Yash Dhull powers Bal Bhavan to Laxman Das title as Lalit Yadav's counter ends in vain

New Delhi: A four driven through cover off a full-pitched ball followed by a dab over gully that went to third man boundary was as predictable as it could get.

Lalit Yadav, the star player of Sporting Club was the wall standing between Bal Bhavan Cricket Academy and the 41st Laxman Das Chhabra Memorial Cricket Tournament title. The 29-year-old, who had just reached his third ton in five matches of Delhi's Hot Weather cricket, was playing exquisitely and keeping his team alive and kicking.

Dev Lakra, a pace bowling all-rounder, had just gone for these two fours which brought the equation down to 85 runs off 45 balls.

Despite these two predictable and juicy deliveries, skipper Yash Dhull did not say anything to correct Lakra. It was 40 degrees, searing-hot on Friday afternoon and the tall pacer was into his sixth over. Dhull thought it wise not to disturb the bowler.

Lakra was smart enough to change pace the next ball and Yadav was tempted to hoick it over midwicket for six. A four would have been a safer option. As the ball rose in the air, looking to fall well short inside the boundary, skipper Dhull ran from long on to mid-wicket, covering a distance of several yards and held onto the catch running. The win for Bal Bhavan was sealed there.

Sporting coach Amit Vashisht, who has mentored India's newest pacer Prince Yadav, was of the belief that his team was in with a chance so long as Lalit Yadav was in. Once Lalit, who had scored over 1300 runs for Goa in Ranji Trophy 2025-26 season, was dismissed, the writing was on the wall.

At 333/7, there was only tail for Sporting and it needed to wag long enough to get to the target of 418 -- Bal Bhavan had made 417 in 39.1 overs with century from Yash Dhull (133 off 72 balls; 12x4s, 8x6s) and fifties from Uvais Ahmad (50 off 21 balls, 7x4s, 3x6s), Dev Lakra (66 off 31 balls, 5x4s, 5x6s) and Yajas Sharma (57 off 28 balls, 7x4s, 3x6s).

"We had lost the toss and were put into bat. We wanted to ensure that we score around 450 runs. We fell 30-odd short. We had to put some extra effort in fielding," said Dhull. "That catch [of Lalit] was crucial."

On his innings, "We practice for crucial games like these. I tried to bring all my experience to this final. I was playing ball to ball."

Lalit Yadav was a bit upset but took the loss in his stride.

After Ankit Kumar's 57 off 24 balls (3x4s, 6x6s) and Rishabh Drall's 45 off 14 (6x4s, 3x6s), Sporting found themselves at 138/4 after 11 overs. The start was great but they had lost too many wickets.

Lalit and Vikas Solanki (40 off 34) got into innings building mode and take it further. They had time on hand. But once Solanki fell to a pull at deep midwicket, and hard-hitter Monu Shukla was dismissed for 18 off 8, it was left to only Lalit.

"We lost a couple of wickets at the wrong time, so the idea was to take the attack to the opposition. If the game had gone till the end, we could have been in with a chance," he said.

AWARDS:

Winners: Bal Bhavan Cricket Academy

Man of the Tournament: Yash Bhatia (Bal Bhavan)

Best Batsman of the Tournament: Lalit Yadav (Sporting Club)

Best Bowler of the tournament: Suryakant Chauhan (Bal Bhavan)

Player of the Match: Yash Dhull (Bal Bhavan)

Fighter of the Match: Lalit Yadav (Sporting Club)

Chaman Lal Mehra Trophy for Most disciplined team: Bal Bhavan

Tags : Cricket, Delhi, Prince Yadav, Yash Dhull, Lalit Yadav, Ankit Kumar