Clinical Ganashakti beats indisciplined AP Dutta Fighters to lift BUKSS organised Jookto Media Cricket trophy 

In a cloudy morning, the final match of the 2020 edition of Barak Upatyaka Kreeda Sangbadik Sangstha (BUKSS) organised Jookto Media Cricket Fest was played in Satindra Mohan Dev Stadium in Silchar on Sunday. Ganashakti Media Panthers and AP Dutta Press Fighters fought their way through to the finals of the eighth edition of the tournament. The Fighters were unbeaten in the tournament while the Panthers, fresh out of their victory against Friends Of The Earth News Rockers were in top form. 

Ganashakti won the toss and decided to bat first. Their openers got off to a good start, but Anirban Roy Choudhury managed to get through the defence of Rajesh Das dismissed him for 12. The Panthers then used the form of Pritam Das and the experience of veteran cricketer Amalava Das to stitch a partnership. The Fighters were sloppy on the field and the Panthers took the benefit and converted ones into twos and twos into threes. Catches were dropped, overthrows were conceded and at one stage it looked like the Panthers will ease pass 150.

However, a diving effort from Anirban in short extra covers got Amalava Das walking back towards the pavilion after scoring 30 of 30 balls, he was dismissed by left-arm orthodox bowler Biman Sinha. Binit Nath (13) and Sumit Suklabadiya (21) accelerated the scoring while Pritam Das stayed not out at 41 after playing 54 deliveries to anchor his team to 142 a the end of 20th over after losing 4 wickets.

Fighters opener Shyam Sinha and Taher Ahmed failed to use the powerplay well and at the end of 4th over could only put 10 in the board. Clinical Panthers bowled according to the field to cut down the boundaries and put the Fighters under the scoreboard pressure. Shyam Sinha got dismissed after scoring 2 runs as Ganesh Nandi managed to hit the stumps directly to get him run out. Anirban Roy Choudhury joined Ahmed and they both started scoring quickly. Again it was Ganesh Nandi who brought a breakthrough for the Panthers as he got Taher Ahmed leg before wicket while he was batting at 22.

After that, while Anirban held one end, wickets kept crumbling on the other. The Fighters needed partnerships and quick running between the wickets but Ganashakti was giving nothing away easily. Ashok Rajkumar  (03), Bishal Das (0) did not provide any support to Anirban. The Fighters needed 60 from 42 balls and Ganesh Nandi bowled a beauty to get rusty Anirban bowled. He scored 39 runs of 29 balls. After Anirban’s dismissal, the Fighters crumbled like a house of cards and they could play their full quota of 20 overs as they were all out of 105 after 18.2 overs.

Ganesh Nandi was adjudged as the Man Of The Match for his stellar performance with the ball. He also bagged the Best Bowler of the Tournament award. Pritam Das’s hard-fought innings got him the Moment Of The Match award while captain fantastic Amalava Das won the Super Senior award. For hitting the only six of the match, Binit Nath won the Super Sixer award. 

Anirban Roy Choudhury’s consistent performance with the bat could not win AP Dutta Fighters-the tournament but fetched him an individual glory as he was adjudged as the Best Batsman of The Tournament. Anirban’s AP Dutta teammate Shyam Sinha was adjudged as the Player Of The Tournament for his all-round performance. Ahadul Ahmed who is renowned for his razor-sharp throws won the Best Fielder of the Tournament award.

Amidst glory and agony, it was an atmosphere of joy and accomplishments in the stadium. BUKSS felicitated all the team owners, Subimal Bhattacharjee, director of the title sponsor Jookto and all the players for participating. The organisers invited a panel of dignitaries to hand over the awards to all the winners and the lengthy prize distribution ceremony was anchored by senior journalist Sayan Biswas.

BUKSS President, Anirban Jyoti Gupta delivered his closing remarks to officially conclude the 2020 edition of the Media Cricket Fest. He thanked the chairman of the tournament Bedabrata Banerjee for his dedication in conducting the matches in an error-free manner. Gupta also acknowledged the efforts of other present and past members of BUKSS and ended his keynote with the promise of bigger and better Media Cricket Fest next year.