A.G. Rajkot emerged champions beating hosts A.G. Nagpur by 7 wickets on the concluding day of Indian Audit & Accounts Department (IA&AD) West Zone Cricket Tournament, 2022 which was conducted under the aegis of Accountant General Recreation Club (AGRC) of the Office of The Accountant General (A& E) II, Maharashtra,Â
In the final match, A.G. Rajkot won the toss and invited the hosts to bat first at VCA stadium, Civil Lines, Nagpur. Batting first, openers Sanjay Ramaswamy and Aditya Sarwate went about their business scoring at 10 runs per over during the power play. Jaydeev Bhati of A.G. Rajkot broke the parternship when sanjay Ramaswamy ( 31) lofted a ball to longoff where Shourya Sanadia did no mistake in taking a wonderful catch score reading 68/1(6.4 overs). Next in, captain Akshay Wadkar (11) also couldn’t last long falling to the same shot and was holed out on longoff caught by Arpit Vasavada off the bowing of Rahul Dave with score reading at 91/2 (10.1). Aditya Sarwate scored half century 54 (off 38 balls 2×6, 4×2) before being out in the same fashion on longoff off the bowing of Jaydeep Bhati. Shrikant Wagh scored a quickfire 24 (17 2×6, 1×4) also was out in same fashion on long off 126/4 (15.3). Lalit Yadav (1) was next to go again in same fashion caught at long off 133/5 (16.3overs). Azhar Sheikh (14 not out) and Dharmendra Ahlawat (17) could not propel the scoring rate due to some good bowling by A.G. Rajkot. Final score read 155/6(20) for A.G. Nagpur. Jaydeep Bhati took 2 wickets, while Shourya Sanadia, Kuldeep Sharma, Benison Songavkar, Rahul Dave and Kuldeep Sharma took a wicket apiece.
Chasing 156 runs to win, prolific scorer of the tournament and CAG team captain Arpit Vasavada once again proved his worth scoring his 3rd half century of the tournament 56 runs (37 balls 2×6, 5×4) in as many innings and Sahil Karathiya scored a brilliant half century 50 (30 balls 3×6, 6×3) to lay a strong 109 runs foundation in 10.5 overs before Arpit was run out. Bension Songavkar was out on 15 while Kuldeep Raval (21) and Kuldeep Sharma(10) remained not out and saw their team through 158/3(17.1) with 17 balls to spare. Arpit Vasavada was declared Man of the Match and also declared Man of the Tournament (239 Runs and 1 Wicket).
Shri Praveer Kumar, Patron and Accountant General (A&E)-II, Nagpur congratulated the winning and runners teams and wished them best for the IA & AD Inter Zonal Cricket Tournament slated to be held in Tiruvananthapuram, Kerala from 19th to 21st May 2022. Shri Dinesh Mate, Sr. Dy. Accountant General (Pension, Fund & Accounts) and Shri Akshay Khandare, Sr. Dy. Accountant General(Admn) introduced the guests.
In the prize distribution function, Dr. Chhering Dorje, IPS, Special Inspector General of Police, Nagpur Range, gave the prizes and trophy to the winning team, A.G. Rajkot. In his speech he emphasized the role of doing physical fitness during entire part of one’s entire life span which would to effective in day today working, playing, thinking and in old age. Shri Prashant Vaidya, formal International Cricket player from the city, gave the runners trophy and prizes to hosts A.G. Nagpur Team. Shri R. Thiruppathi Venkatasamy, Accountant General (Audit)-II, Maharashtra, Nagpur congratulated the winning and runners teams and wished them luck for future matches. Sanjay Ramaswamy of A.G. Nagpur was announced the Best Batsman(161 Runs), Almas Shoukar of A.G. Jaipur, the Best Fielder, Shaurya Sanandia of A.G. Rajkot the Best Bowler and Aditya Sarwate of A.G. Nagpur was declared the Best All Rounder.
Departmental umpires Shri Rakesh Sethi, from Chandigarh, Shri Neelmani Dwiwedi, from New Delhi Shri Manoharan from Chennai and Shri Satish Durai, Allahabad. nominated by office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, New Delhi, conducted the Tournament smoothly.
Mr. H.T. Fulpadia, Sr. DAG (Admn) & Welfare Officer, Ms. Pallavi Holkar, Sr. Dy. Accountant General (AMG-II), Mr. Aditya R. Bhojgadhiya, Sr. Dy. Accountant General, Branch office, Mumbai, Shri Dinesh Mate, Sr. Dy. Accountant General (Pension, Fund & Accounts), Shri. Akshay Khandare, Dy. Accountant General (Admn), Shri. Naresh Kumar Manne, Dy. Accountant General (AMG-IV), Smt. Sunita Gunashekhar, Dy. Director, Finance & Communication, DA P&T, Shri Dhanraj Chavhan, Welfare Officer (A&E) and large number of officers and staff members were present on the occasion.
Apart from members of various committees like reception, ground, transport, accommodation, food, office bearers of AGRC worked tirelessly to make the tournament a grand success.
Smt. Sushma Kale and Ms. Anupama Bhattacharya conducted the proceedings while Shri Subhash Talnikar, President, A.G.R.C proposed vote of thanks and thanked the Chief Guest, Guest of honour, Referees, Selectors from CAG office, office bearers, volunteers and media for the grand success of tournament.