BPL: Parth Bali, Vivek Singh offered Silchar a day of cricket to remember forever; Pritam Das, Murasingh to take the field today

In the first match of the day, Silchar Lions took on Udharbond Transformers to book a berth in the semi-final of the tournament. Batting first, Lions were looking to garner some form after an early batting collapse in the previous match. The Transformers bowlers started well and the star from Delhi, Parth Bali was finding it difficult to gather momentum. He played a sloppy shot and gave a catch at point. The regulation catch was dropped and since then, it was all a nemesis.

Bali went on to score 148 runs from just 66 balls with the help of 15 fours and nine sixes. The Transformers fielders were fetching the balls from all corners. With the loss of only one wicket (Masarob Hussain 3), the Lions score 219 runs. Another player from Delhi, Vikas Choudhary scored 51 runs to support Bali at the other end. The Udharbond Transformers could only score 145 runs in 20 overs. The Lions secured a huge win by 74 runs.
After the century with the bat, Bali bowled four overs and picked one wicket. Nitish Rawat picked two wickets and so did Parvez Aziz. It wasn’t any surprise that Parth Bali was adjudged the Man Of The Match for his magnificent, entertaining century.

In the second match of the day, Barak Bulletin Strikers took on the Moonlight Dholai for a berth in the Semi-Finals. Winning the toss, Moonlight Dholai decided to bat first. Sayan Ghosh and Subham Sarkar shared the new ball for the Strikers and both the pacers from Kolkata bowled with pace and precision. Sarkar picked up a wicket at the very first ball of the match while a first-class player from Bengal Sayan Ghosh picked two wickets, one at the death and one with the new ball. Left-arm spinner from Cachar, Sudarshan Sinha was brought in next and he too made it difficult for the batters. But Abhishek Palit and Rajesh Sinha started stitching a partnership for the team. Hard-hitting Sinha single-handedly launched an assault and took the team’s score to a respectable total. He was run out for 66 playing just 41 balls. Seven fours and three sixes from Sinha entertained the crowd that had gathered.

While it looked like the Dholai will put a total of 150 plus, the Strikers restricted them at the death. Bowling at the slog overs, Anirban Roy Choudhury scored a hattrick while the yorkers from Sayan Ghosh and Subham Sarkar were too much to handle for the Dholai. Apart from Sarkar’s one and Ghosh’s two, Anirban Roy Choudhury picked up four wickets, Sudarshan Sinha got one, and Subham Deb got one.

While 136 is a below-average score at the Satindra Mohan Dev Stadium, under the scorching heat, batting at the fourth innings of the day could get tricky. The first-class player from Bengal who plays Ranji Trophy for the Railways, Vivek Singh opened the innings with Cachar’s Aman Singh.

Vivek Singh got going from the very first over. Renowned bowler in the local circuit who was called for the State trial recently, Nihar Paul was bowling to Vivek Singh. The onslaught began at the very first over of the match and since then, it was just a Vivek Singh show, well supported by Aman Singh, who has all the potential to play a similar innings two years down the line. In the first over, Paul conceded 13 runs, and in his second over, he went for 22 runs that included a sweep-sixer over square leg.

Singh scored 80 runs from just 31 balls to book a berth in the semi-final. Aman Singh remained not out at 34 and Subham Sarkar scored 14 to take the team over the line. Vivek Singh was adjudged the Man Of The Match.
The batting spectacle from Bali and Singh took the Pankaj Deb Memorial Barak Premier League to a different level. The matches on Tuesday will be no different. The two best bowlers in the Northeast, Manishankar Murasingh from Tripura will and Pritam Das from Silchar will start the bowling attack for Silchar Warriors.