17yr old Jayesh Mhatre scores a sprightly 89 vs Young Star Marine Drive in the Kanga League ‘17
It’s always difficult to play leather ball cricket against players who are mentally, physically and by age bigger than you as they are more tactical, more powerful and more experienced. Even the god of cricket Sachin at the age of 17 got early jitters in his debut match when he was made to face the powerful Pakistani pace bowling attack. Almost similar was the case with the 17yr old Jayesh too as he played in Kanga against a team full of experienced players elder to him.
Played at the Cross Maidan between Sunder CC and Young Stars Marine Drive, Young Stars elected to bowl first considering their strong bowling attack spearheaded by skipper Rohan Sadarjoshi who is in excellent form with the ball. However, Sunder CC did a better job with the bat than what Young Stars may have expected from them as they declared their innings on 233/8 in 68.4 overs. 17yr old right handed opener opener Jayesh Mhatre was the highest scorer while the rest of the batsman kept on throwing wickets after giving starts. Jayesh displayed solid batting and patience as he scored 89 off 141balls which included 10 fours. Jayesh kept his calm while the other batsman struggled to make big scores. For a 17yr old to play with such a cool head against quality bowling attack is definitely promising. From the bowling side Sandeep Ingle took 3/74 while Bharat and Swapnil took 2wkts each.
Young Stars scored 74/5 and batted for 25 overs before the end of the game’s play where the match was declared drawn as no 1st innings result could be obtained. Even though no one won the match but it was surely this young 17yr old Jayesh who left behind an impression with his solid batting.
CRICKETGRAPH