Ahmedabad: Confused and embarrassed, Chennai Strikers’ Pankaj Advani and Vidya Pillai did not find a riposte to wriggle out of six snooker situations, conceded 24 points, and eventually lost the second frame of their mixed doubles 6 Red Snooker match to Hyderabad Hustlers’ Lucky Vatnani and Amee Kamani on the black ball shoot out.
Vatnani won the black ball duel and the second frame 33-26, but the Advani-Vidya pair — which had romped home in the opening frame at 53-13 — could not be stopped from running away with the third frame and the match at 45-0.
The Strikers had the best outing in the Cue Slam Indian Cue Masters League at the Rajpath Club on Tuesday, when it won five matches on the trot.
ADVERTISEMENT
Dharminder Lilly beat Iranian Amir Sarkhosh in the 9 ball pool and the doubles pair in Pandu Rangaiah and Vidya scored a resounding win over Anuj Uppal and Amee.
Advani cut Sarkhosh to size in the icon 6 Reds and then Faisal Khan won his first win in the league in the single frame match against Kamal Chawla for the Strikers to complete a 5-0 rout of the Hustlers.
It was the Strikers second win in four matches, that should take it to the semifinals.
ADVERTISEMENT
The second round robin league tie between Bengaluru Buddies and Gujarat Kings went to the decider and Laxman Rawat clinched it for the South side against Sourav Kothari, potting the yellow in the closing seconds.
The Buddies’ David Morgan poleaxed the Kings’ Andrew Pagett to level scores at 2-2. The home team’s Alok Kunar and Daria Sitotina had won the 9 ball pool mixed doubles.
The result: Chennai Strikers bt Hyderabad Hustlers 5-0 (6-Red Snooker Pankaj Advani & Vidya Pillai bt Lucky Vatnani & Amee Kamani 53-13, 26-33, 45-0; Advani bt Amir Sarkhosh 35-18, 45-3; Faisal Khan bt Kamal Chawla 32-14; 9-ball pool Dharminder Lilly bt Amir Sarkhosh 2-0; Pandu Rangaiah & Vidya bt Anuj Uppal & Amee 2-0).
Bengaluru Buddies bt Gujarat Kings 3-2 ( 6-Red Snooker Darren Morgan & Anastasia Nechaeva lost to Andrew Pagett & Daria Sirotina 13-15, 26-24,11-25; Morgan bt Pagett 38-19, 49-3; Laxman Rawat bt Sourav Kothari 18-17; 9-ball pool: Sundeep Gulati bt Alok Kumar 2-1; Varun Madan & Anastasia lost to Kumar & Daria 1-2).