Friends-XI Lolab Defeats Sultan Warriors B’la In Close-fought Encounter To Lift First Edition of KPCL 2023

Noor ul Hassan Andrabi | Asif Iqbal

Kupwara, Sept 24: The first edition of Kupwara Police Cricket League (KPCL) Sunday culminated on a high note as Friends-XI Lolab defeated Sultan Warriors Baramulla by a bare margin of two runs to lift the trophy. The grand finale was played at Galizoo Sports field here on Sunday.

The Sultan Warriors Baramulla upon winning the toss, asked the opponent Friends XI Lolab to bat first. The strong batting line-up struggled before a disciplined bowling line-up from Sultan Warriors Baramulla and were bowled out for 121 in 19.2-Overs.

For Sultan Warriors Baramulla, Aqib Dar was the pick of the bowlers who took 4 wickets. Azim Rather & Jahangir Lone shared two wickets each.Setting out to chase a target of 122, Sultan Warriors Baramulla got a wobbling start with early fall of both it’s strike batters.

Azim Rather went after the bowling attack and scored a quickfire 43 of just 13 deliveries with five sixes and three fours.

Aamir Aziz came back strongly and got him out setting the tone for his team as other bowlers also chipped in to take wickets on regular intervals and were subsequently bowled out on 119 in 19.4-overs – falling short of just two runs from the target.

The grand finale of the tournament was attended by DIG North Vivek Gupta alongside with SSP Kupwara Youghal Manhas, ASP Kupwara Farhat Jeelani, Chairman Municipality Council Kupwara Reyaz Mir and other high-profile dignitaries.

Many well-known personalities from civil society and senior cricketers and citizens were also present on the occasion.

The guests on the occasion distributed the prizes and medals among winning and runner up teams – with the winning team getting an award of 1.5 lac rupees cash and a trophy and the runners-up team getting 70-thousand rupees cash and a trophy.

Aamir Aziz who bowled an exceptional spell was adjudged as Man of Match for taking two wickets, while Zakir Wani was declared as Man of the Tournament for his remarkable all round performance.

A total number of 16 teams across the valley participated in the Kupwara Police Cricket League-2023.

From the beginning of the day, a huge number of fans/spectators cutting across age bars thronged the venue to watch the highly anticipated contest. About 25 thousand spectators were witnessing the grand finale at Galizoo Sports field.

Meanwhile, the people from different sections of life from Kupwara have extended their heartiest gratitude to Kupwara Police for organising such a mega cricket event which is expected to boost the sports talent of our youth.

The fresh win by Friends-XI Lolab comes only a month and a half after it defeated the same team – Sultan Warriors Baramulla in August – to lift the third edition of Ramhal Cricket League.