Abhijeet’s century leads Punjab XI to third win

Anil Datt

Ludhiana, March 19

An unbeaten century by opener Abhijeet Garg, his second in three matches, powered Punjab XI script a comprehensive victory by 7 wickets against the Rest of Punjab XI Green in the ongoing Trident PCA Cup Triangular Series played at the HDCA ground, Hoshiarpur on Friday.

This was Punjab XI’s third consecutive win. They had defeated Rest of Punjab XI Red by six wickets and then thrashed the Rest of Punjab XI Green by 153 runs. With this victory, Punjab XI have assured themselves a berth in the best of three finals. Punjab XI skipper, Vinay Chaudhary won the toss and invited the opponents to bat first.

After a cautious start, Rest of Punjab XI Red managed to score a respectable total of 202 runs after losing six wickets. The main architects of their innings were Naman Dhir (56 runs off 84 balls), Harjot Dhawan (57 runs off 69 runs) and Prashant Ahlawat (34 runs off 38 balls).

For Punjab XI, Gaurav Chaudhary was the most successful bowler, who chipped in with three wickets for 16 runs while Gurnoor Brar, Abhinav Sharma and Akul Pandove captured apiece each.

Punjab XI consumed only 33.2 overs to overhaul rivals’ score after losing just three wickets. The highlight of their innings was an unbeaten century by Abhijeet Garg, who remained unconquered on 129 which came off 111 balls with the help of 14 fours and 4 sixes.

This was second ton by Abhijeet in three matches. In the opening match of this series, played on March 15 at Amritsar, he scored 112 runs against the Rest of Punjab XI Red and helped his team wrap up the issue comfortably by six wickets.

Other notable contributors were Aarush (21 runs off 17 balls), Ramandeep (18 runs off 28 balls) and Gaurav Chaudhary (27 runs off 37 balls).

Aditya, Taranpreet Brar and Harjot Dhawan claimed one wicket each for the losing side. For his outstanding batting display, Abhijeet Garg was adjudged Man of the Match.

The next match is slated for March 21 between Rest of Punjab XI Red will take on the Rest of Punjab XI Green.