Published: March 31, 2026 at 12:28 pm
Metro Railway pulled of a six-wicket win over South East Central Railway (SECR) in the final of the 69th All India Inter Railways Cricket championship 2025-26 in Mumbai on Monday.
Batting first, SECR were all at sea against Koushik Maity, who finished with figures of six for 23 in 15 overs. SECR lost an early wicket when Jayant Kaiwart (1) fell with the score reading 3 in the second over. However, Ayush Kmar (23) and Shivam Chaudhary (22) steadied the innings with a 39-run partnership for the second wicket.
Thereafter, it was a downslide for SECR as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Only wicketkeeper-bat Pawan Parnate managed to reach double figures as he topscored with 37 off 80 balls with a four and a six. SECR were bundled out for 120 in 41.1 overs as the Metro Railway bowlers called the shots.
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Metro Railway batter did not fare any better as they took struggled to get runs on the board. Ankit Kumar fell for a duck but Arif Ansari (20) and Toufik Uddin Mondal (34; 37balls, 6×4)) added 49 for the second wicket.
The story turned out to be the same as SECR innings. Metro Railway too lost their way as wickets fell at regular intervals. Skipper Arindam Ghosh kept their hopes alive with a 66-ball 31 (2×4, 1×6) even as the SECR bowlers went on a rampage. Metro Railway managed to take a narrow three run lead as they were bowled out for 123 in 31.1 overs.
Shivam Chaudhary did the most damage with a five for 46 haul and Raj Chaudhary lent him good support with a three for 31 haul.
After conceding the three-run lead, SECR failed to get going in their second innings. They lost three early wickets in the form of Jayant Kalwart (6), Ayush Kmar (1) and Nayan Chavan (11) with just 19 on the board.
But Raj Chaudhary (29; 58 balls, 3×4) and Vikrant Singh came to the rescue of the team. The duo added 68 runs for the fourth wicket before Raj Chaudhary fell.
Vikrant then added 26 for the fifth wicket with Shivam Chaudhary (10) and 47 for the seventh wicket with skipper Mohit Raut, who made 26 off 22 balls with two fours and six.
Vikrant finally fell for 65 off 116 balls with five hits to the fence. Three wickets fell at 165 and SECR were bowled out for 166 in 43.4 overs. Koushik Maity took three for 27 to take his match haul to nine for 50.
Chasing 164 for victory, Metro Railway again faltered as they lost Ankit Kumar (4) and Arif Ansari (5) with 16 on the board. However, Shakir Habib and Saurabh Singh (21) took the fight to the rival camp by adding 42 for the third wicket.
The arrival of skipper Ghosh changed the scenario as he and Shakir took the game away from their rivals. The Metro Railway duo added 77 for the fourth wicket before Ghosh fell for 37 (53 balls; 2×4, 1×6).
South East Central Railway (SECR) , who finished runners up at the 69th All India Inter Railways Cricket championship 2025-26 in Mumbai on Monday
Shakir and Vivek Singh (13) took the side home with a 34-run stand for the unbroken fifth wicket. Shakir remained unbeaten on 75 off 108 balls with six fours and two sixes.
North Eastern Railway finish third
North Eastern Railway scored a 90-run win over Western Railway to claim the third spot in the championship.
Skipper and wicketkeeper-bat Upendra Yadav was the star for NER as he slammed a century off 92 balls with five fours and eight sixes to set up the big win.
Batting first, NER lost Virat Jaiswal (3) and Krutigna Kumar Singh (0) with 11 on the board. Sahab Yuvraj Singh and Shubham Choubey steadied the innings with a 67-run partnership for the third wicket with Yuvraj doing the bulk of the scoring.
Yuvraj made a 70-ball 51 with eight boundaries and Shubam scored 24. Both of them fell in the span of two runs as NER were reduced to 80 for four.
Things only went worse for NER as they lost wickets at regular intervals to be 133 for eight.
Upendra, who had come to bat at No.5, then took charge of the proceedings. He found an able ally in No.10 bat Rajat Nirwal and the duo added 107 for the ninth wicket before Upendra fell.
Upendra scored a 92-ball 110 as he single-handedly steered his side to safety. Rajat made an unbeaten 27 off 41 balls with a four and a six as NER ran up 240 in 50 overs.
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Western Railway could not get their chase going as they lost three early wickets with 22 on the board. Nihar Waghela (8), Mrunal Devdhar (0) and Anshuman Singh (7) departed too quickly.
Harshal Jadhav and skipper Bhargav Merai (13) added 49 for the fourth wicket before Merai fell. Harshal, who made 42 off 70 balls with five fours, fell with the score reading 92 and the chase was almost done and dusted. Vinayak Bhoir scored 24 as Western Railway were bowled out for 150 in 40.3 overs.
Krutigna Kumar Singh was the wrecker-in-chief with a four for 29 haul. Trishal Trivedi and Virat Jaiswal took two wickets apiece.
In all, 27 teams took part in the championship with 87 matches being played over a period of three weeks.
Brief scores (final): South East Central Railway (SECR) 120 in 41.1 overs (Ayush Kmar 23, Shivam Chaudhary 22, Pawan Parnate 37; Kousik Maity 6/23, Vivek Singh 2/32) & 166 in 43.4 overs (Raj Chaudhary 29, Vikrant Singh 65, Mohit Raut 26; Kousik Maity 3/27, Tuhin Banerjee 2/25, Vivek Singh 2/5) lost to Metro Railway 123 in 31.1 overs (Arif Ansari 20, Toufik Uddin Mondal 34, Arindam Ghosh 31; Shivam Chaudhary 5/46, Raj Chaudhary 3/31, Mohit Raut 2/14) and 169 for 4 wickets in 39.1 overs (Shakir Habib 75, Saurabh Singh 21, Arindam Ghosh 37; Raj Chaudhary 2/41, Mohit Raut 2/30).
Third place: North Eastern Railway 240 in 50 overs (Sahab Yuvraj Singh 51, Shubham Choubey 24, Upendra Yadav 110, Rajat Nirwal 27 not out; Varun Joijode 3/41, Surendra Malviya 2/33, Jamshed Alam 2/37, Vinayak Bhoir 2/33) beat Western Railway 150 in 40.3 overs (Harshal Jadhav 42, Vinayak Bhoir 24; Krutigna Kumar Singh 4/29, Trishal Trivedi 235, Virat Jaiswal 2/21).
Semifinals: SECR 355 in 80.4 overs (Jayant Kaiwart 27, Shivam Chaudhary 67, Nayan Chavan 110, Vikrant Singh 21, Pawan Parnate 33, Mohit Raut 37, Sangeet Sharma 26; Trishal Trivedi 4/66, Rajat Nirwal 3/143, Ankit Yadav 2/46) beat North Eastern Railway 237 in 73.5 overs (Sahab Yuvraj Singh 66, Upendra Yadav 39, Shubham Choubey 27, Krutigna Kumar Singh 25; Raj Chaudhary 5/61, Mohit Raut 3/76).
Western Railway 274 in 76 overs (Nihar Waghela 25, Harshal Jadhav 92, Bhargav Merai 36, Vinayak Bhoir 32, Dhrushant Soni 49 not out; Kousik Maity 5/92, Debopratim Halder 2/24, Tuhin Banerjee 2/66) lost to Metro Railway 276 for eight in 76.4 overs (Ankit Kmar 33, Arif Ansari 32, Saurabh Singh 41, Arindam Ghosh 53, Vivek Singh 24, Kousik Maity 25 not out, Toufik Uddin Mondal 27; Dhrushant Soni 4/57).
