7th All-India BSNL Cricket Championship

Indore, Feb 11 (UNI) Mumbai's Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Punjab and Tamil Nadu have won league matches on the inaugural day of the 7th All-India Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd Cricket Championship here.

Skipper Nandkishore Shroff's crackling 104 runs, packing 16 fours in 63 balls, and Santosh Bhatkar's 92 -- including 11 boundaries and 2 sixes -- aided the Mumbaikars amass 297 runs to beat Chhattisgarh by 126 at Daly College ground. Chhattisgarh scored 171/6 with Anand Dongre contributing 78.

Naveen Handa's 102 helped Himachal vanquish Uttar Pradesh (West) by five wickets while Orissa defeated Delhi by 183 runs. West Bengal made Kerala eat the humble pie by two wickets in an engrossing encounter. Punjab got the better of Bihar by nine wickets while Tamil Nadu beat Andhra Pradesh by seven wickets.

Former test cricketer Narendra Hirwani inaugurated the championship yesterday and Madhya Pradesh cricket team captain Sunil Dholpure administered the oath to the players.

UNI XC-AC AB RK1745