State U-18: Mohanpur, BCC seal semifinal berths

Mohanpur subdivision and BCC booked their places in the semifinals of the state Under-18 cricket tournament after their respective quarterfinal matches ended in draws, with both teams advancing on the strength of first-innings leads. The semifinals will be played from February 12 to 14 at the MBB Stadium.

In one quarterfinal, Mohanpur subdivision knocked out Bishalgarh subdivision and will face Kailashahar subdivision in the semifinals. The match, held at Taltala School Ground, saw Bishalgarh score 206 runs in their first innings in reply to Mohanpur’s 261. Resuming on the second day at 163 for five, Bishalgarh added 43 more runs on Tuesday before losing their remaining wickets. Riyad Hossain top-scored with 33 off 77 balls, including five boundaries.  

For Mohanpur, Panthor Debbarma led the bowling with four wickets for 47 runs, while Ista Debnath and Pinak Deb picked up three wickets each, conceding 18 and 60 runs respectively.

With a first-innings lead of 55 runs, Mohanpur scored 111 runs for the loss of nine wickets by the end of the third day. After an early collapse, Ista Debnath steadied the innings with 48 off 101 balls, hitting seven boundaries. For Bishalgarh, Rohit Biswas claimed five wickets for 47 runs, while Riyad Hossain took two for 28.

In the other quarterfinal, BCC advanced to the semifinals defeating Cosmopolitan, where they will take on Dharmanagar subdivision. The match against Cosmopolitan Club at the MBB Stadium ended in a draw, but BCC progressed after securing a first-innings lead. Batting first, BCC posted 286 runs, to which Cosmopolitan replied with just 144, giving BCC a lead of 142 runs.

BCC then scored 265 runs in their second innings. Krish led the batting with 56 off 158 balls, including seven boundaries and one over-boundary, while Akash Debnath scored 51 off 131 balls with eight boundaries.  

Resuming the second day at 136 for seven, Cosmopolitan added only eight runs before losing their remaining three wickets. Anik Deb scored 26 off 96 balls with five boundaries. For BCC, Tanisk Chakraborty and Sandipan Das took three wickets each, conceding 10 and 26 runs respectively, while Akash Debnath picked up two wickets for 31 runs. For Cosmopolitan, Shaheen Zaman Chowdhury claimed four wickets for 61 runs, with Debjyoti Pal and Anas Bhatnagar taking three wickets each. Following mutual consent of both captains, the match was declared a draw.