A.G. West Bengal emerged champions beating A.G. Jammu & Kashmir by 2 wickets on the concluding day of Indian Audit & Accounts Department (IA&AD) Inter Zonal Cricket Tournament, 2023 which was conducted under the aegis of Accountant General Recreation Club (AGRC) of the Office of The Accountant General (Audit) II, Maharashtra, which was played in Vidarbha Cricket Association, Civil Lines, Nagpur.
In the final match, A.G. Jammu & Kashmir won the toss and chose to bat at VCA stadium, Civil Lines, Nagpur. Openers Mani Sharma (16) and Asif Khan (17) gave a steady start to the Jammu & Kashmir innings, before S. Mandal of A.G. West Bengal clean bowled the former with a swinging delivery in the 5th over. Paras Sharma (24), Bandeep Singh (24), Abid Mushtaq (21) all contributed but could not convert their innings to big scores. With a steady fall of wickets, the Jammu & Kashmir team could only manage 145 all out in 19.3 overs. Sayan Ghosh was the pick of A.G. West Bengal bowlers claiming 4 wickets giving away nly 20 runs, while Susanta Das and Vivek Kumar Singh took two wickets apiece.
In reply, A.G. West Bengal had an early setback when captain Ram Dayal removed Writtick Chatterjee c&b in the very first Over, but quickfire 41 (20 balls, 8×4) by opener Abhishek Kumar Raman and captain Prinan Datta (36) brought A.G. West Bengal back on track. But, Waseem Raza removed both of them and another 3 wickets raised hopes for A.G. Jammu & Kashmir, with score reading 112/6 (15.5). Gitimoy Basu made a fighting 27 (25) and brought the target closer. With 10 needed in 2 overs, it seemed easy for A.G. West Bengal. But A.G. Jammu & Kashmir’s captain bowled a superb maiden penultimate 19th over. A superb six of the first ball of 20th over saw the tide swinging back in A.G. West Bengal’s favour. A. G. West Bengal held their nerves and crossed the target set with just one ball to spare and thus lifting the Champions trophy. Waseem Raza was superb in his spell taking 4 wickets for 12 runs, while Ram Dayal took 2 wicket for A.G. Jammu & Kashmir. Sayan Ghosh of A.G. West Bengal was the Man of the Match (4 Wickets/20 Runs).
In the prize distribution function, Ms. Lata Mallikarjuna, IA & AS, Director General, Regional Training Institute, Nagpur, gave the prizes and trophy to the winning team, A.G. West Bengal. Mr. Praveer Kumar, Principal Accountant General (A&E)-II, Maharashtra, Nagpur, Guest of Honour gave the prizes and trophy to the Runner Up team, A.G. Jammu & Kashmir. Shri R. Thiruppathi Venkatasamy, Accountant General (Audit)-II, Maharashtra, Nagpur congratulated the winning and runners teams and wished them luck for future matches.
Paras Sharma of A.G. Jammu and Kashmir was announced the Best Batsman(101 Runs), Sayan Ghosh of A.G. West Bengal, the Best Bowler (9 Wickets), Gitimoy Basu of A.G. West Bengal,the Wicket Keeper and Ram Dayal of A.G. Jammu and Kashmirwas declared the Best All Rounder and Prayas Ray Burman of A.G. West Bengal was the Player of the Tournament.
Departmental umpires Praveen K. Sen of A.G. Himachal Pradesh, K. Manoharan of A.G Tamil Nadu, Mr. Mihd Usman & Mr. Yuvraj Singh of A.G. Telangana, Mr. Arun Dass and BiplabKumar Das of A.G. West Bengal, Vinod Kushwaha of A.G. Uttar Pradesh, Mr. B.K. Ravi (of AG Karnataka) and Ayub Ali of DGACE, New Delhi nominated by office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, New Delhi, conducted the Tournament smoothly.
Shri Dinesh Mate, Sr. Dy. Accountant General, Shri. AkshayKhandare, Dy. Accountant General, Smt. Sunita Gunashekhar, Dy. Director, Finance & Communication, DA P&T, Ms. B. Manimozhi, Dy. Accountant General, Ms S. Haripriya, Dy. Accountant Generaland 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.
Ranjit Sharma and Ms. Aastha Garg conducted the proceedings, Mangesh Dudulkar, Secretary, AGRC read out the Event report, while Shri Vinit Ghadge, President, A.G.R.C proposed vote of thanks thanking the Chief Guest, Guest of honour, Referees, Selectors from CAG office, office bearers, volunteers and media for the grand success of tournament.
Winning A.G. West BengalTeam:
Prinan Dutta (Captain), Abishek Kumar Raman, Writam Porwal, Gitimoy Basu(WK), Writtick Chatterjee, Kazi Zunaid, Prayas Roy Barman, Sourav Mondal, Sayam Ghosh, Susanta Das, VivekKumar Singh, Prasanjit Kumar Das, Dip Chatterjee UddipanMukherjee, Sambit Roy. Amitava Chakborty and Arup Tripathiwere Coach and manager of the team respectively.