Dibakar Johori snatches victory from jaws of defeat for India Club to lift Super Division trophy

India Club finally won the Super Division League title in their third attempt. Before that, India club played the final twice in the three editions of the tournament but could not win the trophy. They had to be satisfied being the runners-up. Finally, this time in the fourth edition of the tournament India Club got the glory of becoming the champion. They pulled off a thrilling victory against Itkhola AC in the mega final under floodlights on Thursday and won by 12 runs. Dibakar Johri was the main architect of India Club’s dramatic victory.

This day proved again why cricket is called a game of extreme uncertainty. At one time it seemed that Itkhola would win the match very easily. Chasing 175, Itkhola’s score at one point was 142 for three wickets. From there, Itkhola was all out for 162 runs in 27.3 overs. They lost the match by 12 runs. On the other hand, India Club pulled off an incredible victory with the gift of fighting cricket.

The final match was nail-biting but both the teams had to adapt to the wicket of Satindra Mohan Dev Stadium. The wicket behaved abnormally from the start to the finish.

After winning the toss at noon, India Club captain Mosharob Hossain Laskar decided to bat first. But his decision turned out wrong. The captain himself went back to the dressing room before scoring any run. India Club’s top and middle order failed miserably too. Manas Gogoi scored 15 runs, Raju Das 2 runs, Rehan Jamil Majumdar 11 runs and Amit Yadav scored 9 runs. At one time, India club lost 7 wickets for 102 runs. Yogeswar Bhumij and Diwakar Johri stood by their team in such a situation. The team put up a fighting score of 174 runs in 38.2 overs by the partnership of the duo. Batting at number eight, Yogeshwar played a brilliant innings of 44 runs off 37 balls on a tough wicket. Diwakar Johri (37 runs) gave him good company. Experienced pacer Shamik Das bowled brilliantly in the final like in the entire tournament. His bowling analysis was 7.2-1-16-5. Pritam Das and Abhijit Sinha Roy took two wickets each.

Itkhola did not get off to a bad start chasing the runs. Everything was fine in the first five overs. But from then their rhythm broke. Two openers Shubajit Paul (22 runs) and Aman Singh (3 runs) went back to the dressing room. Then Abhijit Sinha Roy and Sunjo Brahma led the team. Itkhola had complete control of the match by the partnership of the duo. But Abhijit (20 runs) failed to score big despite raising hopes. However, the fall of this wicket did not affect the run rate of Itkhola AC because Shamik Das started positive batting after coming to the crease. Shamik’s partnership with Sunjo saw Itkhola cruising to a very easy win.

However, the trajectory of the match changed as soon as Diwakar came to bowl his second spell. In the same over, Diwakar dismissed the in-form Shamik (26 runs) and Ranji star Pritam Das. Although there is considerable controversy over Pritam’s exit. However, with the fall of these two wickets, India Club returned to the fight. Although Sunjo was batting with great rhythm from one side however, Itkhola’s lower middle order could not bat well owing to pressure. Even the in-form Sunjo (63) failed to hold his nerve under pressure. Sunjo brought his own fall by trying to hit a pull shot on Diwakar’s ball who was in fiery bowling form. As soon as he went back to the dressing room, the loss of Itkhola AC became certain. Finally Dibakar led India Club to an incredible victory by returning Rahul Goala to the dressing room as the last wicket of the match. Diwakar Johri was adjudged Man of the Match for his brilliant all-round performance. Shamik Das was adjudged series best.