ITC champions

May 16: ITC won the Champions Cup with a last-ball victory over ABN Amro Bank in the recent Mahindra Realty Cricket Sevens at the Kohli Sta...

May 16: ITC won the Champions Cup with a last-ball victory over ABN Amro Bank in the recent Mahindra Realty Cricket Sevens at the Kohli Stadium, Navy Nagar.

Befittingly skipper Ajay Srinivasan scored the winning run to take ITC past the bankmen’s 82 for three.

A unique effort to get the key players of corporate strategy into flannels and onto turf warranted a restructuring of the rules to ensure that no professional cricketers play.

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Various age levels with a team were set to ensure a cross-section of age groups. The relaxed atmoshphere that accompanied play made for a refreshing change of operations.

As many as 33 companies clamoured for 24 spots in the tournament that involved 46 matches.

Based on performances, the teams were placed into various knockout groups, namely Champions Cup, Salver and Bowl.

The Salver went to Birla Global Finance who beat BNP while Citibank thrashed Dresdner Bank to claim the Bowl.

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The highlight of the concluding day was the Corporate Challenge Cup 1997 restricted to the top management only. Industry beat Finance by just one run.Brief scores: ABN Amro Bank 82-3 (RV Karoon 31) lost to ITC 86-2 (L Vishwanath 22). M-o-M: L Vishwanath (ITC).

BNP 70-2 (Jatin Suryavanshi 32) lost to Birla Global Finance 72-2 (Girish Ramchandran 33). M-o-M: Girish Ramchandran (Birla Global).

Citibank 118-1 (Ranjit Punja 33, Ashish Rao 33, Abhay Aggarwal 33) bt Dresdner Bank 42 (Giri 22, Vikram Prabhakar 3-12). M-o-M: Ranjit Punja (Citibank).