The final match was the most entertaining and nail-biting game that was fought in this tournament. And the suspense unraveled in the end as the PhD Scholars edged past their opponent with just three balls to spare.It was the first time in the history of the Prem Ranjan Memorial Cricket tournament that PhD Scholars claimed the trophy.
The match started with Third years winning the toss and electing to bat first. Nityanshu and Monish started off the opening partnership with Nityanshu hitting his favourite leg side boundaries but Ranjit got the first wicket of the match when Monish got out after scoring 26 off 20 balls.At one down came Santhosh who hit a fabulous 31 off just 16 balls and stayed not out.After Nityanshu was dismissed by Jithin, Biyas’ short entry was eventually stumped out by Nishant from Ranjit’s ball.The team ended up scoring 111/5 in 12 overs.
The second innings began with a bang with the partnership of Anil and Radeef. Anil,known for his propensity to score in the leg side, hit 61 runs form 42 balls.The first wicket down was from Radeef by Santhosh bowling into his stumps.At the halfway of the match it was evident that the PhD would emerge victorious but because of Biyas’ fierce tactics they choked the easy run flow of the PhD. Shruthi made a hit-wicket and jithin was run out in a very unfortunate manner by Santhosh. The match entered into the last over with 2 runs to win but the drama continued and then with three balls to spare and two runs needed,Ranjit hit the ball to leg side and ran 2 runs and the history was made with the PhD Scholars emerging champions for the first time.
This match witnessed some controversial moments with the Third Years, as a part of their strategy, deliberately refused to run out Shruthi when she was yards away from her crease and the wicket keeper in spite of holding the ball in her hand did not take the bails off the wicket. Another contentious dismissal was when in the last over Santosh in stead of completing his delivery throw the ball onto the wicket at the non striker end which made Jithin run out. There was further confusion with regard to giving Shruthi out ‘hit wicket’ as the Third Years demanded that it was an ‘deliberate act’, but their claim was refused by the umpire.
Final Score:
Third years- 111/5 in 12 overs.
PhD Scholars- 112/6 in 11.3 overs.
Article 19 