CHANDIGARH: Kunal Mahajan's sedate half century went in vain as a relatively inexperienced UT Cricket Association team went down to CAG, Delhi by 47 runs in the opening match of the 26th All India JP Atray Memorial cricket tournament for the Trident Cup at the IS Bindra Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali on Tuesday.
The UTCA team, sans their key players, including skipper Manan Vohra, who has left for the UAE with the Rajasthan Royals' squad for the second phase of the Indian Premier League (IPL), starting September 19, clearly missed the experience in the top order during the chase of 246, before eventually being bowled out for 198 in 46 overs.
UTCA's hunt for the target started on a forgettable note, with the top three, Raman Bishnoi (5), Sarul Kanwar (12) and captain Shivam Bhambri (0), departing for 19 runs in 3.4 overs before Kunal and Amrit Lubana took charge of the proceedings.
The duo played sensibly and stitched a partnership of 80 runs in 149 balls, before Amrit lost his cool and was caught in deep by Subhrangshu Senapati off Gobind Poddar. He played a compact knock of 40 runs off 75 balls, laced with 3 hits to the fence and one over it. Kunal on the other hand, kept one end secured and by that time brought up his 50 off 84 balls.
Wicketkeeper Arjit Pannu then joined Kunal but immediately fell to a sharp throw from Poddar at non-the striker's end. With pressure mounting on Kunal to press the accelerator, he eventually fell after scoring 68 off 99 deliveries, laced with eight fours and a six. Bhagmender Singh departed early just adding 7 runs to the total.
Towards the end, Rahul Sharma came up with a cameo of 27 runs off 28 balls but that wasn't enough as right arm medium pacer Shorya Sanandia took 5 wickets to wrap up the UTCA innings. Sanandia was declared man of the match for his excellent bowling spell.
Earlier, electing to bat CAG Delhi recovered from a disastrous start of 0 for 3, before riding on a belligerent century from Arpit Vasavada and a half century from Ankit Kaushik to put on 245 runs on the board. They lost their first three wickets of Rishab Das, Manoj Singh and Subhrangshu Senapati for consecutive ducks.
Without a run on the board and three wickets down in 2.1 overs, Govind Poddar and Arpit Vasavada put on 32 runs for the 4th wicket before Poddar was caught by Bhagmender off Nipun Pandita for 7. At this stage Aditya Sarvate joined Arpit and the duo put on 48 runs for the 5th wicket before Aditya was castled by Bhagmender for 25 off 38 balls.
Thereafter, Ankit and Arpit joined forces to put on 125 runs for the 6th wicket before Arpit was caught by Nipun off Bhagmender for a brilliant 100 off 138 balls, studded with 11 boundaries. Ankit also followed his partner back to the pavilion after being bowled by Jagjit Singh Sandhu for 63 off 67 balls studded with 6 boundaries.
For the UTCA side, Sandhu was the pick of the bowlers, returning figures of 4 for 50, while Nipun Pandita (2 for 33), Bhagmender Singh (2 for 50) also chipped in with useful breakthroughs.
Aditya starts in Ranstar's win
Opener Aditya Sharma's unbeaten half century helped Ranstar Cricket Club, Delhi thrash Minerva Cricket Academy by four wickets in the second match played at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium, Chandigarh.
Put in to bat, the Minerva Cricket Academy innings never got going and were finally bundled out for 124 in 36 overs. Chetanya Bishnoi (4 for 19) and Pradeep Prashar (2 for 30) were the main wicket takers for Ranstar Cricket Club, Delhi. Yuvraj Chaudhary's 30 and Shivam Singh's 22 were the only notable contributions to the Minerva Cricket Academy's total.
In reply, Ranstar banked on Man-of-the-Match Aditya's unbeaten 71 off 76 balls, laced with seven boundaries to get to the total in 26.1 overs, without much hassle. Minerva left-arm spinner Ramesh Kumar managed to get a fifer, albeit on a losing cause.
Nostalgic moment for Sharma
Earlier in the day, the tournament was inaugurated by former India pacer and current BCCI chairman of selectors, Chetan Sharma at the I.S. Bindra Cricket Stadium, PCA Mohali. Sharma said he felt nostalgic to inaugurate a tournament in which he had himself participated as a player in its inaugural year.
He was introduced to the two participating teams by PCA secretary Puneet Bali, along with tournament committee chairman Chander Shekhar, and PCA treasurer RP Singla.
