Evergreen emerge one-day champions

Thakur Tilak Varma slammed back-to-back centuries but his effort went in vain as Gemini Friends fell short by 14 runs in the day/night final

Hyderabad: In an exciting day/night final, Evergreen defeated Gemini Friends by 14 runs to emerge champions at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Evergreen set a target of 302 runs. Led by the promising Tilak Varma, Gemini Friends ran close before stopping at 287/9 in 50 overs.

In Evergreen’s total, Mayank Gupta top scored with 93 while Vignesh Agarwal and Chand Sahani hit half-centuries. Mohd Taha Sheik took 4/44.

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Chasing a big total, Gemini Friends were in the run as long as Tilak Varma was at the crease. The left-handed opener, who struck a century against a Mohd Siraj-led Budding Stars attack in the semifinals, kept the Evergreen attack at bay with a scintillating 116-ball 132 (7×4, 4×6) but could not take the team to victory as Vamshi Krishna wreaked havoc with the ball for Evergreen. Krishna finished with figures of 5/60. Maruthi Reddy made 57. Coach Salam Bayash was all praise for Tilak Varma’s century. “It was a well-paced innings.”

A delighted Prakash Jain gave Rs 10,000 each to the winning members of the Evergreen team. Apart from that he donated Rs 1,20,000 to Evergreen Academy. “It is my duty to encourage my players. They have given wonderful performances this season and they deserve the encouragement,” said Jain, who doesn’t charge cricketers for playing for his club. “I take only the deserving players into my team,” he said.

Meanwhile, for joint secretary Naresh Sharma, it was a big victory of sorts by organising the tournament in the Covid-19 pandemic that too with coloured clothing, white balls, black screens and the final being a day/night affair.

Brief scores: Evergreen 301/8 in 50 overs (Vignesh Agarwal 50, Mayank Gupta 93, Chandan Sahani 53, Rahul Buddhi 30, Mohd Taha Sheik 4/44) bt Gemini Friends 287/9 in 50 overs (N Thakur Tilak Varma 132, Maruthi Reddy 57, Vamshi Krishna 5/60).

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