SAS NAGAR, Oct 12: Punjab Ranji player Pankaj Dharmai's superb knock of 67 and his 83-run partnership with Reetinder Sodhi (48) enabled Punjab Cricket Club to beat Bishnoi Club by five wickets to win the final of fifth J.P. Atray memorial cricket tournament at PCA Stadium here today.Punjab Cricket Association president Inderjit Singh Bindra distributed the prizes. The Punjab CC team got a purse of Rs. 40,000 while Bishnoi Cricket Club were richer by Rs.20,000.
Pankaj Dharmani was adjudged the man of the match while Test player Ajay Sharma was declared man of the series. Following were declared the best batsman - Vikram Rathore, bowler - Tejinder Singh, best up and coming youngster - Ravneet Ricky.
Punjab C.C. skipper Vikram Rathore won the toss and elected to field first. Vijay Dahiya and Oniel Wilson, who opened for the BCC, could not face the hostile spell of bowling by Harvinder Singh. Wilson skied an easy catch at point. Trying to score maximum runs in first 15 overs Dahiya was also caught at mid-on.
Pankaj Joshi and Ajay Sharma carried the score to 63 at the first lemon break after 15 overs. Then followed the partnership of 62 runs between Ajay Sharma and Mithun Minhas. Ajay played a flamboyant knock of 60 runs which included a six and five hits to the fence. He was run out by a superb direct hit from Dinesh Mongia. Mithun carried on confidently but the Bishoi CC lost his wicket at the crucial stage.
The Bishnoi CC could manage the modest total of 201 runs in the allotted 50 overs.
Ravneet Ricky and Test player Vikram Rathore opened for Punjab Cricket Club. They found the going tough against some fine pace bowling by Delhi Ranji player Ashish Nehra and Amit Bhandari. Ricky was the first to go as he was caught behind off Nehra. Vikram Rathore trying to pull a short delivery from Bhandari was caught at square leg by Sehwag.
The dug of Pankaj Dharmani and Reetinder Sodhi steadied the innings as they were involved in partnership of 93 runs. Dharmani's knock of 67 included a six and three boundaries which came off 98 deliveries. Sodhi played the sheet anchor role as he scored 48 runs of 83 balls incluiding a mightly six and two boundaries.
Scores: Bishnoi CC: 201 in 44.2 overs (Pankaj Joshi 12, Ajay Sharma 60, Mithun Minshas 47, Vishal Singh Yadav 12, Virender Sehwag 33, Harvinder Singh 2 for 21, Lalit Kapoor 2 for 26, Tejinder Singh 2 for 45.
Punjab CC: 206 for 5 in 47.4 (Vikram Rathore 15, Reetinder Sodhi 48, Pankaj Dharmani 67, Dinesh Mongia 33 not out, Ashish Nehra 2 for 22, Amit Bhandari 2 for 24).
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.