Ludhiana stitches up easy win over Bathinda

LUDHIANA: Hosts Ludhiana scripted an easy win by five wickets against Bathinda in the second match in the ongoing Punjab State Inter-District Cricket Tournament for the FC Mittal Trophy, played at the Jathedar Santokh Singh Margind Sewa Committee, Cricket Stadium, Dulay village, near here, on Monday.

Players of Ludhiana cricket team (senior) after their victory over Bathinda on Monday. A Tribune Photo

Our Sports Correspondent

Ludhiana, August 13

Hosts Ludhiana scripted an easy win by five wickets against Bathinda in the second match in the ongoing Punjab State Inter-District Cricket Tournament for the FC Mittal Trophy, played at the Jathedar Santokh Singh Margind Sewa Committee, Cricket Stadium, Dulay village, near here, on Monday.

Ludhiana skipper Gitansh Khera won the toss and invited visitors to bat first. They began on a dismal note, losing four wickets in seven overs with just 14 runs on the board.

Bathinda innings folded at 79 runs after 25.3 overs in less than two hours with only three batsmen Mahavir Singh (34), Naman Dhir (22) and captain Arjun Singh (14) reaching a double figure.

For Ludhiana, Nikhil Chaudhary and Kashish Pasneja grabbed three wickets each, whereas Sukhjinder captured two wickets. Vaibhav Narang and Baltej Singh chipped in with one wicket each to help their side to restrict the visitors to a paltry total of 79 runs.

Ludhiana started the chase on a sticky note. As the hosts tried to achieve the target hastily to improve their run rate and remain in competition, they lost wickets in quick succession (3 for four runs in two overs).

Then, Nikhil Chaudhary and Nehal Wadhera steadied the innings and steered Ludhiana to surpass visitors’ total in the 12th over. Nikhil contributed 30 runs, while Nehal scored 42 runs.

With this victory, Ludhiana secured four points, taking their tally to six, as the first match against Patiala played on Saturday had to be abandoned due to rain and two teams shared two points each.

In the next match, slated for Wednesday, Ludhiana will take on Chandigarh.

Brief scores

Bathinda: 79 all out in 25.3 overs (Mahavir Singh 34, Naman Dhir 22, Arjun Singh 14; Kashish Pasneja 3 for 6, Nikhil Chaudhary 3 for 29, Sukhjinder 2 for 16, Vaibhav Narang 1 for 2 and Baltej Singh 1 for 13).
Ludhiana: 82 for 5 in 11.2 overs (Nehal Wadhera 42, Nikhil Chaudhary 30 and Kashish Pasneja 9*; Sukhmander Singh 3 for 27 and Harjot Singh 2 for 3).