Spinners Gaurav,Gurinder lead Chandigarh recovery against Amritsar

Earlier,Chandigarh won the toss and elected to field first against Amritsar at the Government Model Senior Secondary School cricket ground. Their decision,however,backfired as openers Rohan Marwaha and Karan Sharma posted 50 runs for the first wicket partnership. After VRV Singh dismissed Karan for 23,skipper Sharad Lumba joined Rohan and they laid a solid foundation for the team. Together they added 187 runs for the second wicket partnership in 55.2 overs.

After seeing off the initial threat posed by VRV and Siddharth Kaul,both the batsmen hit the opposition bowlers all over the ground. Only Gaurav Gambir and Gurinder Singh,who extracted good bounce and spin from the pitch,managed to contain the Amritsar batsmen.

Gurinder finally made the breakthrough for Chandigarh when he accounted for Lumba’s wicket. The Amritsar skipper fell short of a personal landmark and departed just seven runs short of a hundred. He scored 93 off 180 deliveries with the help of 15 boundaries.

At that time Amritsar had put 239 runs on the board for the loss of just two wickets in 67.4 overs. Gaurav Gambhir then struck for Chandigarh and dismissed Aman Bawa. Bawa’s dismissal triggered a collapse for Amritsar and the team was soon tottering at 281 for 8 in 84.1 overs.

Gaurav and Gurinder bowled in tandem and weaved a web around the Amritsar batsmen and dismissed Mohit Handa (2),Arush Saberwal (10),Charanjit Singh (4) and Bharat Lumba (2).

In the meantime,Rohan went on to complete his century (132) off 227 balls as he struck 24 boundaries. However,he fell prey to the guile of spinner Gaurav.

At the close of the day’s play,Amritsar were 309 for 8 in 90 overs. Vinay Chaudhary (11) and Kamal Passi (15) were batting on the crease. Gaurav Gambhir was the most successful Chandigarh bowler with four wickets for 84 runs while Gurinder Singh bagged three wickets for 86 runs.

Brief Scores:

Amritsar: 309 for 8 in 90 overs (Rohan Marwaha 132,Sharad Lumba 93,Karan Sharma 23,Gaurav Gambhir 4 for 84,Gurinder Singh 3 for 86,VRV Singh 1 for 39).

Patiala take control

Opener Ravi Inder Singh struck a quickfire century (103) to put Patiala in the driver’s seat against Mohali at the DMW cricket ground in Patiala on Saturday. This was Ravi Inder’s second successive century after his sparkling 158 in the first innings against Amritsar. It was due his century and half-centuries each by Jeevanjot Singh (50),Amitoze Singh (54) and Himanshu Chawla (74) that the hosts finished the day at 363 for the loss of six wickets in 90 overs.

However,the day belonged to Ravi Inder. The opener had showed fine form with the bat throughout the tournament. After winning the toss,Ravi Inder who is also the captain of the Patiala team,decided to bat first against Mohali.

He and opening partner Jeevanjot Singh got the team off to a good start by putting on a century partnership (110 runs) for the first wicket. Just when last match centurion Jeevanjot had started to look dangerous,Mohali medium-pacer Manpreet Gony sent him back to the pavillion. Jeevanjot was caught by Harsrup Singh after scoring 50 runs off 184 balls with the help of eight boundaries.

Amitoze Singh then joined Ravi Inder and they added 86 runs for the third wicket partnership before Gony once again returned to claim his second wicket of the day. This time he dismissed Ravi Inder who had started to take on Mohali bowlers and had completed his century in style. His knock of 103 runs came off 136 deliveries and was studded with 14 boundaries and two mighty sixes.

The Patiala batsmen continued to score runs at will as Amitoze and Himanshu Chawla stitched 73 runs for the fourth wicket partnership. Amitoze,looking to play an ambitious shot,was caught by Harsrup off Gurkirat Mann after scoring 54 off 113 balls. Himanshu kept the scoreboard ticking with a well-made 74 off 130 deliveries and added 59 runs for the sixth wicket partnership with Anmolpreet Singh. Himanshi hit seven boundaries in his knock.

At the close of the play,Patiala were 363 for 6 with Anmolpreet unbeaten on 35 and Mohit Mohindera giving him compnay on four. For Mohali,Gony (2 for 48) and Varun Khanna (2 for 108) were the most successful bowlers.

Brief scores:

Patiala: 363 for 6 in 90 overs (Ravi Inder Singh 103,Himanshu Chawla 74,Amitoze Singh 54,Jeevanjot Singh 50,Anmolpreet 35 no,Manpreet Gony 2 for 48,Varun Khanna 2 for 108)

Two match tickets for PCA,PCC life members

Two tickets would be given to each life members of Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) and Punjab Cricket Club for the forthcoming Champions League T20 matches starting from September 17 at PCA Stadium in Mohali. Two matches will be played each day on September 17,18 and 20. The life members can collected their tickets from PCA Stadium,Mohali on September 15 and 16 from 11 am to 5 pm. Each ticket is valid for two matches (each day) which will be played on the above mentioned dates. The first match will be played from 4 pm to 7 pm while the second match will be played from 8 pm to 11 pm.