COLOMBO: Pakistan’s champion team University of Central Punjab (UCP) from Lahore continued their impressive run in the World Finals of the Red Bull Campus Cricket 2016 edition with a handsome five-wicket win over India’s Marathwada Mitra Mandal College of Commerce in a round match played at Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club Ground.

UCP had started their campaign in the tournament with a comfortable win over the campus team from UAE in their opening match on Monday and once again succeeded in chasing down a score on Tuesday to win a fabulous game. By virtue of this fine win, UCP have qualified for the semifinals.

Batting first, Marathwada Mitra Mandal College of Commerce batsmen posted a total of 176 for the loss of eight wickets in their allotted 20 overs. Rushabh Rathod was the top-scorer for his team with an innings of 61 off 40 balls. Shubham Nagawade contributed a breezy 35 off 26 balls.

Aftab Azwer and Usman Khalid were the two bowlers who maintained a stranglehold on the opposition, both collecting two wickets apiece. The UCP team then chased down the score in the 18th over for the loss of five wickets to achieve a truly brilliant win. Taimor Sultan who opened the innings for his team was the architect of victory as he blasted a 53-ball 91 which was laced with six sixes and eight fours.

Taimor’s onslaught was the difference between the two teams as the rest of the UCP batsmen were content at giving him the strike. Junaid Ali (20) and Mohammad Mohsin (21) made useful alliances with Taimor which resulted in a comfortable win for UCP with 14 balls to spare.

Published in Dawn September 7th, 2016