JAMMU AND Kashmir and Maharashtra on Thursday won their respective matches in the Vijay Merchant Trophy U-17 cricket tournament being played at the Usha Raje and Emerald Heights (Aamrakoot) grounds. The tournament has been organised by the MPCA under the aegis of BCCI.
Chasing a target of 319 for outright victory at the Usha Raje cricket ground, Sikkim were cruising well but fell short of 80 runs and lost the match to Jammu and Kashmir. Struggling at 55/3 at the end of second day’s play, Sikkim batsmen showed their grit to fight back Jammu and Kashmir medium pacers.
Leeyong Lepcha was unlucky to miss a well-deserved century falling short of just two runs. His patience and grit put Jammu and Kashmir bowlers on the backfoot.
He completed 50 in 90 balls with eight boundaries and at his individual score of 98 he was caught by Mir Mohamed of Aamir. He scored 15 boundaries. He got good support from Dinesh Rai who completed brilliant 50 in 120 balls with 5 boundaries.
After adding five runs, he too was back in the dressing room. After the fall of both the batsmen, Jammu Kashmir bowlers ran through the tail and bundled out Sikkim for 238. Once again, Zahoor Ahmed bowled well to grab four wickets for 61 while Aamir Mehraj took 3/56.
{{/usCountry}}After adding five runs, he too was back in the dressing room. After the fall of both the batsmen, Jammu Kashmir bowlers ran through the tail and bundled out Sikkim for 238. Once again, Zahoor Ahmed bowled well to grab four wickets for 61 while Aamir Mehraj took 3/56.
{{/usCountry}}At Emerald Heights Aamrakoot grounds, Maharashtra won the match by 10 wickets. In the morning, Saurashtra were struggling at 15/3. Kalpesh Rajvadia showed his grit and batted brilliantly.
He completed 50 with five boundaries. He was unlucky to miss his century, as he was dismissed at his individual score of 92. He was adjudged LBW and was back in the pavilion.
He batted for 274 minutes and scored 10 boundaries. Kalpesh helped his team to avoid innings defeat but could not help Maharashtra from taking vital bonus point as they won the match by 10 wickets to grab five points in the match.
Saurashtra innings folded up at 167. Jitendra Patil and Ashish Suryavanshi bowled well to capture 6/52 and 3/30. Maharashtra belted the required run of 21 without losing a wicket to win the match by 10 wickets.