Kerala Strikers Have the Last Laugh in CCL Match

Followers of the Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) in the city created a huge buzz of the sole match day of the season here as they poured in numbers to the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium on Sunday to catch a glimpse of their silver-screen heroes in some cricketing action.

Though losing a bit of its sheen due to the absence of big names like Mohanlal and Mammotty on and off the pitch, the two celebrity matches held on the day still managed to keep the fans who flocked the stadium in a state of frenzy. Bollywood star Riteish Deshmukh, Kollywood actor Kiccha Sudeep, Tamil hero Vishal and Kerala’s own Nivin Pauly and Rajeev Pillai were all in action with the bat and ball, with actors Genelia D’Souza, Trisha Krishnan, Indrajith Sukumaran, Bhavana and Mythili cheering their teams.

Every slash of the ball to the boundary line, every fall of the wicket and every glimpse of their favourite stars on the giant screens made the spectators in the stadium go berserk as Sudeep’s Karnataka Bulldozers and Rajeev’s Kerala Strikers got the better of Veer Marathi and Chennai Rhinos, respectively.

However star studded the first match between Veer Marathi and Karnataka Bulldozers was, it was for the match between Mollywood’s own Kerala Strikers and Chennai Rhinos that the crowd was more expectant about. As Rajeev Pillai and Bineesh Kodiyeri walked into open for Kerala Strikers, they were greeted with a burst of cheers.

Though the duo departed early without troubling the scorers, Arun Benny gave some reasons for the home crowd to root for as he made a quickfire 71 to steady the Strikers’ innings and put up a total of 150 runs in 20 overs.