Sonai wins DSA's 2nd Div championship, will play 1st Div next year; Itkhola Sporting runners up

Sonai Cricket Association won the Parul Rani Sharma Smriti Second Division Cricket organised by Silchar DSA. Itkhola Sporting lost by 8 wickets in the final held at SM Dev Stadium on Monday.

Sonai decided to field first after winning the toss today. Being invited to bat, Itkhola scored 159 runs for 8 wickets. Majid Laskar (36) and Amit Rabidas (36) of their team batted well. Besides, Minhaj Ahmed scored 16, Rahul Singh 15 and Altaf Hussain 19. 23 were conceded on extras. Azad Laskar and Sahar Alam Barbhuiya took two wickets each.

In a match like the final, Sonai was under a lot of pressure to chase the target. They lost a few wickets in the beginning. At a situation like that, right-handed opener Arup Dey took the helm of the team. He has performed consistently throughout the tournament and in the final he gave his best. He played an unbeaten 80 in 53 balls. He scored 9 fours and 2 sixes in the innings. Sonai reached the target after losing four wickets in 17.5 overs thanks to Arup. Winning the B Division, Sonai got tickets to A division tournament next year. Sonai had many ups and downs throughout the tournament. They lost their first match by only one run as they failed to score two runs in the last three balls against Dudh Patil team. But then their fate turned around and they won the title. It maybe noted that last year Sonai became the champion in the third division due to which they got qualified for second division this year. As a result, they won the cricket title in Silchar for two consecutive years.

Shahed Chowdhury (26), Bibhu Das (10) and Khush Das (17) contributed significantly to Sonai’s tally. 25 were conceded from extras. Even though Itkhola team managed to score a decent total, bowling and fielding were the departments they lacked in. That is why they had to be remain satisfied with the runners-up trophy and cash prize of rupees five thousand.

Sonai got eight thousand rupees including trophy for winning the tournament. Arup Dey of Sonai team has been selected as the best player of the final match. Arup also received the award for the best batsman of the tournament and the best batsman of the competition. He scored a total of 256 runs in the entire tournament. Priyanshu Barman of Madhya Sahar SS got the award for the best bowler. He took 9 wickets in the tournament. Ripu Majumder of Classmates Union and Mrinal Kanti Nath of Dudh Patil Club were also awarded prizes for their hat-tricks in the tournament.

Parul Rani Sharma Memorial Cricket started from November 20 with 24 teams.

Additional Deputy Commisioner Sumit Sattyawan was present as the chief guest at the award ceremony. Also present were District Sports Association President Babul Hore, Vice-President Sujoy Dutta Roy, Sponsors Chandan Sharma and Smith Sharma, former Ranji star Javed Khan, Itkhola Sporting President Anup Kumar Singh, Sonai Cricket Association President Badar Uddin Majumder and former cricketer of state cricket team Abhishek Hore. The entire program was hoisted by DSA Secretary Bijendra Prasad Singh.

At the end of the award ceremony, sponsor Chandan Sharma honored the pitch curator of DSA Ram Behra with a cash prize of rupees one thousand and a tracksuit.