Jaat Club Tilhar 73/10 in 10.3 overs (Saddam 26, Prakash 23, Tanzeer 3/9) lost to M.S.Dhoni Cricket Academy 74/5 in 11.1 overs (Rishabh 22, MS Rawat 17, Anand 2/10) by 5 wickets
The small town of Tilhar has a massive history. The town supplied bows to the Mughal army and that’s why the town was called “Kaman Nagar” in ancient India. But this is all about the history. The current population of this small town located in the city of Shahjahanpur in the state of Uttar Pradesh is crazy about cricket as much as rest of the Indian subcontinent.
When the excitement of the ICC Cricket world cup was peaking up in the second week of it, the people of Tilhar were excited too, but for a tournament which is not the ICC cricket world cup. The Suraj Kanti cricket tournament which is a regular fixture in the city in the season of summer, concluded with M.S.Dhoni cricket academy easily defeating the Jaat cricket club in the finals.
The two finalists crushed the table toppers of each other’s opposition in the semifinals and now it was the battle between second ranked teams from each group to decide who tops it all. M.S.Dhoni cricket academy won the toss and decided to field first at the sugar mill Tilhar ground and their bowlers proved that it was actually the right decision. Under the gloomy skies, there was a bit of moment in the air and the bowlers made full use of it. The initial damage meant that half of the JCT batsmen were back in the pavilion by the fifth over.
The JCT opener, Prakash (23) witnessed the horrors scenes from the other end. Saddam (26 of 14) joined him in the middle and he had the uphill task of reestablishing the inning in order to have a total worth fighting in the first inning. As the powerplay restrictions eased, the pair started rotating the strike along with some boundaries. The pair stitched down 37 off 22 balls and the partnership ensured a decent, if not great total on board for their opposition to chase in the second inning.
MSDCA lost Rana early in the very first over but a bigger blow was waiting for them in the second. Dheeru found the edge of MSDCA’s highest scorer of the tournament, Amardeep to leave them at 18 for 2. Just when the JCT thought that they are on the way to pull out a heist, Rishabh (22) and MS Rawat (17) spoiled their plans. The pair added a steady 40 to their team which didn’t just bought them back on the track, it vanished the hopes of any miracle for the JCT. There was a bit of wobble in the back end of the inning but with plenty of balls in the bag, MSDCA cruised to the title with much trouble.
