Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Feb 1: Mukteswar Cricket Club (MCC) emerged champions of the Ist Veer Gajapati cricket tournament after registering a resounding eight wickets victory over Rourkela Youth Club (RYC) in the final at the Hi Tech Ground here Monday.
Opting to bat first, RYC faced a batting debacle and were skittled out for 96 in 25.2 overs against some disciplined bowling by Aman Shastri (3/12). Rakesh Mohapatra (2/7), Satyajit Sabat (2/6) and Preet Singh Chouhan (2/17) also supported Aman by scalping two wickets each.
In reply, MCC were never in trouble and they rode on a fine knock by man of the match Sandeep Patnaik (48) to canter home in 13.3 overs for the loss of two wickets.
RYC skipper Natraj Behera bagged the man of the series award. Prabir Nayak of MCC and Om Bikash Nayak of Union Sporting won the best bowler and best batsman awards respectively. Orissa Cricket Association secretary Asirbad Behera joined as the chief guest and distributed the prizes. The champion team bagged a cash award of `50,000 and a trophy, while the runners-up team took home `35,000.
Rajinder shines
Fine all-round performance by Rajinder helped South Eastern Railway Sports Association (SERSA), Adra beat ICA, Delhi by three wickets in the opening match of the Pradip Memorial Cricket Festival at Bant, Monday.
Rajinder bagged four wickets for 13 runs and followed it with a run-a-ball 38 to be adjudged man of the match. For the Delhi side, Dipendra Singh scored a half century.
