Hosts GIC Re off to a winning start

Mumbai, Nov 13 (UNI) Hosts GIC Re got off to a winning start following an eight-wicket win over Tata AIG in the 1st All India GIC Re Cup Cricket Tournament which was inaugurated by Mumbai Police Commissioner A.N. Roy at the Police Gymkhana today.

After winning the toss and electing to bat in a Group 'A' tie, Tata AIG scored 212 that included half centuries from openers Mridul Gupta and Nitin Mistry, who were associated in partnership of exactly 100 runs.

But on the opening day of the competition dominated by batsmen, GIC Re overhauled the target with much to spare, as Man of the Match Jairaj Chitnis and Chetan Shukla hit unbeaten half centuries and Shekhar Amberkar and Manoj Thakur made significant contributions.

Opening pair Chitnis and Thakur scored 96 runs for the first wicket, while Shukla and Amberkar were involved in a 99-run stand for the second wicket.

At the Islam Gymkhana, Oriental Insurance, Delhi who won the toss and elected to bat, scored a mammoth 332 for the highest score in the tournament so far as they thrashed Reliance ICL by 237 runs in Group 'C'.

Mangesh Darekar missed his century by five runs when he hit an unbeaten 95, as New India Assurance beat ICICI Lombard by 83 runs in a Group 'B' match at the PJ Hindu Gymkhana.

At Police Gym: Tata AIG 212 (Mridul Gupta 56, Nitin Mistry 52, Mahesh Reddy 47; Jairaj Chitnis 4-33, Shekhar Amberkar 2-45) lost to GIC Re 213 for 2 (Jairaj Chitnis 67 n.o., Chetan Shukla 50 n.o., Shekhar Amberkar 45, Manoj Thakur 31) by 8 wkts. MoM: Jairaj Chitnis (GIC Re).

At Parsee Gym: National Insurance 161 (Rajesh Dholepure 47, Mahesh Dhulia 24; Nisar Vyas 3-31, Manas Mitra 2-25, V. Sunderesan 2-40) lost to Royal Sundaram, Chennai 161 for 3 (Kapil Malhotra 57 n.o., Sachindra Baburaj 23, Kishore Bhatt 2-31) by 7 wkts. MoM: Kapil Malhotra (Royal Sundaram).

At Islam Gym: Oriental Insurance, Delhi 332 (Rakesh Kaushal 79, Jerome Gonsalves 76 n.o., S. Vidyanand 46, Mohan Khadekar 3-60, Vikas Tendulkar 2-44) bt Reliance ICL 95 (Chetan Parab 20, Arun Yadav 5-38, Vinod Kini 3-32, Rashid ali 2-15) by 237 runs. MoM: Arun Yadav (Oriental).

At P J Hindu Gym: New India Assurance 230 (Mangesh Darekar 95 n.o., Shailesh Shetty 29, Anand Venkat 28, Prakash Raut 2-43, Nitin Firke 2-38) bt ICICI Lombard 147 (Sameer Rajyaguru 43, Dipender Singh 27, Atul Khedkar 4-16, Abhat Bhosle 2-33) by 83 runs. MoM: Mangesh Darekar (NIA).

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