STATE TIMES NEWS
SRINAGAR: In a thrilling semifinal match, Exen eleven JKSC defeated the Jal Shakti by a narrow margin of 14 runs and entered into the finals of J&K Sports Council’s departmental cricket tournament.
The match was held at the Cricket Academy ground TRC Srinagar on Saturday, and the winner will now face District Court Mominabad in the title clash on Saturday next week.
After winning the toss Exen eleven JKSC elected to bat first, and posted a solid total of 206 runs in the allotted 20 overs, losing four wickets in the process.
Khalid and Rameez played excellent innings, with Khalid scoring a magnificent half-century, smashing 78 runs off just 35 balls. Rameez also scored a half century in 31 deliveries, while Shanawaz smashed a quick fire 40 of just 10 balls. For Jal Shakti Shahid, Tawseef and Sajad claimed one wicket each.
In response, Jal Shakti put up a tough fight but fell just short of their target, managing to score only 192 runs, losing 9 wickets in the process. Sajad Ganaie was the top scorer with 66 off 29 balls, hitting three fours and six sixes, while Wahid, Mudasir, John Mohammad contributed 31, 25 ,26 runs to the chase, respectively. Gowhar and Shanawaz took two wickets each for Exen JKSC, while Tawseef, Adil and Rameez claimed one wicket each.
Later Shahnawaz Hussain was awarded the man of the match for his superb all-round performance.
The first semi match of the tournament was played between the Finance department and District Court Srinagar last week at Cricket Academy ground TRC Srinagar. After winning the toss, the Finance department opted to bat and managed to score only 115 runs in allotted 20 overs for the loss of 9 wickets. The team started losing the wickets from the very first over of the game but it was Aqib mufti who played a brilliant knock of 66 runs. Aqib mufti with 66 runs and M.Y Ittoo 16 runs contribution helped the Finance department to post a target of 116 runs to the District Court Srinagar.
Basharat, Umar and Adil of District Court Srinagar bagged 2 wickets each while Umar Khadey bagged 1 wicket.
Chasing the target of 116 runs, District Court Srinagar chased down the target set by the Finance department in just 18 overs and entered into the finals of Sports Council’s departmental Cricket Tournament.
The tournament was organized for the Government Employees of J&K in the Kashmir division in the first phase in which 13 departments took part and the main aim of conducting the departmental tournaments is to emphasize the importance of sports and relieving professionals of stress, related to their job profiles.