26th All India J.P. Atray Memorial Cricket Tournament for Trident Cup gets underway at I.S. Bindra Stadium, Mohali

Mohali / Chandigarh, September 1, 2021: The 26th All India J.P. Atray Memorial Cricket Tournament for Trident Cup was inaugurated this morning by Mr. Chetan Sharma, Chairman, Senior Selection Committee, BCCI at I.S. Bindra Cricket Stadium, PCA Mohali with the inaugural match UTCA Chandigarh and CAG Delhi.   Mr. Chetan Sharma exhorted the young players to work hard and have a positive mind to make it to the top echelon of cricket. He felt happy to be with the young players for the inauguration in the tournament in which he had himself participated as a player in its inaugural year.  He was introduced to the two teams along with Mr. Puneet Bali, Honorary Secretary, PCA, Mr. Chander Shekhar, Chairman Tournament Committee, Mr. R.P. Singla, Honorary Treasurer, PCA and Mr. Deepak Nanda, M.D. Trident Group who are the principal sponsors of the tournament.    

CAG Delhi won the toss and opted to bat and opened with Rishab Dass and Manoj Singh.  They lost their first wicket on the fifth ball of Jagjit Singh Sandhu’s first over when Rishab Dass was snapped by wicket keeper Arjit Pannu before he could open his account. Manoj Singh at the other end was gobbled up by Arjit Pannu off the bowling of Nipun Pandita without disturbing the scorer. One drop S Senapati was lapped up by Amrit Lubhana of Jagjit Sandhu with scoring.  CAG at this stage had lost their first 3 batsmen without a run on the board in 2.1 overs.  Thereafter, Govind Podar and Arpit Vasavada put on 32 runs for the 4rth wicket before Gobind Podar was caught by Bhagmender off Nipun Pandita for 07.  At this stage Aditya Sarvate joined Arpit Vasavada and the duo put on 48 runs for the 5th wicket before Aditya Sarvate was castled by Bhagmender Singh for 25 off 38 balls.  Thereafter, Ankit Kaushik joined Arpit Vasavada and the duo put on a partnership of 125 runs for the 6th wicket before Arpit Vasvada was caught by Nipun Pandita off Bhagmender Singh for a brilliant century (100) off 138 balls studded with 11 rousing boundaries.  Ankit Kaushik was next to go being bold by Jagjit Singh Sandhu for 63 off 67 balls studded with 6 boundaries.  CAG Innings ended at 245 in 49.5 overs.  Jagjit singh Sandhu 4 for 50, Nipun Pandita  2 for 33, Bhagmender Singh 2 for 50 were the most successful bowlers for UTCA.

Chasing to a modest total of 246 runs in 50 overs UTCA lost the ridham in the opening stage as they were three down with the score board reading only 19 runs.  Kunal Mahajan and Amrit Lubhana played sensibly and stitched a partnership of 80 runs in 149 balls when Amrits Lubhana  lost his cool and was caught in deep by Senapati off Gobind Poddar. He played a compact knock of 40 runs off 75 balls which was included 3 hits to fence and one over it. Arjit Pannu joined Kunal Mahajan but got run out with a sharp throw from Gobin Poddar at non-striker end.  Bhagmender Singh to departed early just adding 7 runs to the total. Rahul Sharma in the last played a brisk knock of 27 runs in 28 balls but that was not enough as right arm medium pacer Shorya Sanandia took 5 wickets haul to wrap up the innings of UTCA.  CAG Delhi won the match by 47 runs.  Shorya  Sanandia was declared man of the match for his excellent bowling spell.

In the second match played at Sector 16 Cricket Stadium Chandigarh between Minerva Cricket Academy and Ranstar Cricket Club Delhi. Ranstar won the toss and opted to field.  Minerva Cricket Academy innings never got going and they were finally bundled out for 124 in 36 overs.  Chetanya Bishnoi 4 for 19 and Pradeep Prashar 2 for 30 were the main wicket takers for Ranstar Cricket Club Delhi. Yuvraj Chaudhary 30 with 3 boundaries and one six and Shivam Singh 22 with 3 boundaries were the main run getters for Minerva Cricket Academy. 

Ranstar Cricket Club Delhi in reply scored 127 runs for 6 in 26.1 over to win by 4 wickets. Aditya Sharma unbeaten 71 for 76 balls with 7 boundaries carved out facile win., For his brilliant efforts he was awarded man of match trophy By Mr. Sanjay Tondan President, UTCA. Left arm spinner Ramesh Kumar got 5 wicket for 35 was the most successful bowlers for Minerva Cricket Academy While Varun Khanna got one for 21.