ICBT and LMCC emerge as strong title contenders

Loughborough MCC University from England and Sri Lanka-based International College of Business and Technology stamped their credentials as strong title contenders as they crushed their opponents for the second-straight day at the Abhimanyu Cricket Academy in Dehradun on Tuesday.

ICBT was put in to bat by their opponents, Jinnah Degree College from Karachi - during their Group B encounter - and they lost opener Hasan Perera in the fourth over for just four.

Nipuna Arachchige fell two-overs later, as the team from Pakistan looked to make more enroads. But A Perera and Sadeera Samarawickrama dropped anchor thereafter and began rebuilding the innings.

The duo added 93 runs for the third wicket and that brought ICBT back in to the contest. JDC rued their all-spin strategy, as ICBT made the most of the placid surface and drove home the advantage.

Perera top scored for ICBT with a 37-ball 54. They posted 150 in their 20 overs. Their bowlers didn't let their batsmen's efforts go in vein and picked up wickets regularly. JDC lost two wickets in the first-five overs for just 28.

Shahzar Khan and Saeed Moutabar were the only JDC batsmen amongst the runs. Khan scored 20, while Moutabar added 23.

A middle-order collapse ended JDC's chances of making a comeback, as they lost five wickets for just 24 runs. They eventually crumbled for 108 in 18.1 overs.

Loughborough MCC University added to European University of Bangladesh's woes as they thrashed them by seven wickets in their Group A clash. EUB were put in to bat first and their batsmen failed to find answers to LMCC's new-ball attack. They lost two wickets in the first eight overs for just 29.

Their middle order added 70 runs to their tally and that helped them post a respectable 118 in their 20 overs.

LMCC lost opener Anish Patel in just the second over of their innings, but Irfan Karim and Nitish Kumar's 91-run stand for the second wicket ended any hope of EUB finding their first win of the tournament.

In the third match of the day, defending champions Assupol TUKS from South Africa thumped Dubai-based Heriot-Watt University by 109 runs to register their first win of the tournament.

Murray Coetzee slammed the first ton of the tournament, which came off just 67 balls. Coetzee's 160-run partnership with Gerald Pike, for the second wicket, helped TUKS post a massive 208 in their innings. HWU managed just 73 runs in reply.