CHANDIGARH: Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association recorded an easy eight-wicket victory over Punjab Cricket Association to lift the 4th Rama Atray Memorial One Day Cricket Tournament Trophy at Cricket Stadium Sector 16 here today. It was a revenge win for HPCA as they had lost to Punjab earlier in the league stage.
Winning the toss HPCA opted to field. Punjab opened with Priyanka Malika and Ridhima Aggarwal. Priyank Malik was the first to go caught by Kashish off Ansari for 10 off 17 balls with 2 boundaries. Thereafter Ridhima Aggarwal was run out by Ansari for 8. Kanika was the next to go castled by Preeti for seven reducing Punjab to 38 for 3 in 14 overs. Thereafter Neetu Singh and skipper Parveen Khan added 64 runs for the fourth wicket before Neetu Singh was bowled by Sushmita Negi for 36 off 79 balls inclusive of 4 boundaries.
Parveen Khan and Neelam Bisht put on 39 runs for the fifth wicket before Neelam Bisht was caught by Yamuna off Preeti for 23 off 21 balls inclusive of one boundary and two sixes. At this stage Preeti wove a web around Punjab batters she removed skipper Parveen Khan by having her caught by Ansari for 56 off 93 balls with 9 boundaries. Then she castled Harpreet Dhillon for 2, and Sunita Rani for 0. Punjab were bundled out for 153 in 44.5 overs. Preeti (6 for 27) was the most successful bowler for Himachal.
Replying, Himachal opened with Kashish Verma and Chitra Singh and the duo put on 89 runs in 29.2 overs for the first wicket before Chitra Singh was stumped by Kabia Badoni off Sunita for 48 off 95 balls inclusive of 8 boundaries. Thereafter, Shivani Singh in company of Kashish Verma put on 63 runs for the second wicket before Shivani Singh was castled by Sunita for 47 off 26 balls inclusive of 11 boundaries. Sunita 2 for 30 was the most successful bowler for Punjab.
Himachal scored 154 for 2 in 38.1 overs to record an 8 wicket win over Punjab and win the coveted trophy along with a cash prize of Rs. 40, 000. Punjab won the runners-up trophy and a cash prize of Rs. 20, 000 which was given away by Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Gian Chand Gupta. He also announced a grant of Rs.5.00 lakh to the J.P. Atray Memorial Cricket Society for promotion of men and women cricket. Preeti of HPCA for her brilliant bowling performance was declared the player of the match.
Kashish Verma of HPCA with a total of 132 runs was declared as the best batter of the tournament while Preeti of HPCA with 10 wickets haul was declared the best bowler while Kanika of PCA with 60 runs and 6 wickets was declared the best all-rounder of the tournament.