After being invited by the South African Cricket Team to bowl in the nets at Firoz Shah Kotla Stadium, Raunak Waghela’s dream run seems to be continuing with the ball. The young U16 left arm spinner from Delhi is making the right noises through his performances and abilities at the club level and watching him bowl in the nets to SA batters, Indian Team later invited Raunak to bowl to the Indian Players for Nets Practice for preparations of the upcoming T20 Series.
Raunak from Golden Eagle Cricket Club (DDCA) who trains under Coach Devdutt and Ashok Kumar sir at Venkateshwar Cricket Academy has been practicing with the Indian Team since 2 days and it’s an experience to cherish for the promising rookie.
Raunak shared with Cricketgraph “I cannot ask for more, if the experience of bowling to SA Batters was enriching, the feeling of practicing and bowling to Indian Team was simply unexplainable. Also many of my idols are in the current playing XI so it became all the more special to brush shoulders with them and learn a few things. I am going to take away a lot of positives and a great experience which will help me become a better cricketer in the days to come”
In the match played at MPS Cricket Ground in Shamshabad, Hyderabad, AV Sports Seniors opting to bat first posted a healthy total on board scoring 273/10 in 50 overs. Skipper Aryan Reddy opening the innings led from the front scoring an impactful century. It was a controlled innings where Aryan played cautiously to steer his team towards a good total. Aryan scored 115 runs off 128 balls smashing 10 fours while Bhargav scored 55 runs at the middle order.
Centurion Cricket Academy in reply were all out for 219 runs with Joseph Thampi taking 3/26 in 8 overs and Shaikh Haji taking 2 wkts. Av Sports Seniors won by 54 runs while Aryan Reddy was declared ‘man of the match’. Aryan was amongst the runs in his previous outing too scoring a crucial 64 contributing in his team’s win by 44 runs vs Centurion Cricket Academy. Aryan overall racked 199 runs in 3 matches which helped him bag ‘man of the series’ award.
14yr old Raunak Waghela from Golden Eagle Cricket Club (DDCA) who trains under Coach Devdutt & Ashok Kumar Sir at Venkateshwar Cricket Academy in Delhi has been one promising player since many seasons. The Young Left-Arm Spinner has been delivering big performances across various levels and formats in Delhi Cricket and his talent seems to be recognized at an early age as he recently got selected as Net Bowler at the Firoz Shah Kotla Stadium.
South Africa Cricket Team which is in India at present for their upcoming matches invited Raunak as Nets Bowler & it was one experience to remember for the young lad!
Raunak shared with Cricketgraph “It’s a big opportunity to bowl to some top class International Players. It’s an experience which will remain with me for a long time. The SA Team was not only very professional but also very warm and generous. The way these batters do their shot selection and immediately pick up line & length is something I learned immediately as a bowler. You need to be on the top of your game and continuously improve. These are few lessons I learnt because batters at International Level are always skilled enough to take you on”
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Z-Bats is gaining immense popularity because of its problem solving technology to help cricketers choose the ideal willow. Over the years, some Top Indian Cricketers including the likes of Robin Uthappa, Kedar Jadhav, Parthiv Patel, Poonam Raut, Thirush Kamini amongst others have used & recognized Z-bat’s technology impacting gameplay of theirs as well as of many cricketers across India.
One of the Founders, Harshal Shah shared with Cricketgraph “ Through ZSportstech, we are trying to bring a revolution in the field of cricket making life easier for batters. As per study, there are 344 types of different batters between the age of 8 to 80 years but hardly any manufacturer customizes bats according to a players body dynamics. Through ZSportstech, we aim to provide the perfect willow to our customers which not only suits their body type but also suits their batting style. Through this collaboration with Cricketgraph, we surely will try and reach out to more cricketers and help more and more batters chose a perfect willow impacting their games postively”
Z-Bat’s Team comprises of Founders Harshal Shah and Samir Shah while they also have Former Indian Cricketers Aakash Chopra as the brand promoter alongwith the very experienced G Ramachandran as the Mentor.
Z-Bat Team:
Virar Center batting first scored 167/10 in 52 overs with Ayush Maru scoring 69 runs. From the bowlers, Aryan Chauhan with 4/58 and Agasthya Bangera with 3/57 were the pick of the lot. Bandra Center in reply were cleaned up for 67 runs in 18.4 overs courtesy a brilliant spell of bowling by Kartikeya Shukla who returned with exceptional bowling figures of 6/20 to dent Bandra’s hopes of dominating the match. In 2nd innings Virar Center scored 172 runs and it was again Ayush Maru scoring an impressive half century smashing 52 runs. Ajit Kumar with 4/27 was the pick of the lot from Bandra.
Bandra Center batted for 20 overs scoring 102/7 before the end of the game’s play where Virar Center took the 1st innings lead and were declared the winners of the finals of Kalpesh Koli Tournament.
Played at Cross Maidan in Mumbai, CIPLA XI batting first made a total of 131/8 in 20 overs. Most of the CIPLA batters gave starts but could not convert their starts into impactful score. From the bowlers, Mithlesh was the pick of the lot returning with excellent bowling figures of 4/27 in 3 overs. Sashank with 2/21 in 4 overs was also economical amongst the lot. Jay Vireshwar in reply chased down the score easily in 19 overs winning the match by 6 wkts.
All-Rounder Yogesh Shinde coming at no.4 scored an unbeaten 50* off 38 balls smashing 5 fours and 1 six while Mithlesh and Ronit supported Yogesh at the middle order with crucial 20’s to cross the victory line and win the semi finals in a commanding fashion. Jay Vireshwar team also went on to win the finals while Yogesh Shinde was declared the ‘Best Batsman” in the tournament scoring 196 runs and getting dismissed only once in the tournament.
Played at Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana in Kandivali, New Hind Sports Club opting to bat first scored 276/7 in 40 overs, Rugved More coming at no.3 top scored for the team scoring 124 runs off 79 balls smashing 5 fours and 11 sixes. Rugved has been consistent this season scoring runs across multiple tournaments. Apart from Rugved, none of the batters could convert their starts into substantial scores. From the bowlers, spinner Atharva Ankolekar with 2/50 was the pick of the lot.
MIG in reply chased down the score comfortably thanks to their openers Kaushal Walsangkar and Varun Lavande scoring crucial half centuries. Kaushal scored 77* off 96 balls while Varun Lavande scored 69 off 45 balls. Pragnesh who came at no.3 pounced on the positive momentum and finished of the match with a brilliant century scoring 125* off 84 balls. Pragnesh smashed 9 fours and 8 sixes at a strike rate of 149.00 helping MIG win by 9 wkts.
Mumbai: Left-arm spinner Atharva Ankolekar 5 wickets for 73 runs and Chirag Gandhi’s unbeaten century knock 104 runs were the significant efforts which enabled Income Tax ‘A’ emerge champions defeating Tata Sports Club by a comfortable six wickets in the ‘A’ Division final of the 1st MCA Corporate Trophy Cricket Tournament played at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy ground, BKC on Wednesday.
Choosing to bat first Tata SC innings was rocked by the clever bowling by Ankolekar and lost crucial wickets at regular intervals and was dismissed for 244 runs in 60.4 overs. Ravi Jangid the second left-arm spinner played the perfect supporting role claiming 3 wickets for 59 runs. Later, Gandhi batted confidently and along with Vishant More, who scored an unbeaten 44 runs (63-balls, 4x4s, 1x6s), stitched together an unbeaten 121-run partnership to ensure Income Tax overhaul the rival total scoring 245 runs for 4 wickets in 58.3 overs. Opener Anup Fulper 48 runs (73-balls, 7x4s) made a useful contribution.
Tata SC opening batsmen Kaustubh Pawar 45 runs (89-balls, 6x4s, 1×6) and Varun Lavande 21 runs provided the innings with a positive start scoring 57 runs for the first wicket. Later, number 5 bat Nikhil Patil 83 runs (97-balls, 7x4s, 2x6s) and Vaibhav Kalamkar 25 runs put together 79 runs for the 5th wicket to prop the Tata SC innings to 193 for 5 wickets. But, Tata’s lost the remaining five wickets for the addition of 51 runs.
In response, Income Tax suffered initial setbacks as they lost the top three batsmen with 75 runs on the board in the 23rd over. But, number 4 bat, Gandhi and number 5 bat Pragnesh Kanpillewar 26 runs steadied the innings. Later, Gandhi and More stayed together to help Income Tax cross the finish line with plenty to spare.
Brief scores – A-Div final: Tata Sports Club 244 all out, in 60.4 overs (Nikhil Patil 83, Kaustubh Pawar 45; Atharva Ankolekar 5/73, Ravi Jangid 3/59) lost to Income Tax ‘A’ 245 for 4 wickets, in 58.3 overs (Chirag Gandhi 104 not out, Anup Fulper 48, Vishant More 44 not out; Harsh Tanna 2/48). Result: Income Tax won by 6 wickets.
Final of knockout Kanga is always a great experience and a fierce battle because out of 136 teams, only 4 teams qualify for Kanga league.
In the finals, Our Own, Bombay Gymkhana won the toss and elected to bat on their home ground. Their middle order batsmen Prithviraj Misal (44 ) and Harshit Yadav (44 ) batted sensibly against a formidable spin attack of our own but after the departures of both of them only Wasim Ashraf tried to give some respectability to the team’s total by scoring 30 of 18 balls. Fine spells by Left arm spinner Prasad Rahate who claimed 4 for 23 and off-spinner Suraj Lalvani who took 3 for 40 helped our own cc to restrict Bombay Gymkhana to just 196 in 45 overs.
For Our own cc who created a history in Kanga knock out in an earlier match (when they scored 510 runs in just 45 overs against Indian Gymkhana ) to chase 196 was not a big task but cricket is a game of great uncertainty, our own cc lost their top 5 batsmen for just 75 runs including a wicket of their opener Nishant Kamble (37 runs) .
But thereafter a crucial stand of 55 runs for the sixth wicket between Gaurav Suryavanshi (46runs )and Prakash Aswani (34 runs) steadied their ship to a certain extent. Again a mini collapse of our own due to brilliant bowing by Firoz Daruwala (3 for 31) raised the hope of Bombay Gym. But a cool approach of no.9 batsman Nikhil Shigvan( 28 n.o) helped Our own to reach the target with ease.
Sangam Lad who is the coach of Our Own CC achieved a unique hat-trick with this win, his teams Bharat cc, Merry Cricketers and now Our own cc became champions in the last 3 years of the knockout Kanga edition. As a coach to produce such results consistently with different teams in Mumbai’s highly competitive scenario is really a commendable effort.
We at Cricket graph wish all the best to the players and support staff of our own cc for the kanga league G division .
On May 22, Rizvi College and Thakur College clashed against each other in the MCA inter-collegiate tournament at Kandivali in Mumbai. Rizvi College won the toss and elected to bat.
Batting first, Rizvi College posted a mammoth 324 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 40 overs. Opening batter Varun Lavande top scored with 90 runs off 72 balls, including six boundaries and as many sixes. Lavande stitched a 99-run opening partnership with Karan Shah (60) to set a strong base. Lower down the order, Shashwat Jagtap (48) and Vedant Murkar (47) made useful contributions with the bat to take their team’s total past 300. On the other hand, Rahul Keshri was the pick of the bowlers for Thakur College. The off spinner claimed 3-53 in seven overs.
In reply, Thakur College scored 185 runs before getting bowled out in 36.4 overs. Rahul Keshri was the lone warrior in the fight as he starred with the bat scoring an unbeaten 74 off 87 balls. Keshri hammered 11 boundaries and a six during his innings. On the other hand, Rizvi College’s Akhilesh Gawale wreaked havoc with the ball bagging 4-20 in five overs.
Rizvi College beat Thakur College by 139 runs in the MCA inter-collegiate tournament.