Ludhiana, May 23
Sony excelled with bat and ball (34 and 2 for 32) as Sports Club defeated Rana Club by three wickets to lift the trophy in the 11th Veera Devi and the Ist Madan Lal Gupta Memorial Cricket Tournament played at the Sarpanch Bachan Singh Cricket Academy ground, Haibowal Kalan, here today. For his outstanding performance, Sony was adjudged the man-of-the-match.
Rana Club won the toss and elected to bat. With the help of some consistent batting by Sarabjit Lalli and Varinder Patwari, they scored 119 for 9 in their stipulated 25 overs. Lalli and Patwari contributed 32 and 21 runs,
respectively.
Despite fine bowling spells by Rana Club’s Varinder Patwari (4 for 16) and Rajesh (2 for 21), Sports Club achieved the target in the 22nd over after losing seven wickets. The main architects of their win were Sony (34), Baba (33) and Harbhajan Kala (18).
Varinder Patwari and Anil Singla of Rana Club were declared the best bowler and the best batsman of the tournament, respectively, while Kuldeep of Bedi Club was named the best allrounder.
Before the start of the match, a two-minute silence was observed as a mark of respect in the memory of the local cricketer, Dharam Raj (48), who died last week following a cardiac arrest. Dharam Raj had represented the Railways in the Ranji Trophy tournament. The players of both teams and the two umpries sported the black badges as sign of respect to the departed soul.
Mr Surinder Dawar, MLA from the Ludhiana East, gave away prizes to the participants. Mr Sham Sunder Malhotra, a former councillor, Mr Rajan Gupta an industrialist and president of the organising committee of the tournament, were present at the prize distribution function.
On this occasion, Dr Manjit Singh Mahal, an umpire of international repute, and Mr R.D. Singh, cricket coach, Punjab Agricultural University, who retired last month were honoured by the tournament committee for their contribution in the field of cricket.
