Sup Division: Itkhola AC's qualification for Semis becomes challenging after losing against India Club

Itkhola AC, which was considered to be one of the favourites in the Super Division might not qualify for the semis. On Tuesday, Sadik Imran Choudhury, Prakash Bhagat’s Itkhola AC lost against India Club at Satindra Mohan Dev Memorial Stadium. This made the last league stage of Narayan Paul Memorial Super Division very interesting for the neutrals.

India Club after the victory cemented its second position with 16 points. Town Club leads the table with 20 points after winning all their league matches. United Club has also qualified for the semis. After Itkhola AC’s defeat against India Club, the fourth-place became achievable for all teams. Itkhola AC which stands at four points will play its last match Yogayog Sangha which got promoted from First Division last year and is yet to win a match in the tournament.

If Yogagog Sangha beats Itkhola AC, both the teams will be at four points with Yogayog having a match in hand against Club Oasis. There is a possibility of three teams ending the league rounds with four points each and in that case run rate will play a role in determining which team gets relegated and which team qualifies for the semi finals.

Tuesday, India Club won the toss and decided to bat first. Man in form, Parvez Musharof went on to score another half-century (58) for his team. Captain Rehan Jomail Mazumdar (50) continued with his good run of form but it was Armaan Khan’s 16-ball-40 that changed the game in favour of India Club. On the back of that aggressive knock, India Club went pass 200 mark and set a target of 216 Itkhola to chase. Prakash Bhagat picked up two wickets and so did Mantu Das.

Chasing, what is relatively high total, Itkhola got off to a good start. Ranji player, Rajdeep Das opening for Itkhola scored 40 runs and at one stage, the team was 77 for 1. From there the batsmen lost their wickets in crucial times making the run chase extremely difficult. Biswajit Bhattacharjee (37), Aman Singh (24), Subhajit Pail (24), Saddik Imran Choudhury (24)… all got starts but did not finish the match. Needing 41 runs of 31 balls, Itkhola AC fell short by 19 runs with wickets in hand.