A spirited fightback by Ludhiana went in vain as Muktsar secured a semifinal berth on the back of a slender first-innings lead of four runs in the Punjab State Inter-District U-19 Cricket Tournament for the Dhruv Pandove Trophy.
The match played at Dhruv Pandove Stadium in Patiala ended in a draw.
In reply to Muktsar’s formidable first-innings total of 302 runs, Ludhiana displayed remarkable determination and resilience, but fell agonisingly short. They were bowled out for 298 runs with two deliveries remaining in their allotted 90 overs.
The narrow advantage proved decisive as Muktsar advanced to the last four and Ludhiana’s impressive campaign came to an end.
Ludhiana’s chase was anchored by an excellent knock from Hemant Verma, who narrowly missed out on a century after a fluent 97 runs. He received valuable support from Yuvraj Pal (45), Vansh Rana (42) and Mankaranvir Singh (32), who kept their team in contention to the end.
However, Muktsar’s bowlers held their nerve at crucial stages to deny Ludhiana. Nigam Bansal was the chief destroyer with a match-winning spell of five wickets for 57 runs in 18 overs. Saransh Kubba and Saksheya Khurana provided effective support by claiming two wickets apiece, conceding 43 and 57 runs, respectively.
