Chandigarh pips Panchkula

Useful knocks by Ashish Kukreti (43) and Sandeep Bhattachariya (38 not out) enabled Chandigarh to beat Panchkula and storm into the semi-final of the U-22 Haryana Inter-District Cricket Tournament in a match held at GMSS-19 in Chandigarh on Thursday.

On winning the toss,Chandigarh skipper Arjun Puri,invited the opposition into bat. The decision proved right as Panchkula were skittled out at paltry total of 158 runs in the allotted quota of 50 overs. Chandigarh left-arm medium-pacer Harsh Ahlawat emerged as main wrecker-in-chief as he dismantled the Panchkula top order grabbing three wickets. Leg-spinner Yujwinder Chahal too bowled impressively to scalp two wickets. Kapil Pandey (39) and Mohan Singh (29) were the main contributors for Panchkula.

In reply,a formidable Chandigarh side,achieved the target in 43.2 overs. Ashish Kukreti (43) and Arjun Puri (36) added 77 runs for the opening wicket. Later,Sandeep Bhattachariya (38 not out) took Chandigarh to the winning total.

Brief scores:

Panchkula: 158 all out in 50 overs (Kapil Pandey 39,Mohan Singh 29,Pawan 24,Harsh Ahlawat 3 for 28,Yajuwinder Chahal 2 for 19,Sandeep Bhattachariya 1 for 27).

Chandigarh:159 for 5 in 43.2 overs (Ashish Kukreti 43,Sandeep Bhattachariya 38 not out,Arjun Puri 38,Rakesh Kumar 14 not out,Suraj Bhan 1 for 29 Jasant 1 for 29)