Chawla scripts Patiala’s fairy-tale win

Just when it seemed the match had tiltd in Chandigarh’s favour,a very special knock by Himanshu Chawla and his equally significant partnership of 125-run for the seventh wicket when Patiala were in a sticky situation,helped the hosts script a dramatic one -wicket win over mighty Chandigarh to enter the final of the Punjab Under-22 Inter-District Cricket Tournament played at Dhruv Pandove stadium on Monday. Needing 252 to overcome Chandigarh’s first innings’ total of 504 and just five wickets left,the chase looked an uphill task for the Patiala batsmen but Chawal ensured the total was well within grasp.

Resuming at overnight total of 252 for 5,Himanshu Chawla and Amrinder took the score to 278 when Amrinder was stumped by Simrat Bawa off the bowling of Sihag for 14. As Chandigarh medium pacers could not make any impression,they deplayed taking the new ball till the 100 th over. At this stage the match was heavily loaded in favour of Chandigarh but Himanshu Chawla and Perry Goel got their act together and steadied the rocking Patiala ship by putting together a match winning partnership of 125-run for the seventh wicket which was broken by the dismissal of wicket keeper Perry Goel for a well made 59 off 84 balls with the team’s total score reading 403 for 7. The match at this stage was in a tantalising stage with Patiala still needing 67 runs with just two wickets in hand. Himanshu Chawla found an able partner in the form of Mohit Mohindra and the duo took the total to 503- just two runs away from the victory target. At this stage Himanshu Chawla who had been batting with lot of grit and determination,lost his cool and was caught by Gurinder off Anshul Tripathi for 196,four short of a well deserved double century.

Brief scores:
Chandigarh:504 all out in 196.4 overs; Patiala: 507 for 9 in 177.4 overs (Himanshu Chawla 196,Jeevajot 75,Perry Goel 59,Kunwar Raina 49,Mohit Mohindra 36 no,Anshul Tripathi 3 for 147,Anil Sihag 2 for 98,Gurinder Singh 2 for 169).

Sunny,Khera hit tons in Ludhiana win

Continuing with their fine forms,Ludhiana’s Sunny Pandey and Gitansh Khera hit centuries to put Ludhiana in a commnading position but they had already booked their place in the final following their innings-lead against Jalandhar in the second semi-final match played at Jalandhar. Sunny and Gitansh hit the third and the fourth centuries of the match.

Resuming at 7 for no loss Ludhiana finished the day on 305 for 7 in 83 overs when the umpires called off the match. Ludhiana innings was sustained by Sunny Pandey (108) and Gitansh Khera (109). Ludhiana was rocked in the earlier stages when they lost two quick wickets with only eight runs on the board. They recovered later through a 74-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Sunny Pandey and Deepak Bansal in 18.1 overs. The partnership was broken when Deepak was caught by Himanshu off the bowling of Gurinder for 44 off 56 balls. Gitansh who had been scoring regularly for Ludhiana,came up with another knock of 109 before being bowled by Himanshu with the team’s total reading 293 for 6.

Brief scores:
Ludhiana (1 st Innings): 451; Jalandhar (1st Innings): 421 all out in 119 overs; Ludhiana (2 nd Innings): 305 for 7 in 83 overs (Gitansh Khera 109,Sunny Pandey 108,Deepak Bansal 44,Yogesh Kumar 3 for 95,Himanshu 2 for 3).