Mohali/Chandigarh: PCC in a last ditch battle against UPCA for clinching a place in the quarterfinals came out all guns blazing, as they rattled up 344 for 4 in their allotted 50 oversin the 22nd All India JP Atray Memorial Cricket Tournament, here on Tuesday. Then they went on to bowl out DDCA for 188 in 41.1 overs and secure a berth in the quarter finals of the tournament.

Winning the toss and opting to bat, PCC lost their opener Manan Vohra when he was run out for 06 with team’s total reading 07. Then Pargat Singh and Jeevanjot Singh added 66 runs for the 2nd wicket before Jeevanjot was trapped in front by Rahul Sharma for 33. Wicket-keeper Mohit Handa then joined Pargat Singh and the duo put on 73 runs for the 3rd wicket before Mohit Handa was run out for 30. Pargat Singh was the next to go being caught by Mishra off Shivam for 91 off 90 balls inclusive of 8 boundaries and one six.

At this stage skipper Gurkirat Mann and Mandeep Singh got together to tear into the UPCA attack by stitching an unbeaten partnership of 183 runs off 100 balls for the 5th wicket. Mandeep Singh plundered unbeaten 92 off 49 balls inclusive of 12 boundaries and 2 sixes whereas Gurkirat Mann remained unbeaten on 96 off 57 balls with 8 boundaries and five sixes. For UPCA Rahul Sharma and Shivam Chaudhary scalped one wicket each.

Replying, UPCA could muster 188 in 41.1 overs. Shvam Chaudhary 30, Upinder Yadav 34 and Prashant Chaudhary unbeaten 29 being the main contributors with the bat. The bowling honours for Punjab were shared by left arm spinner Rajwinder Golu 3 for 56 and right arm off spinner Arpit Pannu 3 for 45 and Pargat Singh 2 for 19. PCC got 4 points for this win while UPCA got zero. For his scintillating knock Gurkirat Man was declared man of the match.

In the second match played at Government College Ground Ropar, Assam got the better of Vidarbha by 8 wickets to garner 4 points while Vidarbha got zero. Vidarbha winning the toss and electing to bat first scored 223 for 7 in 50 overs. Rishab Rathod 60 off 56 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes, Omkar Dixit 23 , Anmol Jungade unbeaten 30. Swarupam 2 for 30 was the most successful bowler for Assam.

Replying Assam opened with Pulav Kumar Dass and Rahul Hazarika and duo put on 30 runs for the first wicket before Pulav Kumar Dass was castled by Suniket for 27. Thereafter, Rishab Dass joined Haziraka and the duo put on 160 runs for the 2nd wicket before Rahul Hazirka was caught by wicket-keeper Bipluv off Yadvendra for 71 off 100 balls with 5 boundaries and 3 sixes. Rishab Dass continued to play and in the process reached an undefeated century (103) off 113 balls inclusive of 13 boundaries. Assam reached the total of 225 for 2 in 44.3 overs to register an 8 wicket win and garner 4 points. Suniket and Yadvendra scalped one victim each.

In the 3rd match played at GMSSS, Sector 26, which was reduced to a 34 overs match because of the wet outfield saw DDCA get the better of HPCA by 7 wickets and garner 4 points while HPCA got zero. However, both the teams made their exit from the tournament. DDCA winning the toss and opting to field bowled out HPCA for 111 in 26.2 overs. Ekant Sen 47 off 52 balls with 2 boundaries and 4 sixes was the main run getter for HPCA. Pulkit Narang 4 for 20 and Javed khan 2 for 18 were the main wicket takers for DDCA.

Replying, DDCA scored 115 for 3 in 25 overs. Rahul Yadav 51 and Milind Kumar unbeaten 35 were the main run getters for DDCA. For HPCA Nishant, Ankush Dhaliwal scalped one wicket each. Pulkit Narang was named man of the match.

In the 4th match played at Tau Devi Lal Sadium, GDS XI defeated MPCA by 55 runs to garner 4 points while MPCA got zero. The match was reduced to 38 overs a side due to delayed start on account of wet outfield. MPCA won the toss and elected to field and restricted GDS XI to 235 for 8 in 38 overs. GDS innings was bolstered by an 86 runs second wicket stand between opener Chetanya Bishnoi and Abhishek Gupta.

The partnership was broken when Chetanya was castled by U-Birla for 41 off 65 balls with 4 boundaries. Abhishek Gupta went on to score 86 off 64 balls inclusive of 4 boundaries and six sixes. Michel Vishal 39 off 23 balls with one boundary and four sixes and Gaurav Gambhir 31 off 33 balls with 2 fours and one six were the other contributors with the bat. For MPCA, Kuldeep Sen 3 for 38 and Udit Sen 3 for 37 were the most successful bowlers.

Replying, MPCA were bowled out for 180 in 32.4 overs. Nishant Kushwah 54 and Monish Mishra 32 added 50 runs for the first wicket. Thereafter Nishant Kushwah and Udit Birla added 89 runs for the 2nd wicket taking MPCA to 139 for 2 in 25.4 overs. Then medium pacer Jatinder Billa 5 for 30 and Michel Vishal 3 for 11 ran through the MPCA’s lower order. Michel Vishal for his all round display won the man of the match award.