Chd Baptist to face Satluj in final

Tribune News Service 

Chandigarh, December 2

Chandigarh Baptist School (Sector 45) will face Satluj Public School (Panchkula) in the final of The Tribune Inter-School U-16 T20 Cricket Championship.

In the semifinals played today, Chandigarh Baptist defeated Saupin's School (Sector 32) by 13 runs and the Satluj boys recorded a 73-run win over St Joseph's School (Sector 44).

In the first semifinal, Chandigarh Baptist skipper Puneet won the toss and opted to bat first, and the team posted 97/5 in their allotted 20 overs. Puneet opened the innings with Karan Sharma, and the duo raised a 25-run partnership. Karan (3) fall prey to Arsh Bhatti. Off the very next ball, Bhatti struck again and accounted for Piyush Kapoor (0). Shoaib then joined Puneet and the two added 16 runs for the third wicket. Shoaib was stumped by wicketkeeper Lakshya Sood off Ishaan Garg. Saksham Kashyap (6) was the next batsman to fall, after he was run-out by Armaan Goyal.

Sarabjot Singh then played a supporting innings of 18 runs from 19 balls, helping skipper Puneet (57 off 60 balls, with four boundaries) to take the team to 97 runs in the allotted overs. Bhatti (2/18), Garg (1/11) and Goyal (1/19) shared the wickets for the bowling side.

In reply, the Saupin’s lads failed to achieve the target, posting 84 runs before getting all out in 19.1 overs.

Opening the innings, Nikhil Kumar and Bhatti failed to provide the team a good start, raising only 16 runs for the first wicket. Bhatti (5) was the first to go, sent back by Ravi Shankar. Sood then joined Nikhil (13) and the duo tried to stabilise the innings, but the opener Nikhil was run out by Puneet.

Sood then found an able partner in Dikshant Mittal, who supported him to raise a 30-run partnership to drag the team ahead. However, Shoaib accounted for Sood (24 off 29 balls) and Mittal (20 off 24 balls) was removed by Sarabjot and the team was in difficulties at a total of 65 runs.

Thereafter, the team lost Naveen Chanchal (3), Garg (0), Goyal (1), Rohan (0) and Abhinav Mehta (1) quickly to lose the match. Sarabjot (2/16) and Lavish (2/12) were the two main wicket-takers for the winners, while Shankar and Shoaib took one wicket each.

Kshitij claims six wickets 

In the other semifinal, the Satluj lads batted first and posted 144/6 in 20 overs against St Joseph’s School. After opener Ayush Kumar (6) fell early, Saksham took charge and contributed an unbeaten 90 off 67 balls, with seven boundaries. He was ably supported by Ashish (27 off 38 balls) as the team got to 144/6 in 20 overs. Aryan (3/26) was the most effective bowler for St Joseph's School, while Ishan Gaba and Nihar Gour claimed one wicket apiece.

In reply, St Joseph's boys were bundled out for 71 runs. The side lost two quick wickets early as Aksh (0) and Ranvijay (5) were sent back to the pavilion with the team's total at 15.

Thereafter, Aryan Verma and Ishaan Gaba raised a 40-run partnership for the third wicket. Verma scored 36 off 40 balls, with two boundaries and one six, before getting caught by Vikramjeet Singh, while Gaba contributed 12 off 21 balls before falling prey to Vishal.

The duo had raised hopes of a win but Kshitij Halder struck for Satluj, claiming six wickets — Bhavya Thakur (0), Aryan (3), Digvijay (0), Himank Chopra (0), Nihar Gour (1) and Pranav Kaushal (0) — to restrict St Joseph's to 71. Halder finished with remarkable figures of 6/16, while Inder, Vishal and Vikramjeet Singh claimed one wicket each.