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Cricket: HPCA emerge champions of JP Atray Memorial Tournament
Riding on brilliant performances by Prashant Chopra (72 off 48 balls) and Naveen Kanwar (3 for 15), HPCAbeat Ran Star Cricket Club in the finals of the JP Atray Memorial Tournament
Riding on brilliant performances by Prashant Chopra (72 off 48 balls) and Naveen Kanwar (3 for 15), Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) recorded a fine 75-run win over Ran Star Cricket Club in the finals of 26th JP Atray memorial cricket tournament for Trident Cup at the IS Bindra PCA Stadium in Mohali on Sunday.
Due to rain, the match turned out to be a 20-over per side affair, instead of 50-overs. The PCA groundsmen did a fine job to make the match happen.
On winning the toss, Ran Star captain Puneet Bisht asked HPCA to bat. Openers Shubham Negi and Prashant Chopra batted superbly to stitch an important 84-run opening-wicket stand. Shubham got out for 35 runs off 36 balls. Captain Prashant showed his batting prowess and swatted 72 runs off 48 balls. His knock included five fours and four sixes. Nitin Sharma scored an unbeaten 33 runs to propel HPCA. For Ran Star team, Rahul Choudhary (2 for 24) was the main wicket-taker.
In reply, Ran Star team was bowled out for 100 runs in 15.2 overs. Naveen Kanwar (3 for 15) and Ayush Jamwal (3 for 28) bowled brilliantly.
The winning team won a cash prize of ₹2 lakh while the runners-up took ₹1 lakh.
Punjab cabinet minister OP Soni was chief guest during the finals and announced a grant of ₹5 lakh for the conduct of the tournament.
Awards:
Man of the series: Prashant Chopra (HPCA)
Man of the match: Naveen Kanwar (HPCA)
Best bowler: Akash Vashisht (HPCA)
Best batsman: Nehal Wadhera (PCC)
Brief scores:
HPCA: 175/3 in 20 overs (Prashant Chopra 72, Shubham Negi 35, Nitin Sharma 33*, Rahul Choudhary 2/ 24) beat Ran Star Cricket Club: 100 all out in 15.2 overs (Sumeet Verma 36, Pardeep Malik 26, Naveen Kanwar 3/15, Ayush Jamwal 3 for 28) by 75 runs.
