Sandhun XI 77/8 in 20 Overs (Jaskaran Singh 26, Arshpreet Singh 15, Indrajeet Singh 3/6) lost to Badali Cricket Club 80/9 in 19.1 overs (Sukhdev Singh Kala 18, Grinder Singh Rinka 12, Harmandeep Singh Honey 4/16) by 1 wicket
The Lutheri Cricket League finals concluded with a crunch game here at the Lutheri Sports Ground, Morinda. The tournament began way back on the 10th of August with 8 teams from across the town. It was played on a league of double round-robin cum knockout basis where each team got to play 14 games in the league stage.
Sandun XI, the tournament favorites along with Badali Cricket Club made it to the finals after overpowering their opposition in the semifinals. While Badali Cricket Club made it after beating Rolu Majra Cricket Club in a crunch game by 2 wickets, Sandhun XI did in the semifinals what they have been doing throughout the league stage against Lutheri Cricket Club.
The final began with Sandhun XI captain getting his call right and electing to bat first. Their batsmen failed to put any partnerships on board from start. Their highest partnership of 18 runs came between Kamal and Jaskaran for the fourth wicket. Apart from Jaskaran, none of the batsmen from Sandhun XI could make it to the 20s and they could manage only 77 in their quota of 20 overs. Jaskaran was the lone warrior with his 26. Inderjit finished with eye-catching figures of 4-0-6-3 while Gurpreet bagged 2 for 18.
Badli Cricket Club did not get a great start either. They lost Baljinder early for a duck. Tajinder followed him soon and Inderjit could not last long either. After 5.1 overs, Badali were 3 down for 16 and the game was on. Under dire circumstances, Grinder and Harmanjit added 20 off 34 balls but the partnership was broken by Harmandeep. Another 22 runs between Grinder and Sukhdev had Badali in a strong position at 13 over mark but the cream of the game was still there.
Badali lost 4 quick wickets between fourteenth and sixteenth over and Sandhun XI were back in the game. Gurukaran removed Gurupal in the 18th over and Badali were 8 away from the target at this point. The nineteenth over went for just one and the game was set for a crunchy finish. With just one wicket on board, Badali required four runs off the last over. Ramanpreet decided to finish it early in the last over and he successfully pierced the gap and got a boundary. The celebration post boundary from Badali was something you could only imagine in dreams. They hunted the hunters, not for the first time in the tournament though.
