Parameswaran (2 for 42) and L Kiran Akash (2-55) made it count with the ball.
Brief scores: Young Stars 221 for 9 in 50 overs (G Subash 37, Hanuma Vihari 36; Rahil 3 for 36). Vijay CC 223 for 3 in 47.1 overs (Rahul Singh 86, Vijay Shankar 80; Suresh Babu 1 for 32). Vijay CC won by seven wkts; Alwarpet 234-9 in 50 overs (M Kamalesh 31, P Shijith Chandran 88 n.o., Ashwin Venkataraman 41; Yo Mahesh 2-49, M Ashwin 2-48, B Arun 2-38, R Sai Kishore 2-51). Grand Slam 229-9 in 50 overs (N Jagadeesan 80, V Yo Mahesh 31; Abhishek Tanwar 3-42, Prasanth Parameswaran 2-42, L Kiran Akash 2-55). Alwarpet won by 5 runs