Chaundhary Naunihal Singh Cricket Academy 246/5 in 40 overs (Pratham 61, Mohd Zaidi 56, Uday Pratap 2/46) defeated Anand Shukla XI 226/10 in 38.1 overs (Faiz 50, Shashank 49, Shivakant 3/33) by 20 runs
How often do we come across the tournaments on cricheeors with big names? Too big that sometimes you have got to sit down and memorize the name. Today we are talking about the Tribhuvan Das Agarawal Memorial Vatalya Hospital Trophy Hot weather cash money Cricket tournament. Yep you read it right. That’s the name of the tournament. Organized by the Allahabad Cricket Association, the tournament was played across three venues in the city with 12 teams participating in it.
After two weeks of exciting cricket which saw some emerging talents from across the city demonstrate their talent, we had two to teams waiting to have their hands on the glittering trophy. The K.P. Inter College cricket ground was ready to host the two table toppers of the league phase, Chaudhary Naunihal Singh Cricket Academy (Who topped the group A) and Anand Shukla XI (Who topped the group B) for one last time in the season.
Anand Shukla XI won the toss and invited CNSCA to bat first. As the CNSCA lost their first wicket in the very first over, the stadium welcomed one of Allahabad’s favorite sons, Shivakant Shukla to the crease with massive applauds. Shukla who played over 83 first class games for Uttar Pradesh had massive expectations on his shoulder. The pair of Mishra and Shukla added 49 runs for the second wicket but Divyaprakash broke the partnership before it gets too heavy on Anand Shukla XI. Pratham departed after adding further 51 to the team’s total in the 20th over.
Even though the CNSCA got a decent start, they needed a partnership in the middle overs to ensure a big total on board. The partnership came via Anshuman and Mohammad Zaidi. The pair added 82 off just 77 balls. As the slog overs approached, both the batsmen got out looking for the big hits but they ensured a decent platform for the lower order to launch the missiles in their arsenal. With the help of some nasty blows from Parth Mishra, CNSCA registered the second highest score of the tournament.
A total of 246 meant that CNSCA already had a hand on the trophy. A target of 200 or more was conquered only once in the tournament. After losing Abhishek Yadav early, the AS XI were stabilized by two of their top batsmen of the tournament, The captain Faiz himself along with Abhishek Pandey. The pair added 81 in just 61 balls. They were cruising until Shivakant Shukla removed both of them in successive overs.
The middle order could not keep up with the required net run rate and they lost wickets at a regular interval too. As Rahul departed for 20 in the 27th over, the AS XI were still 100 runs away from the target and they needed them off just 78 balls. While the wickets kept tumbling over at the other end, Shashank took the fight to the opposition. He kept his team in the game with the help of some assistance from the tailenders but unfortunately his efforts fell short by 20 runs as he was found short of a Mohammad Zaidi throw in an attempt to steal the strike and protect the number 10.
