M’laya face Bengal in AG East Zone football final
Shillong: AG Bengal defeated AG Odisha 2-0 in the first semi-final of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department East Zone Football Tournament 2017 played at the JN Complex in Polo on Friday. The defending champions opened their score-sheet through substitute Dibyendu Chanda in the 60th minute and Manish Maithani found the net in the dying minutes of play. In the second semi-final AG Meghalaya edged past AG Jharkhand 2-1. The home team took the lead through a penalty scored by captain Ailad Kynta in the 27th minute and doubled their lead in the 60 th minute when striker Kitbok Pale unleashed a powerful strike to find the net. The lone scorer for AG Jharkhand was Sougata Majumdar who scored in the 64th minute. The final will be played between the host team AG Meghalaya against defending champions AG Bengal on Saturday at the JN Complex, Polo at 1:00pm.
India beat South Africa in Blind T20 World Cup
Mumbai: India registered their fourth consecutive win in the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup for the Blind as the hosts trounced South Africa by nine wickets at the MCA BKC Ground here on Friday. Chasing a decent 158, the hosts rode on brilliant half centuries from Muhammed Farhan (59) and Jafar Iqbal (54) to romp home in just 13.5 overs. Farhan’s explosive innings came off just 35 balls and was laced with nine boundaries and a six while Iqbal was equally merciless to the Africans, consuming just 39 balls with a boundary to his name. Durga Rao’s 11-ball 19, including 3 boundaries was equally vital to the host’s win. (IANS)
CEC propose two tier Test league, 13 team WC qualifier
New Delhi: The ICC Chief Executives Committee (CEC) has proposed a two tier Test league along with a 13-team league for 50 over ODI qualification system. The two-day CEC conference concluded in Dubai on Friday and the proposals by the CEC will be put across to the all powerful ICC Board that will meet on Saturday. According to sources in CEC meeting, it has been learnt that the two tier Test league would have the top nine teams as per ICC rankings in the elite league while the likes of Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Ireland will get a chance to showcase their skills in the second tier with a few other associate nations. (PTI)
Bowlers rule the roost at Mushtaq Ali T20 tourney
New Delhi: Bowlers hogged the limelight on Friday as most of the Mushtaq Ali inter-state T20 cricket matches turned out to be low-scoring affairs. In the East zone clash at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Assam medium pacer Pritam Das returned with figures of 5/9 to dismiss Tripura for a paltry 85. In response, Assam lost just three wickets to overhaul Tripura’s target with more than seven overs to spare. In another clash at the same venue, hosts Bengal beat Odisha by 24 runs to continue their unbeaten run in the tournament. Bengal rode on useful contributions from opener Shreevats Goswami (33), Writtick Chatterjee (33) and Pramod Chandila (32) to post 145/7 after being sent into bat. (IANS)