JAMMU, May 18: A blistering 53 off just 22 balls by Lalit and a composed 65 from Manish Sharma powered Veterans Cricket Association XI to a formidable 193/9 in 20 overs before their bowlers held nerves to restrict Cricket Gladiators to 186/8 in a high-scoring league encounter.
After an early setback, Lalit changed the momentum with an explosive knock featuring 8 fours and 3 sixes at a strike rate of 240.9, while Manish Sharma anchored the innings with a fluent 65 off 49 balls. Bhanu Gupta chipped in with a quickfire 35, helping Veterans post a challenging total.
For Cricket Gladiators, Namandeep Singh starred with the ball, claiming 4 wickets for 39 runs, while Anil Bhat and Mohd Shafqat picked up a wicket each.
In reply, Cricket Gladiators fought hard through Yogeshwar Saini’s 45 and Anil Bhat’s aggressive 43, but regular wickets dented the chase. Raghav Sharma also contributed 24 runs at the top.
Retaish Sharma turned the game in Veterans’ favour with a match-winning spell of 3/25, while Rohit grabbed 2 wickets . With 12 runs to win in last over, Munir bowled his heart out and conceeded only 5 runs as Cricket Gladiators fell short by 7 runs despite a late fightback. Retaish was declared Man of the Match.