Battlelines drawn in the PNV Udayar Cup; semifinals tomorrow

The perfectly timed and equally managed Shri PNV Udayar Cup has reached its business end. Thursday will see top four teams lock horns for the coveted spot in the final. The event, which broke the COVID-19 induced lull thankfully, saw the completion of pool matches today. As Expected, the well-entrenched States’ teams, three of them institutional, are in the semifinal fray. Challengers XI, a new outfit is the lone non-institutional team  make up the semifinal lineup.

Having won all its matches, the Indian Railways local outfit Railway Coach Factory topped the pool B with 15 points followed by Indian Bank (12 points). Incidentally, the Indian Bank was beaten 3-1 by the pool topper in the league.

The other pool, for a change, was in total contrast, replete with hotly fought contests. That two teams — Indian Overseas Bank and Challengers – got 10 points each vouchsafe for the intensity the pool witnessed since the event started ten days ago.

Both IOB and Challengers  have made it to the semis, the latter as pool topper. Both teams had identical parameters with 3 wins and a draw but the Challengers had better goal difference: 4 more than IOB’s 16.

It will be interesting to see tomorrow how the new outfit will fare against the traditional giant RCF tomorrow in the semifinal.

If Challengers can actually challenge the might of the RCF, it will open a new vista in the metro city.