Punjab beat Bengal to win CK Nayudu Trophy

PATIALA: Last wicket... spitting cobras... what can a tail-end-Charlie do? The cliffhanger second day of a cricket final here left the handful of spectators inside Dhruv Pandove Stadium biting their nails.
The game went down to the wire and finished with two days to spare, as the Punjab under-23 side beat Bengal by one wicket on a rank turner to lift Colonel CK Nayudu Trophy.The hosts needed only 11 runs to reach their target of 135, with four wickets in hand and semifinal’s centurion Ramandeep Singh at the crease. Bengal spinners Aamir Gani and Shreyan Chakarborty fought like tigers and reduced the home side to 124 for 9.
Aamir removed Ramandeep for 13 and Nikhil Chaudhary for a duck in consecutive deliveries. Ramandeep was caught at the first slip by Saurav Singh, while Aamir took a stunning return catch to remove Chaudhary. Shreyan Chakarborty (6/56) trapped a well set Himanshu Sharma (22) to give his team a good chance to win the trophy.
Arshdeep Singh (2 not out) and Ikjot Singh Thind (7 not out) kept their nerves and took the team to a thrilling win. During those three tension-packed overs, there were a lot of “oohs and aahs” both in the stands and on the field. The match ended in a dramatic fashion, as Aamir found the outside edge of Thind’s bat, which ran down to the third man area for a boundary. A wild celebration started, as teammates flew out of the dressing room to greet Thind and crushed him in a frenzied huddle.
“I didn’t expect it to go down to the wire, seriously,” Punjab under-23 coach Sunil Saggi said. “We thought we could prise the victory out of them and chase down the score but, in the end, it was all a good, enjoyable, tight game.”
Earlier, Punjab were bundled out for 133 runs in their first innings. Ramandeep Singh (37) and Akul Pandove (34) were the main run-getters. For Bengal, the spin duo of Aamir Gani (4/53) and Shreyan Chakraborty (4/28) shared the spoils.
In their second essay, Bengal were folded out for a paltry total of 76. Skipper Ritwik Roy Chowdhury (23) scored the maximum. Left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar (7/23), wrecker-in-chief for Punjab, took 12 wickets in the match. Arshdeep Singh, Akul Pandove, and Anmolpreet Singh chipped in with a wicket apiece.
Scoreboard
Bengal 1st innings: 191 all out in 54.2 overs
Punjab 1st Innings: Mansab Gill c Arif Ansari b Ananta Saha 13, Sanvir Singh b Sheryan Chakraborty 9, Himanshu Sharma c Saurabh Singh b Akash Deep 1, Ramandeep Singh b Aamir 37, Ikjot Singh Thind c Sudip Kumar Gharami b Aamir 0, Akul Pandove b Sheryan Chakraborty 34, Anmolpreet Singh c Akash Deep b Sheryan Chakraborty 1, Nikhil Chaudhary b Aamir 16, Anmol Malhotra c Sudip Kumar Gharami b Sheryan Chakraborty 4, Harpreet Brar b Aamir 1, Arshdeep Singh not out 0
Extras: 17 (b 4, lb 13)
Total: 133 all out in 48.1 overs
Bowling: Ananta Saha 5-0-14-1, Akash Deep 6-1-21-1, Aamir 18-2-53-4, Sheryan Chakraborty 19.1-4-28-4
FOW: 1-14 (Mansab Gill, 2.5 ov), 2-15 (Himanshu Sharma, 3.5 ov), 3-25 (Sanvir Singh, 6.3 ov), 4-32 (Ikjot Singh Thind, 9.6 ov), 5-73 (Ramandeep Singh, 25.3 ov), 6-74 (Anmolpreet Singh, 26.4 ov), 7-109 (Nikhil Chaudhary, 39.5 ov), 8-130 (Anmol Malhotra, 46.3 ov), 9-133 (Harpreet Brar, 47.4 ov), 10-133 (Akul Pandove, 48.1 ov)
Bengal 2nd Innings: Sudip Kumar Gharami lbw Harpreet Brar, Kazi Junaid Saifi c Ramandeep Singh b Harpreet Brar, Aamir lbw Arshdeep Singh 1, Subham Chatterjee b Harpreet Brar 9, Ritwik Roy Chowdhury c Ramandeep Singh b Anmolpreet Singh 23, Agniv Pan lbw Akul Pandove 17, Saurabh Singh c Anmol Malhotra b Harpreet Brar 14, Arif Ansarilbw Harpreet Brar 3, Akash Deep not out 4, Sheryan Chakraborty lbw Harpreet Brar 1, Ananta Saha lbw Harpreet Brar 0
Extras:4 (lb 4)
Total: 76 all out in 26.2 overs
Bowling: Harpreet Brar 13.2-3-23-7, Arshdeep Singh 4-1-9-1, Akul Pandove 4-0-25-1, Anmolpreet Singh 5-0-15-1
FOW: 1-0 (Sudip Kumar Gharami, 0.4 ov), 2-1 (Aamir, 1.1 ov), 3-10 (Subham Chatterjee, 4.1 ov), 4-11 (Kazi Junaid Saifi, 4.5 ov), 5-40 (Agniv Pan, 13.3 ov), 6-63 (Saurabh Singh, 22.3 ov), 7-71 (Arif Ansari, 24.4 ov), 8-71 (Ritwik Roy Chowdhury, 25.1 ov), 9-76 (Sheryan Chakraborty, 26.1 ov), 10-76 (Ananta Saha, 26.2 ov)
Punjab 2nd Innings: Mansab Gill c Ritwik Roy Chowdhury b Sheryan Chakraborty 8, Sanvir Singh c Ritwik Roy Chowdhury b Sheryan Chakraborty 15, Anmol Malhotra b Aamir 13, Anmolpreet Singh st Arif Ansari b Sheryan Chakraborty 32, Harpreet Brar c&b Sheryan Chakraborty 20, Akul Pandove c Arif Ansari b Sheryan Chakraborty, Himanshu Sharma lbw Sheryan Chakraborty 22, Ramandeep Singh c Saurabh Singh b Aamir 13, Nikhil Chaudhary c&b Aamir 0, Arshdeep Singh not out 2, Ikjot Singh Thind not out 7
Extras: 5 (nb 1, lb 4) 5
Total: 137 for 9 wickets in 30.1 overs
Bowling: Akash Deep 1-0-7-0, Sheryan Chakraborty 15-1-56-6, Aamir 14.1-0-70-3
FOW: 1-18 (Mansab Gill, 5.6 ov), 2-37 (Sanvir Singh, 9.4 ov), 3-37 (Anmol Malhotra, 10.1 ov), 4-68 (Harpreet Brar, 17.1 ov), 5-68 (Akul Pandove, 17.5 ov), 6-109 (Anmolpreet Singh, 25.3 ov), 7-124 (Ramandeep Singh, 26.5 ov), 8-124 (Nikhil Chaudhary, 26.6 ov), 9-124 (Himanshu Sharma, 27.3 ov)