HOSTS AG Nagpur rode on some excellent bowling from spinners as they thrashed AG Bhopal to storm into semi-finals on opening day of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department (IA&AD) West Zone Cricket Tournament which is being conducted under the aegis of Accountant General Recreation Club (AGRC) of the Office of The Accountant General (A& E) II, Maharashtra.

Nagpur spinners Aditya Sarvate, Avinash Kumar and Azhar Sheikh shared seven wickets between them as they restricted AG Bhopal to a meagre 43 after the visitors opted to bat first. Nagpur then chased down the target without losing any wicket in three overs.

Spinners Sarvate and Avinash took three wickets each, Sheikh took one while pacer Shrikant Wagh took two.

Sarvate gave just one run from two overs which had one maiden while Avinash conceded four runs from two overs including one maiden. At the top, pacer Abhijeet Piprode bowled three overs conceding just one run including two maidens. Sumit Sharma (11) and Alesh Nigam (16) could only get into double figures for Bhopal.

In reply, AG Nagpur knocked off the runs in just three overs with opener R Sanjay hitting unbeaten 39 with six boundaries and two maximums. Sarvate scored undefeated five runs. Nagpur will meet AG Raipur in semi-finals. Raipur beat AG Mumbai by 13 runs. Defending champions AG Jaipur got the better off of AG Gwalior by 57 runs to set up their semi-final clash with AG Rajkot who thrashed AG Ahmedabad by 9 wickets.

Earlier, the tournament was inaugurated by Amitesh Kumar, Commissioner of Police, Nagpur. Hemant Gandhi, Secretary, VCA, was guest of honour. R Thiruppathi Venkataswamy, Accountant General (Audit), Maharashtra, Nagpur, Praveer Kumar, Patron and Accountant General (A&E)-II, Maharashtra, Nagpur, Dinesh Mate, Sr Dy Accountant General, HT Fulpadia, Sr DAG (Admn) & Welfare Officer, Pallavi Holkar, Sr Dy. Accountant General (AMG-II), Akshay Khandare, Dy. Accountant General (Admn), Naresh Kumar Manne, Dy. Accountant General (AMG-IV), Sunita Gunashekhar, Dy Director, Finance & Communication, DA P&T, Dhanraj Chavhan, Welfare Officer and large number of officers and staff members were present on the occasion.

Pihoo Bhattacharjee and Manju Naidu compered the programme while Vandana Taide proposed a vote of thanks.