Ludhiana women emerge state champions, lift cricket trophy

Ludhiana scripted win by 20 runs over Jalandhar in the final match to lift the winners’ trophy in the Punjab State Inter-District Senior Women’s Limited Overs One-Day Cricket Tournament, organised by the Punjab Cricket Association. The final match was played at the PCA ground in New Chandigarh.

Elected to bat first, Ludhiana eves posted a challenging total of 189 runs for the loss of seven wickets in which the main contributors were Manya Sharma, Akanksha Saini and Seema Purohit who made 56, 44 and 30 runs, respectively, while Parineeta Saroha scored 19 and Divya Rajput chipped in with 14 runs.

For Jalandhar, Mohini Rana took two wickets whereas Jashanpreet Kaur Chahal, Neetu Singh, Tanu Supriya and Priyanka Mutreja captured one wicket each.

Jalandhar, after a sound start (83 for 2 after 27 overs), failed to keep the momentum and eventually ended up at 169 for nine in 50 overs. Krishma Rana top scored with 41 runs, followed by Srishti Rajpur (32), Khushnwal Kaur (22) and Priyanka Mutreja who contributed 19 runs.

For the winning side, Parineeta Saroha was the most successful bowler, securing three wickets for 43 runs and Moli Gosal took two for 45 while Seema Purohit, Varsha Rani and Samridhi Saini got rid of one batswoman each to fashion Ludhiana title victory.

Ludhiana women cricketers (U-19) had finished as first runners-up earlier to clinch a silver medal and pocketed a cash prize of Rs 50,000 in addition to individual prizes.