Yadav, Sinha bowl CWC to thrilling win

Mumbai, Jan 12 (UNI) Medium pacers Vikrant Yadav and Ritesh Sinha were the architects of Central Warehousing Corporation's (CWC) thrilling win over Hindustan Aeronautics in the quarterfinal of the All India Public Sector Cricket tournament, for the Air India Plate, at MIG CC ground at suburban Bandra here today.

Batting first, CWC did well to score 196 in the allotted 40 overs, with opener Lalit Yadav (48) and Karan Negi (56) being their principal run-getters.

In reply, HAL were in precarious situation as they lost half of their side for 84 runs on the board with Sinha causing the major damage.

However, Mahesh Kumar and B Satish batted doggedly to take the score to 144 before Satish was bowled by leftarm spinner Arun Sethi as the batsman tried to cut. Thereafter, the run-rate required was almost run-a-ball. HAL needed 52 runs in 54 balls. But then, CWC skipper Rajeev Vinaik brought back his medium pacer Vikrant Yadav as their spinners failed to make much of an impact and the move brought immediate gains as first he had well-set Mahesh well caught at mid-on and then got rid of Ramesh and Manjunath with 4.1 overs to spare.

Yadav had 3 for 41 off 7.5 overs, while Sinha's 4 for 35 came in eight overs.

A fine all-round performance by Sachin Sawant saw Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) putting paid to the aspirations of debutant Prasar Bharati with an eight wicket win. Prasar Bharati were out for 92, with Sachin capturing six wickets for just seven runs in 4.3 overs. The EPFO reached the target for the loss of just two wickets and Sachin scored an unbeaten 46 with four sixes and four fours.

Brief scores: At MIG CC Ground - (Quarterfinal): Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) 196 (Lalit Yadav 48, Karan Negi 56, Arun Sethi 30; R. Manoharan 2 for 26, Mahesh Kumar 2 for 39, Manjunath 2 for 25) bt Hindustan Aeronautics 169 (Sridhar 34, Mahesh Kumar 40; Vikrant Yadav 3 for 41, Ritesh Sinha 4 for 30, Ashwini Anand 2 for 28).

At Parsee Gymkhana - (Quarterfinal): Prasar Bharati 92 (V R Hari 30, Sachin Sawant 6 for 7) lost to Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) 96 for 2 (Sachin Sawant n.o. 46).

At RCF Ground - (Quarterfinal): MTNL 140 (Ravinder Panwar 26, Varun Sharma 20, Amit Singh 22; Saeed Shaikh 5 for 24, Amir Bhurania 2 foor 20) lost to New India Assurance 141 for 7 (Shailesh Shetty 20, Mangesh Darekar 20, Prashant Dalvi n.o. 37; Ravinder Panwar 3 for 42, Anit Janwal 2 for 23).

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