Deepak, Vysakh star in Loongs win

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P.D Deepak’s incisive five-for powered CIDBI Loongs to win the K.T. Kerala Varma Memorial Pooja knockout qualifying tournament by defeating KCA Academy by 107 runs at Palace Oval in Tripunithura on Thursday.

Vysakh Chandran’s 81-run knock, along with N.V. Akhilharan’s 65-run, helped CIDBI Loongs to set a target of 241 in the stipulated 45 overs.

For the bowling side, Jomin scalped 3 wickets for 28 runs.

Chasing the target, the KCA team were all out for just 133 runs, courtesy lethal bowling by left-arm spinner Deepak and Sreehari (3/15).

With the win, Loongs enter the all-India tournament, scheduled to start on October 1, as champions.
“This is the first time we are playing in Pooja Cricket Tournament.

So, this is a major achievement for us to enable us qualify to the next round as champions,” says team coach Dinesh Gopalakrishnan.

“From the start of the season, we were practising well. We have got the desired results now.

For the teams like us, it is better to play in the qualifying tournament. The qualifying matches will provide a good exposure for the players,” he says.

The team was consistent throughout the tournament and was able to win almost every match with a margin of 100 runs.

We will try our best to perform within the same form in the all–India tournament too, he said.
BRIEF RESULTS: CIDBI

Loongs: 240 in 44.5 overs (Vyshakh Chandran 81, Akhilharan 65, Jomin 3/28) bt KCA Academy 133 in 33 overs (Deepak 5/36, Sreehari 3/15, Sherrymon 1/21).

THE SQUAD

Ramesh Chinan (Captain), Abishek Tiwari, Vyshakh Chandran, Jafar Jamal, Akhil K Das, Sherrymon Haneef, P.D Deepak, Jofin Jose, N.V Akhilharan, C.M Sreehari, C.R Sreejith, M.M Arunkrishnan, T. A Abheesh, Siddharth Sankar, K.G Rojith, T.S Nitheesh, V.P Sugesh.