Bengal lose,LIC springs surprise

Cricket Association of Bengal's dreams of making a winning start to the domestic season under coach Roger Binny was shattered when they lost to Reliance I by seven wickets...

Cricket Association of Bengal’s dreams of making a winning start to the domestic season under coach Roger Binny was shattered when they lost to Reliance I by seven wickets in the inaurual match of the 16th edition of J P Atray Memorial Cricket Tournament held at Sector 16 Cricket Stadium on Thursday. Sunny Singh (81 no) and Rahul Shukla (5 for 46) emerged stars for Reliance with their heroics.

Put into bat,CAB accumulated 232 for the loss of eight wickets in their 50 overs. A healthy partnership of 140 runs between Arindam Dass and Laxmi Ratan Shukla helped CAB to reach a respectable total. Shukla top scored with 88 runs from 122 balls laced with nine boundaries and a six,whereas Das contributed 70 in 99 balls before being consumed by Shukla. No other CAB batsmen were able to make any significant contribution to the teams’ total. Speedstar Rahul Shukla ripped through the CAB innings as he bagged five wickets by giving 46 runs in his ten overs.

Chasing the target,Reliance began on a sound note with Ishan Malhotra scoring a brisk 32 from just 15 balls with two huge sixes and four boundaries. Later,Dhawan and Sunny Singh consolidated their team’s position by stitching a healthy partnership of 103 runs for the second wicket.

Meanwhile,in another match of the day,LIC surprised many when they registered a narrow 20-run win over over All India Electricity Sports Control Board (AIESCB) in a high scoring encounter. Calling correctly,LIC openers started on a flying note by adding 248 runs for the opening partnership. Rahul Deewan made a brisk 123 runs in 117 balls with 17 boundaries to his name,while Gurinder Saini smashed 126 runs in 138 balls with the help of 13 boundaries and three towering sixes. Nitin Saini continued the good work and made a quickfire 40 in just 28 balls. LIC set a mammoth target of 335 for three wickets in their 50 overs.

Chasing the daunting target,AIESCB batsmen made valuable contributions and were on course for a win but lost plao in the later stages of the play. The AIESCB middle order and tailenders made valiant contributions for their team but it was not enough to surpass the stiff target. Rana Chaudhary made 47 from just 41 balls,while Amol Majumdar scored a brisk 39 of 37 balls. Ankur Jund contributed 55 runs. For the LIC,Harpreet Singh took three wickets,while Navneet Singh scalped two.

Brief scores:

CAB: 232 for 8 in 50 overs ( Laxmi Ratan Shukla 88,Arindam Das 70,Rahul Shukla 5 for 46); Reliance: 236 for three in 37.4 overs (Sunny Singh 81,Shikhar Dhawan 60,Ishan Malhotra 32).

LIC: 335 for three in 50 overs ( Rahul Deewan 123,Gurinder Saini 126,Nitin Saini 40); AIESCB 315 for 9 in 50 overs ( Ankur Jund 55,Amol Majumdar 39,Debabrata Das 35 and Vinay Dandekar 29)

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