UJJAIN REGISTERED seven-wicket victory over Rewa in the Master Builder inter-division cricket tournament organised by the MPCA in memory of Madhav Rao Scinda. The tournament is sponsored by J P Cement, Rewa.
Rewa skipper Mohnish Mishra won the toss and opted to bat on a wicket that looked green on top. The ball was moving well in the early hours and the openers found it difficult to tackle the moving ball. Ujjain seamers Amit Chouhan and Adit Sugandhi exploited the conditions well to their advantage.
Rewa suffered a jolt in the very first over itself losing an opener and could not come back in the game and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
They lost top four batsmen for 57 runs and were on the back foot. Vinay Singh and Manjeet Singh batted superbly and both tried to consolidate the innings. They scored runs hitting the loose balls to the fence at regular intervals.
Vinay showed patience and stayed at the wicket and at the other end Manjeet Singh showed his class and batted like a one-day player.
{{/usCountry}}Vinay showed patience and stayed at the wicket and at the other end Manjeet Singh showed his class and batted like a one-day player.
{{/usCountry}}He hit three spectacular sixes of the bowling of left arm spinner Ratandeep Bhatnagar. When everything was going well for Rewa, well-set Vinay Singh was run out after making 50 runs with six hits to the ropes. That was the beginning of the end. When Manjeet went for a big hit after completing his hurricane 50, he was dismissed. He scored 57 runs off 54 balls with three hits to the ropes and three huge sixes.
After the fall of both the well-set batsmen in quick succession, no other batsmen showed patience to stay at the wicket and the team was bundled out for 167 in 40 overs. Adit Sugandhi bowled well and captured four wickets for 53 runs. Amit Chouhan and Ramender captured two wickets each for 18 and 32 runs respectively.
Chasing the low target of 168 in 50 overs, Ujjain lost the first wicket at the score of 13 before lunch as Rewa innings folded up at 12 noon. Ujjain opener left handed batsman Ashtosh Sanwer showed girt to stay at the wicket and was scoring runs freely. At the other end, Ujjain lost their second wicket at 59. When the score was 64, Ashtosh too returned to pavilion after scoring 35 in 49 balls with seven hits to the fence.
Left handed batsman Ramender Devdgar took the responsibility on his shoulders along with his skipper Amit and the duo steadied the innings scoring runs freely. Ramender carried his innings till the team reached the target. He survived two chances. He was dropped once and an easy stumping was missed. Amit and Ramender added 94 runs for the fourth wicket and both the batsmen remained not out till the end. Ujjain won the match by seven wickets.
After capturing two wickets, Ramender batted brilliantly and showed the youngsters how to bat in one-day matches. He scored an unbeaten 65 with eight boundaries. Giving good support to Ramender, Ujjain skipper Amit Chouhan scored 35 runs with four boundaries.
Brief score: Rewa Division: 167/10 in 40 overs.
Ujjain Division: 170/3 in 41.4 overs.
Result: Ujjain won the match by seven wickets.
Ujjain will play Jabalpur tomorrow and Rewa will meet Jabalpur on January 15.