Col CK Nayudu trophy: Arjun to lead Chandigarh men’s team

Chandigarh, January 4

The local men’s U-23 cricket team will start their Col CK Nayudu Trophy campaign against host Tripura on January 7. The team will play their next match against Guwahati from January 14 followed by matches against Saurashtra from January 21, Odisha from January 28, against Jharkhand on February 4, Punjab from February 11 and Maharashtra February 18.

The squad includes Arjun Azad (captain), Nehal Pajni, Arnav Bansal, Nipun Sharda, Chiragveer Singh Dhindsa, Gurtej Singh, Gagan Verma, Akshit Rana, Amit Shukla, Nishunk Birla, Samardeep Kasana, Neel Dhaliwal, Mohd Ashad, Arjun Sharma and Karan Sharma besides support staff, including Narender Kumar (head coach), Sandeep Singh Arora (assistant coach), Gulab Rabbani (manager), Dr Ashish Awasthi (physio) and Vishal Singh (trainer).

Saurashtra bt UT by 4 wkts

Meanwhile, the local women’s team faced a four-wicket defeat from Saurashtra in their opening encounter of the Senior Women’s One Day Tournament at Puducherry. Batting first, the Chandigarh team scored 161 with the help of Monica Pandey (56), Parushi Prabhakar (23) and Shivangi (21). N Chavda took four wickets for the bowling side. In reply, Saurashtra registered the victory at the loss of six wickets in the 46th over. Umeshwari Jethwa scored 43, while Ayushi added 24 to the winning tally. Rajni Devi took three wickets for the bowling side. Chandigarh’s next match will be against Railways on January 6.