AG Haryana emerge IA & AD Inter-Zonal Cricket champions in thriller

NAGPUR: AG Haryana emerged champions in the IA & AD Inter-Zonal Cricket tournament which concluded at the Ambedkar College ground here on Wednesday. In an exciting final, AG Haryana, Chandigarh edged out AG Kerala by two wickets with a ball to spare.
Put in to bat, Kerala, after a shaky start (13/2), went on to post 161 for 6 in their allotted 20 overs. Mohammed Shanu (25, 18b), Madan Mohan (36, 41b), PM Jinesh (29, 22b) and Manu Krishnan (23 not out, 11b) were the main scorers. For Haryana, Bipul Sharma claimed 3 for 18.
Chasing a challenging target, Haryana struggled but managed to scrape past in the tense last over. A run-a-ball half century (53, 50b, 6x4) by man-of-the-match Himanshu Chawla and blistering cameos by Michal Vishal (34, 14b), Jaskaran Singh (21, 18b) and Gurinder Singh (30, 17b) helped Haryana beat Kerala by 2 wickets to clinch the title. PU Antaf (3/32) and Manu Krishnan (3/34) bowled well but could not prevent defeat for their side Kerala.
In the semifinals held earlier, Kerala downed Jammu & Kashmir by 37 runs, while Haryana got the better of Hyderabad by 22 runs. Haryana’s Jaskaran Singh was adjudged man-of-the-series.
Former international cricketer and vice-president of Vidarbha Cricket Association Prashant Vaidya was the chief guest and distributed the prizes. Dinesh Patil, Accountant General, Sanjay Kumar Jha, IAAS, principal director, RTI and Rajdeep Singh, IAAS, AG (Audit) II Maharashtra were the guests of honour on the occasion.
Nagrajan and Nisha Rao compered the programme, while Aparna Shitole proposed a vote of thanks.