Amritsar in sight of win against hosts Ludhiana in U-16 tourney

Sports Correspondent

Ludhiana, August 21

Amritsar were in sight of victory against hosts Ludhiana on the second day of the four-day semifinal in the ongoing Punjab State Inter-District U-16 Cricket Tournament being played here at GRD Global Education Institute ground on Hambran Road on Saturday.

Yesterday, the visitors restricted Ludhiana in the first innings to a small total of 139 runs and then commenced their first innings on a positive note, scoring 64 for 2.

Resuming at overnight score, Amritsar today surpassed opponents’ total and their innings came to an end at 165 runs after 86.5 overs. The highlight of visitors’ innings was useful contributions by Aishveer Singh, Varinder Singh, Varundeep and Rishabh Gupta who scored 48, 29, 28 and 29 runs, respectively.

For Ludhiana, Karanjot Singh took six wickets for 47 runs while Anmoljit Singh secured three wickets for 43 runs and skipper Shabd Tangri took one for 11.

Trailing by 26 runs, Ludhiana required batting display of substance to wipe out the lead and reach a defendable total. They began on a rousing note and lost their first wicket at 38 but thereafter failed to come up to the mark in the second innings also as at draw of stumps, were tottering at 88 for nine after 56 overs.

Varundeep of Amritsar, who scalped five victims in Ludhiana’s first innings, again rose to the occasion, sent down 26 overs and took five wickets after conceding 38 runs. Sehbaj Gill took two wickets after giving away nine runs and Aviraj Singh secured one wicket for 19 runs.

With two days still to go, hosts were just 62 runs ahead, facing a daunting task to turn the things around and pull off an impossible win in their favour.

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