10th February, 2021, Raipur.
QCI 188/2 in 20 overs (Manoj Singh 90*, Saurabh Yadu 47, Prince Singh 1/20) beat Riaz Cricket Academy 155/9 in 20 overs (Ayush Pandey 84, Saurabh Yadu 3/19, Dhawal 3/39) by 33 runs.
After winning the toss, Riyaz Cricket Academy decided to field first and chase down the target. QCI posted the total of 188 runs in their 20 overs. Now it was the turn of Riaz Cricket Academy to replicate the batting performance as QCI did in the first innings. Riyaz Cricket Academy started steadily, but they lost their first wicket in the form of Avnish Singh on the score of 32. Then, QCI struck with couple of more wickets but Ayush Pandey kept hold of the other hand. None of the batsmen among Avnish, Lavin and Shaban Khan was able to make a healthy contribution, their No. 5 Mayank Wadher batted well with Ayush Pandey and both the batsmen had a partnership of 70 runs for the fourth wicket before the former was dismissed off the bowling of Kalim Khan in sixteenth over. After his wicket, Riyaz Cricket Academy were only able to get to 155/9 at the end of their 20 overs. Ayush Pandey scored 84 runs in 64 deliveries and hit three maximums and six boundaries in his innings. Mayank Wadher played 19 balls for his 39 runs and hit 5 fours to go with a six. From the defending side, Saurabh Yadu bowled excellently for his three wickets, Dhawal also bagged three wickets while Kalim Khan picked up a couple of wickets.
After losing the toss, QCI were invited to bat first. Manoj Singh and Saurabh Yadu came out to open the innings for QCI. They started on a positive note and batted fluently to add 82 runs for the first wicket. Saurabh Yadu was first to depart after playing a quick-fire 25-ball 47 runs innings which included as many as 5 maximums and a couple of boundaries. While on the other hand, Manoj Singh was cruising along at the other end, he and Sangeet Soni had a partnership of 106 runs for the second wicket. Manoj played a phenominal innings of 90 runs while Sangeet contributed 46 runs for his team. At the end of first innings, QCI were able to post 188 runs. Prince Singh was the lone wicket-taker with figures of 1/20 in two overs.
About the statistics of the tournament, Sanjeet Desai of Bhilai Blaster was the leading run-scorer with 349 runs in seven innings while Shreyam Sundram also from Bhilai Blaster grabbed 21 scalps in seven innings.
QCI have displayed some quality cricket in the knockout stages. They showed how a side can be lethal on their day. Riyaz Cricket Academy were unbeaten before the final and the odds were against QCI in the finals, but they proved the odds wrong and displayed gritty performance in the final. Thanks to Manoj Singh and Saurabh Yadu, their stellar performance in a high-pressure contest is certainly commendable. So, that was it from the CGIOC Liga 2021, hope next season brings more excitement and thrill, till then, goodbye and cheers!
