Chandrashekhar Azad memorial T20 cup: Sagar Saharan’s half-century helps Sukhna Zone log win

Chandigarh, August 5

A timely half-century by Sagar Saharan helped Sukhna Zone defeat Plaza Zone by five wickets during the Chandrashekhar Azad Memorial T20 Cup at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium.

Chasing Plaza Zone’s total of 156 for six wickets, the Sukhna Zone batters posted 157 runs at the loss of five wickets with the help of Saharan (54 off 33 balls with eight boundaries and one six). Skipper Arslan Khan contributed 37 off 26 balls, with five boundaries and one six, while Partdeep Yadav (25) remained the other notable contributor in the chase. Hartejassvi Kapoor claimed two wickets while ceding 31 runs. Mohammed Ashad, Aayush Sikka and Sukrant Sharma took a wicket each.

Earlier, Plaza Zone posted 156 runs on the board in 20 overs with the help of Jagmeet Singh (73 off 51 balls, with eight boundaries and one six) and Guntash Veer Singh (47 off 45 balls, with four boundaries and one six). Amit Shukla picked two wickets, while Sunny Singh, Chiraz Singh and Arslan picked one each for the bowling side.

In another match, Leisure Zone recorded a 52-run win over Terrace Zone.

Batting first, Leisure Zone scored 190 runs at the loss of seven wickets in the allotted 20 overs with the help of skipper Arjun Azad (90 off 52 balls, with eight boundaries and four sixes) and Tushar Joshi and Surya Narayan, who posted 23 runs each. Ravinderpal Singh and Mandy claimed two wickets each for the bowling side, while Bhagmender Lather and Taranpreet Singh took a wicket each.

In reply, Terrace Zone could score only 138 runs in the allotted overs. The team lost nine wickets. Ashwin Murugan and Nippun Pandita claimed three wickets each, while Jagjit Singh, Sehbazz Singh and Arpit Pannu took one each for the bowling side. Lather (36), Arjit Singh (24), Amrit Lubana (21) and Abhijeet Garg (19) scored for Terrace Zone.

Selectors accused of corruption

Several senior players and their supporters staged a protest outside the UTCA office in the Sector 16 cricket stadium, levelling corruption charges on the selectors. The players announced to intensify the protest. According to them, the selectors dropped them from the league citing age issues even as neither the BCCI nor any affiliated body put any age restriction on players for participating in senior leagues. Some players, who have an excellent domestic record, alleged that the selectors picked players they wished to promote and few among them were wards of UTCA life members. Cops were called to pacify players.