1st Plate Crciket Tournament: Chittaranjan bats and bowls ESU to win
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, February 10 2014: Riding on a fine 33 runs off 55 balls and a three wicket burst from Chittaranjan Sharma, ESU, Wangkhei edged past a fighting FORCE Kshetrigaon by 4 runs in a nail biting match of the 1st Plate Cricket Tournament today.

The tournament is being organised by the Manipur Cricket Association at Luwangpokpa Cricket Stadium, Luwangshangbam.

Winning the toss, ESU opted to bat first and it paid off as their batsmen were able to capitalise on the pitch before it afforded bounce to the bowlers.

In a low scoring match, Chittaranjan led the charge for ESU compiling a patient 33 runs off 55 balls with the other notable contributions coming from Shankar with 10 runs off 18 balls and Sivanand with 10 runs off 16 balls to be bowled out for 102 in the allotted 30 overs.

The bowlers of FORCE managed to extract some bounce as the match progressed to keep the ESU batsmen in check, with Salman and Tashid leading the charge and scalping four wickets apiece in the process.

While Chittaranjan stood firm at the other end, wickets continued to fall regularly at the other end thanks to some fine spells from the bowlers of FORCE.

Zali of FORCE chipped in with a valuable two wickets.

Set a modest target of 103, FORCE however never got into the match, gifting wickets with some reckless shots to be all out for 98 runs in 26.3 overs.

Zal gave a glimmer of hope to FORCE as he compiled a patient knock of 22 runs off 38 balls, but with the pitch crumbling, wickets began to fall regularly at the other end.

Zal was ably assisted by Subandin who kept the score board ticking with a score of 21 runs off 33 balls.

The other notable contributors for FORCE were Noor Alam who scored 12 runs off 19 balls and Islauddin who followed with 12 runs off 16 balls.

After contributing a valuable 33 runs, Chittaranjan was in his elements with the ball as he picked up three wickets in quick succession to leave the FORCE players tottering.

Chittaranjan was ably assisted by Shankar who also chipped in with 3 wickets to keep the FORCE batsmen under a tight leash.

Shyamananda chipped in with two wickets.

In what is easily the most competitive match of the tournament so far, FORCE were bowled out for 98 runs to lose by four runs.

With the pitch crumbling, the bowlers of ESU took full advantage of the situation and keeping a straight line and length managed to extract the right amount of bounce and keep the batsmen of FORCE under control.

Some fine fielding from ESU also helped in containing the run flow from FORCE.

Instead of taking each ball by its merit, the FORCE batsmen, frustrated by the crumbling pitch went in for the big hits and this proved to be their undoing ultimately in the end.

For his splendid show with the bat with 33 runs and ball picking up three wickets, Chittaranjan Sharma walked away with the man of the match award.

Tomorrow MODEL Club, Chingamakha will take on THAU, Thangmeiband which is likely to be a keenly contested match.

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