Oriental Insurance win inaugural GIC cricket tournament

Mumbai, Nov 18 (UNI) Oriental Insurance beat United India Assurance by 26 runs in an exciting final to clinch the title in the 1st All India GIC Re Cup Cricket Tournament at the Police Gymkhana here today.

In a low-scoring championship round, Oriental were put in to bat and scored a modest 168 after a good start by opening pair S Vidyanand and Rakesh Kaushal, who put on 53 runs. But United India's Muthu Pandiyan restricted Oriental with four for 20 in a tight spell.

United were on course with Pandiyan and V Bhatkar putting on 58 for the third wicket as they reached 100 for five. But Pandiyan's unfortunate run out triggered a collapse and United lost their last five wickets for 43 runs even as last pair G Jaikumar and Uday Deshpande put on 26 runs.

Oriental's Nishant Sharma earned him the man of the match for snaring five for 25.

Brief Scores: Oriental Insurance 168 all out in 38.4 overs (S Vidyanand 29, Rakesh Kaushal 26; Muthu Pandiyan 4-20, Uday Deshpande 2-38) bt United India 143 all out in 33.4 overs (Muthu Pandiyan 36, Vikas Bhatkar 23; Nishant Sharma 5-25, Arun Yadav 2-16) by 26 runs.

MoM: Muthu Pandiyan.

Best Batsman: Chetan Shukla (GIC Re) Best Bowler: Arun Yadav (Oriental) Best Fielder: S. Vidyanand (Oriental) Man of the Tournament: Muthu Pandiyan (United Insurance).

UNI GS SSS SAM KP2004