Rajshahi, Bangladesh emerged champions in the 23rd Pradip Memorial International Cricket Festival, defeating South Eastern Railway Sports Association (SERSA), Adra in the final by seven wickets at Hanuman Jew Mini Stadium, Bant, Bhadrak today.
Rajshahi batsman Nijanoor Rahaman hit a 63-ball 65 to win the prize as man of the match. His teammate Farhad Raja was adjudged the man of the tournament. Bhadrak MP Arjun Charan Sethi, Commorce & Transport Minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi and Bhadrak MLA Prafulla Samal handed over the trophy and prizes in the presence of Odisha Cricket Association vice-president Dhiren Palai and host Tillo Athletic Association president Lucky Swain.
The tournament, which commenced on January 30 with a total of 12 teams in fray, assumed international flavor with the participation foreign teams for the first time this year. The foreign teams include three from Bangladesh and one from Nepal. India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni played in this tournament in 2002 and 2003, representing South Eastern Railway Sports Association, Kharagpur.
RESULTS:
Jan 30 (Match No 1): Jawaharlal Nehru Club, Nagpur 145/8 in 20 overs (Bhusan Talmale 53, Jatin Yadav 48; Sanjay Singh 3/37, Deepesh Mohanty 2/26) lost to DRK, Baripada 147/5 in 14.2 overs (Anup Pal 43, Aditya Basa 43, Satya Narayan Jew 31; Govind 2/14) by 5 wkts. MoM: Anup Pal.
Jan 31 (Match No 2): JNC, Nagpur 154/10 in 19.4 overs (Bhusan Talmale 39, Govind Sahoo 28, Jawaghar 3/23, Satish 2/16) beat TTDA, Chennai 133/10 in 17 overs (Srikanth 58, Pravin Kumar 26; Bhusan Talmale 5/10, Jatin Yadav 2/24) by 19 runs. MoM: Bhusan Talmale.
Jan 31 (Match No 3): DRK, Baripada 176/8 in 20 overs (Anup Pal 50, Satya Narayan Jew 23, Saiba Singh 21; Narayani 3/27) beat TTDA, Chennai 99/10 in 15.3 overs (Pravin Kumar 45; Hari Shankar Ghosh 4/16, Sanjay Barik 3/14) by 77 runs. MoM: Anup Pal.
Feb 1 (Match No 4): ICA, Delhi 136/8 in 20 overs (Dipendra Singh 52; Rajandar 4/13) lost to SERSA, Adra 139/7 in 18.4 overs (Rajandar 38, Maya 25; Pawan Yadav 2/25, Vidit Purohit 2/28) by 3 wkts. MoM: Rajinder.
Feb 2 (Match No 5): ICA, Delhi 142/6 in 15 overs (Anil Kala 74; Mahendra 2/24) beat SAIL, Jharkhand 87/10 in 14.1 overs (Sankar Kumar 46; Punit Malik 5/21) by 55 runs. MoM: Anil Kala.
Feb 2 (Match No 6): SERSA, Adra 117 all out in 20 overs (M S Kalsi 31, Goutam 19; Deepak Kumar 3/21, Rahul 2/15, Sankar Kumar 2/30) beat SAIL, Jharkhand 53 all out in 14.5 overs (Goutam 4/10, Akash Kumar 2/6, Rajendar 2/13) by 64 runs. MoM: M S Kalsi.
Feb 3 (Match No 7, 1st Semifinal): SERSA, Adra 193/7 in 20 overs (Rakesh Kumar 66, Goutam 36, Pawan Kumar 36; Mir Akhtar 3/13, Satya Narayan Jew 2/22) beat DRK, Baripada 190/8 in 20 overs (Dibya Ranjan Das 66, Aditya Basa 41; Rajendra 2/31, Hasan 2/36) by 3 runs. MoM: Rakesh Kumar.
Feb 3 (Match No 8): Rajshahi, Bangladesh 341/3 in 20 overs (Farhad Hasim 118 n.o, Dhiman Ghosh 73, Juber Ahmed 64) beat Karnalla Sports, Mumbai 19 all out in 12.1 overs (Shahzad Hasim 4/5, Mamun Hasim 3/0) by 322 runs. MoM: Farhad Hasim.
Feb 4 (Match No 9): ITCF, Bhopal 226/4 in 16 overs (Nikhil Namdev 75, Subhansu 48) beat Karnalla Sports, Mumbai 68/8 in 16 overs (Vishal 2/10, Vijay Yadav 2/16) by 158 runs. MoM: Nikhil Namdev.
Feb 4 (Match No 10): ITCF, Bhopal 119 all out in 20 overs (Vishal 44, Nikhil Namdev 26; S Islam 3/9, S Hussain 3/21) lost to Rajsahi, Bangladesh 120/1 in 13.5 overs (Farhad Hossain 118 n.o, Abhishek Mitra 35) by 9 wkts. MoM: Farhad Hossain.
Feb 5 (Match No 11): Kathmandu, Nepal 143 all out in 20 overs (Sanjay Basnet 33, Pratikanth 25; Palak Choudhury 2/12, Najrool Haque 2/16, Nazmul Hassan 2/27) lost to Tangail, Bangladesh 148/3 in 16.5 overs (Jobair Talukdar 58, Najrool Haque 38) by 7 wkts. MoM: Jobair Talukdar.
Feb 5 (Match No 12): Kathmandu, Nepal 117 all out in 19.2 overs (Pratikanth 47, Robin Chhatri 21; Pranoy Barua 4/20, Faruk Choudhury 2/22) lost to Chittagong, Bangladesh 122/5 in 16 overs (Pankaj Biswas 27, Subho Aich 24; Robin Chhatri 2/19, Lalit 2/27) by 5 wkts. MoM: Pranoy Barua.
Feb 7 (Match No 15, Final): SERSA, Adra 161/9 in 20 overs (Ankit Raj 50, Raju Kumar 27, Goutam 20; Farhad Raja 3/20, Sahajad Hasim 3/28) lost to Rajshahi, Bangladesh 162/3 in 19.5 overs (Nijanoor Rahaman 65, Jaharool Islam 41, Avishek Mitra 29) by 7 wkts. MoM: Nijanoor Rahama.