Ranchi: MP Verma XI Patna beat Jamshedpur Jaanbaz by five wickets to win the Smriti Cup T20 Cricket Tournament title at Mecon Stadium on Saturday.
Electing to bat first after winning the toss, Jamshedpur Jaanbaz scored 147 for 9 off 20 overs. Saurav made 36 runs while Mukesh scored 22 runs for Jamshedpur. For MP Verma XI Sushant claimed five wickets for 21 runs,
In reply, MP Verma XI hit up the required runs losing five wickets. MP Verma skipper Lakhan Raja scored 40 runs. Naveet Jha and Yash Pratap scored 35 runs each.
Brief scores:
Jamshedpur Jaanbaz : 147/9 in 20 overs (Saurav 36 , Mukesh 22 , Sushant 21/5, Prashant Shrivastava 2/34 Lakhan, Prashant Singh , 1 wkt each)
MP Verma 11 Patna: 151/5 in 19.4 overs (Lakhan 40, Navneet Jha ¸Yash Pratap 35, Mukesh 34/2, Aditya, Rishu 1 wkt each). MoM: Lakhan Raja.
Later, Director General of Police Ajay Kumar Singh, former Indian player Surendra Khanna, Senior Superintendent of Police, Ranchi, Kaushal Kishore, Superintendent of Traffic Police, Ritwik Srivastava IPS, President of Bihar Cricket Association, Rakesh Kumar Tiwari, Praveen Singh former Vice President Jharkhand State Cricket Association, former Ranji Trophy player Neelkamal gave away the prizes.
Lakhan Raja, the man of the match of today’s match, was given a cash prize of Rs.1000/- and a trophy. Best bowler awardee Prashant Singh of Patna and man of the tournament Sushant Singh were awarded with Rs.1000/- in cash and a momento.
The chief guest, Director General of Police, in his address said that the organising committee deserves congratulations for organising such a wonderful tournament in such an environment and in such a short time. The purpose of this tournament is to remember the old office bearers and players of Bihar Cricket Association and Jharkhand State Cricket Association. It is a big deal and this tournament has been organized in their memory, some of whom I have had the privilege of meeting and working with, he said.
Former Indian cricketer Surendra Khanna said that players emerge from such events. Who knows tomorrow another one like Mahendra Singh Dhoni may emerge from this field. The President of Bihar Cricket Association congratulated the players on the victory of the Bihar team and wished them well in future.
Former JSCA member P Sasidharan and his wife Gurpreet Singh and some of the players’ guardians also came from Jamshedpur to watch the match on the occasion. P. Sasidharan also gave the Man of the Tournament cash award of Rs.1001/- to the organisers separately in the name of his late son Rohit Sasidharan.
Aditya Verma, Sunil Kumar Singh, Ujjwal Das, Prince Kumar, Neeraj Rathore, Santosh Jha, Roshan Kumar, Mohd. Mannan Siddiqui, Kishan Agarwal, Praveen Deogharia, Uday Sharma, Sanjay Srivastava, Vijaykant Dubey, Mrityunjay, Naved Sheikh and Gopal were present on this occasion.
