Balram Dass Tandon Memorial Tourney
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 1: Creating history, Jammu and Kashmir U-16 Men’s cricket team lifted the title trophy by outplaying formidable Punjab in the summit clash of Balram Dass Tandon Memorial Cricket Tournament at Chandigarh today.
In reply to Punjab’s good total of 256 runs in their first innings, J&K scored 284/8 to win the match by virtue of the first innings lead. J&K rode on a brilliant 6th wicket partnership of 121 runs between Shourya Chouhan and Manitvya to succeed in gaining a vital first innings lead, finally winning the match by its virtue.
Shourya took 150 balls to score magnificent 91 runs, studded with 17 delectable boundaries, while Manitvya contributed 48 runs with 5 crispy boundaries. Zaid Mufti scored 38 runs, while Shiva and Rahil contributed 28 and 23 runs to the total respectively. For Punjab, Akash Singh and Yuvraj Arora bagged 2 wickets each, while Sagar Viek, Adhiraj Singh, Aarav Deep and Samrath claimed one wicket apiece.
Earlier, batting first, Punjab had scored a good total of 256 runs in 83.5 overs in their first innings. Yamuna Singh top scored with 88 runs off 128 balls, studded with 17 boundaries, while Ravtej Singh, Aryan Sidhu and Samrath contributed 47, 29 and 25 runs to the total respectively. For J&K, Arun Kumar, Shefan and Manitvya bagged 2 wickets each, while Irfan Ashraf, Saksham, Jeevesh Gupta and Shourya Chouhan claimed one wicket each.
Jeevesh Gupta of J&K was adjudged best bowler of the tournament, while Shourya Chouhan was declared man of the final match. Brig Anil Gupta, Member-Administration JKCA appreciated J&K team for this exceptional achievement. The J&K team is being accompanied by Zahoor Sofi as Manager, Sameer Khajuria as Head Coach, Muzaffar Mattoo as Coach, Amit Bargotra as Strength & Conditioning Coach and Dr Amir Malik as Team Physio.