Jolly Rovers won this year’s Palayampatti Shield for the first division league championship in an emphatic manner. Under the new format introduced this year, they emerged winners in a knockout among the top four in the league. Jolly Rovers won a hard-fought battle against Globe Trotters in the final at Chepauk, with some plucky batting displays from both teams.
Sujith Somasundar, who scored a hundred and Badrinath, who missed one, gave their side a sound start, the scoreboard at one stage reading 280 for 3, but there was a flurry of wickets thereafter, the Chemplast-sponsored holders finishing at 336. Aashish Kapoor took three wickets. Sriram (48), Senthilnathan (43) and Hemang Badani (62) batted well for the MRF-sponsored runners-up, but in the end, Jolly Rovers won by a convincing margin.
The captain, D Vasu, with his left arm spin, was the most successful bowler, striking decisive blows at vital moments and finishing with 5 for 77. With this year’s triumph, Jolly Rovers achieved a record 12th first division title, starting as far back as the 1964-1965 season, when it was run by members of The Hindu family.
It was in the 1966-67 season that India Cements adopted Jolly Rovers. They set about building a formidable combination in right earnest, and at one stage had some of the finest players the state had produced in its ranks. The team won the Palayampatti Shield for three consecutive years from 1966-67 to 1968-69, repeating the feat in 1970-71 and 1971-72. It won three times in the Eighties and again in 1990-91. There was a decade-long gap after that and Jolly Rovers had to wait until last season to finish on top of the table.
There was a fresh wave of recruitment in the mid ’70s when the team came under the management of Chemplast Sanmar. In the early ’80s, Jolly Rovers won the league title three years in a row under the captaincy of Bharat Reddy. Through the eighties and nineties, the team continued to do well in the TNCA league and all-India tournaments, with quite a few of its members achieving national recognition.
Significantly, in the last couple of seasons, Jolly Rovers set in a process of consolidation, when results were stressed and time and effort were invested in a solid core of players, not necessarily stars, who would stay with the team. They have shrugged off the loss of key players to other teams at the beginning of the season and still come out on top, largely through the efforts of the captain Vasu and his dedicated support team consisting of coaches Jabbar and Arun as well as Bharat Reddy who manages the affairs of the team. They have carried the entire team with them.
Badrinath, Sujith Somasundar, Ajay Kudua and Dinesh Mongia were among the runs during the season, while Vasu and fellow spinners Ganesh Kumar and Ramkumar did the job with the ball. Taking a keen interest on behalf of the Sanmar management is Vijay Sankar, grandson of Chairman Emeritus K S Narayanan, who started it all more than thirty years ago.
Over the years, Narayanan’s sons N Sankar and his younger brother N Kumar respectively Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Sanmar group, have been the inspiration behind the success of the team. Rarely in the history of corporate sponsorship has a business group made such a substantial long-term commitment to the support of cricket.
An important factor in Jolly Rovers’ success in recent years has been the superb IIT-Chemplast cricket ground and the excellent practice facilities available there for the team – and the other clubs sponsored by Chemplast.
This is, of course, true of a number of first division teams in Chennai, but the IIT-Chemplast ground is indeed special, both in its delightful ambience and its first rate pavilion. By V Ramnarayan
The winners. Standing L-R: S Arun, S Badrinath, R Ramkumar, L Balaji, Tinu Yohanan, B Arun (Manager), Vinnarasan (Scorer), P Padmanabhan (Physical Trainer), T R Arasu. Sitting L-R: Dinesh Mongia, S R Ganesh Kumar, D Vasu (Captain) Bharat Reddy (Administrative Manager) H Ramkishen, Sujith Somasundar, Abdul Jabbar (Coach). Kneeling L-R: A G Srinivas, M Deepak, Ajay N Kudua, Jinju Joseph, L Purshothaman and Chandran (Groundsman, IIT Chemplast).