2nd U12 Thane Junior League was played from March 31 to April 3

The second edition of the Sandeep Dahad Cricket Foundation’s U12 Thane Junior League (TJL) was played between March 31 and April 3. TJL was held at Central Maidan in Thane. A total of 12 teams from across Thane and Mumbai participated in the tournament. These teams were divided into four groups. Every team played two league matches. The top four teams qualified for the semi-finals. The final of the TJL was played between Pravin Tambe Cricket Academy of Mulund and Indiana Cricket Clinic of Vikhroli. Pravin Tambe Cricket Academy clinched the championship.

At the end of the tournament, exciting prizes were given to the top performers. The man of the series was awarded with a bicycle, the best batsman won a bat and batting gloves, the best bowler was presented with bowling shoes, the best fielder was bestowed with shoes and spring stumps and the best captain was gifted Sourav Ganguly’s book on captaincy. Apart from this, the coaches of the winning team and the runner-up team were felicitated with mementos.  

Sulakshan Kulkarni, former Ranji player and coach of India’s World Cup winning physically challenged team, Mayur Kadrekar, former India U19 player and Ranji player and Thane city MLA Sanjay Kelkar were the chief guests for the prize distriction. Nitin Borkar, who is the CEO of NB Equipment and Engineering Pvt Ltd. sponsored the event.

Sandeep Dahad of Sandeep Dahad Cricket Foundation told CricketGraph, “For the last two years there was almost no sporting activity. In order to get the kids playing again, we thought of conducting a cricket tournament for U12. In 2021, we had our inaugural competition and this year we saw the second edition being played. Sandeep Dahad Cricket Foundation was founded in 2017 in Thane. Its main aim is providing a platform for the young and budding cricketers. We are an end to end solution since we help the cricketers in not only finding good coaches but also give them the exposure and help them in selecting cricket clubs. We help the players realize their dreams of playing professional cricket as we facilitate scholarships and contracts with corporates, which play cricket.”