Defending champions (A Division) Bank of India started their campaign in the 56th Inter-Bank Cricket Tournament on a winning note after they defeated State Bank of India by 45 runs in the opener at Central Railways ground on Thursday. Batting first, Bank of India posted 156 from 19.3 overs. Paresh Sutane hammered 70 runs while Mahendra Mishra scored 15 and Ankush Deshmukh added 14.

For State Bank of India, Aditya Gokhale and Sumit Sawatkar took three wickets each while Shrikant Chavan took two.

In reply, SBI managed to score 111 for nine wickets in allotted 20 overs. Chavan top scored with 26 runs while Pratik Katarpawar added 21 and Rahul Jamgade contributed 13. For the winners, Ashish Solanki, Vishal Thakre, Shishir Lambe and Ajay Barhate took two wickets each. In another match, Punjab National Bank thrashed UCO Bank by 74 runs.

PNB posted 127 for nine wickets in 20 overs with Kishor Warudkar (26), Nishant Chichghare (24), Govind Narnaware (17) and Rahul Nirghudkar (24) being the main scorers. For UCO Bank, Umesh Kumar scalped four wickets while Rajan Singh and Harshal Gole took two each. UCO Bank were bundled out for a paltry 54 runs in 10 overs.

Only Monish Nandanwar managed 15 runs. For the winning side, Rituparna Pathak took three wickets giving away only 5 runs while Anurag Patil and Rohit Gajbhiye took two each. In another match, Combined Bankers beat Union Bank by three runs. Combined Bankers scored 187 for 3 in 20 overs. Sagar Rodi scored 53. In reply, Union Bank scored 184 for 6 in 20 overs. Swapnil Mankar’s 78 went in vain. Earlier, the tournament was inaugurated by M Naraimha Rao, Deputy General Manager, State Bank of India, Nagpur circle. Ramesh Thakur, President, BSC, Prafulla Nandedkar, Secretary, CD Manke, Joint Secretary, VCA, Mangesh Puranik, Organising Secretary and others were also present.