Chandigarh, Capital Strikers will take on Chandigarh Kings in the finals of the Chandigarh Premier League being organised by UT Cricket Association on Saturday at Sector 16 Cricket Stadium. The match is scheduled at 10 am onwards followed by the felicitation winnin and runners up teams by MP Rajya Sabha Satnam Sandhu and Chief Secretary (UT) Rajeev Verma (IAS) later in the day.
A blistering 109 off just 57 balls by opener Arjun Azad powered Capital Strikers to a nail-biting three-wicket win over Altruistian in a last-over thriller at the first semifinal of the day on Friday.
Put in to bat, Altruistian posted a competitive 179/7 in their 20 overs. The scoring was led by skipper Manan Vohra’s 72 off 49 balls and a quickfire 28 from Pardeep Yadav. Capital Strikers’ bowlers kept things in check with Jaskirat Singh Mehra (2/27) and Vivek Vashisht (2/30) among the wickets.
In reply, Capital Strikers got off to a shaky start but Arjun Azad’s breathtaking knock which was studded with 13 fours and 5 sixes and kept the chase alive. He received support from Nipun Sharda (23 off 11 balls) and later unbeaten Jaskirat Singh Mehra (17 off 10) to guide the team home with three balls to spare as the team surpassed the target with 180/7 in 19.3 overs.
For Altruistian, Aryan Duggal (2/26) and Rahul Singh (2/29) bowled well under pressure, but Azad’s innings proved to be the match-winner.
Chandigarh Kings produced a power-packed chase to beat Panchkula Bashers by four wickets in the second semifinal of the day.
Opting to bat first, Panchkula Bashers rode on fluent knocks from Devang Kaushik (73 off 46 balls, 3 fours, 5 sixes) and Tusshar Joshi (53 off 32 balls, 5 fours, 2 sixes) to post a commanding 201/8, the highest total of the league. Skipper Ankit Kaushik (23 off 17) and Markanday Panchal (21 off 12) added quick runs in the middle order. Raman Bishnoi (3/41) and Nishunk Birla (3/30) were the pick of the bowlers.
In reply, Chandigarh Kings’ openers set the tone for the chase with Aarush Bhandari blasting a 26-ball 53 studded with 5 fours and 3 sixes. He was ably supported by Sanyam Saini’s rapid 42 off 22 and Nikhil Thakur’s 22 off 11, which kept the run-rate under control. Despite losing wickets at regular intervals, the Kings’ middle order stood tall, with Prashant Ahlawat (28 off 20) stabilizing the chase before unbeaten Raman Bishnoi’s 32 off 17 and Nishunk Birla’s quickfire 17 off 11 sealed victory with an over to spare.
