Mumbai, December 5: Lalchand Rajput XI emerged champions of the 24th Shalini Bhalekar Trophy (boys’ under-23) Selection Trials cricket tournament 2019, organized by Mangesh Bhalekar in association with Dadar Parsi Zoroastrian (DPZ) Sports Club and conducted under the auspices of the Mumbai Cricket Association.
The third and final round 3-day match, between Rajput XI and Chandrakant Pandit XI finished in a draw at the Cricket Club of India ground on Thursday.

In the second match, Jahangir Pithawala XI scored an outright 8-wicket win against Dilip Vengsarkar XI and picked up five valuable points at the DPZ ground, Dadkar Maidan. Ashay Sardesai from Dlip Vengsarkar XI top scored in the 2nd innings scoring 114 off 187 balls coming at no.3.

From U23 Jehangir Pithawala team, Hardik Tamore scored the fastest ton of this year’s Shalini Bhalekar tournament bringing his unbeaten 100* in mere 60 balls while opener Gaurish Jadhav scored 114* off 136 balls. Gaurish also stiteched a 129 run stand with his opening partner Bhavay Taneja who scored a solid 70 off 90 balls.

Rajput XI earned three points on the basis of better (run/wicket) quotient and they finished with a tally of 11 points and lifted the title. Pithawala XI with eight points finished second and claimed the runners-up prize. Pandit XI were third with five points and Vengsarkar XI without a single points were last.


Brief scores: Dilip Vengsarkar XI – 1st innings: 134 all out, in 27.3 overs & 2nd innings: 295 all out, in 73.3 overs lost to Jahangir Pithawala XI – 1st innings: 137 all out, in 35.3 overs & 2nd innings: 293 for 2 wickets, in 48.4 overs (Gaurish Jadhav 114*, Hardik Tamore-100*, Bhavay Taneja 70)
Lalchand Rajput XI – 1st innings: 570 for 6 wickets declared, in 140.5 overs Vs Chandrakant Pandit XI – 1st Innings: (overnight 80 for no loss, in 23 overs) 255 for 8 wickets, in 66 overs (Srujan Athawale 135, Sangram Bhalekar 78; Jayesh Pokhre 4 for 14). Match drawn, Rajput XI awarded 3 points on basis of better (run/wicket) quotient.
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Top 3 Run Scorers-
Pranav Kela {Lalchand Rajput team) – 401 runs in 4 innings @173.50
Srujan Athawale {Chandrakant Pandit Team)-328 runs in 5 innings @65.60
Rudra Dhanday {Dilip Vengsarkar Team)-309 runs in 5 innings @87.78
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Top 3 Wicket-takers
Tanush Kotian (Lalchand Rajput Team)- 12 wkts in 5 innings @19.00
Shreyas Gurav (Lalchand Rajput Team)-12 wkts in 2 innings @12.00
Anjdeep Lad (Chandrakant Pandit Team)-10 wkts in 4 innings @21.00
Valuable Sports Club opting to bat first at Oval Maidan posted a modest total of 159/10 in 47.5 overs. Reliance bowlers did a good job with the ball making most of the batsman struggle. Mayuresh Tandel was excellent with the ball coming up with envious bowling figures of 5/39 in 11 overs. Mayuresh was spot on with the ball providing timely breakthroughs while Nishant also chipped in with 3 wkts.

Defending a low total of 160, the pressure was obviously more on Valuable SC bowlers. However, spinner Prathamesh Golatkar turned the tables for his team coming up with match winning bowling figures of 6/29 in 9 overs with 2 maidens. Deepak Singh with 3/29 was also quite supportive as Reliance Group SC were bundled out for mere 97 runs in 35 overs.
Prathamesh who has been amongst the wickets even in Kanga since last few years continues to bring in his experience in the Times Shield providing his team a memorable win defending a low total.
Mumbai, 4th December, 2019 : A confident cameo innings from Pranav Kela who cracked an unbeaten double ton (200 not out) and combined with the unbeaten century effort from Jayesh Pokhare (100 not out) boosted the Lalchand Rajput first innings total to 570 for 6 wickets declared, in 140.5 overs against Chandrakant Pandit XI on the second day of their 3-day third round league match of the 24th Shalini Bhalekar Trophy (boys’ under-23) Selection Trials cricket tournament 2019, organized by Mangesh Bhalekar in association with the Dadar Parsi Zoroastrian (DPZ) Sports Club and played at the DPZ ground, Dadkar Maidan, on Wednesday.

The tournament is being conducted under the auspices of the Mumbai Cricket Association.
Besides the substantial knocks from Kela and Pokhare the others who also made contributions with the bat was Bhupen Lalwani (61 runs), Siddharth Akre (92 runs) and Tanush Kotian (50 runs) which swelled their total. Shadab Khan (3 for 126) was the most successful Pandit XI bowler.
In reply, Pandit XI scored 80 for no loss, in 23 overs in their first innings.

Brief scores :
Dilip Vengsarkar XI – 1st innings : 134 all out, in 27.3 overs (Chinmay Sutar 39; Aman Sheoran 3 for 56, Saurabh Satelkar 3 for 32, Atharva Chavan 3 for 29) & 2nd innings : 295 all out, in 73.3 overs (Ashay Sardesai 114, Utkarsh Raut 57, Omkar Mandrekar 34; Apoorva Kalyankar 3 for 33) Vs Jahangir Pithawala XI – 1st Innings : 137 all out, in 35.3 overs (Hardik Tamore 55; Omkar Mandrekar 6 for 33) & 2nd innings : 4 for no loss, in 2 overs.

Lalchand Rajput XI – 1st innings : 570 for 6 wickets declared, in 140.5 overs (Bhupen Lalwani 61, Pranav Kela 200, Siddharth Akre 92, Jayesh Pokhare 100*, Tanush Kotian 50, Shadab Khan 3 for 126) Vs Chandrakant Pandit XI – 1st Innings : 80 for no loss, in 23 overs ((Srujan Athawale 49*).
Sangam Sports Club batting first batted well declaring their innings at 198/5 on the back of a solid opening partnership between Ravkumar Chaudhary and Vinit Mestry (40). Ravi converted his good start into a substantial score of 92 falling just 8 short of a well deserved century. Ravi smashed 8 fours and 2 sixes en-route his gritty 92 to steer Sangam SC towards a respectable total.

Chembur Gymkhana in reply were on the brink of winning the match, however they fall short of just 3 runs in what turned out to be a nail biting thriller. Jayesh Mhatre scored a hard fought and almost match winning knock of 70 runs while Siddarth Matani (40) and Saurabh Salvi (38) also chipped in with the bat.

The bowler who changed the game for Sangam SC was Deven Dhruv as he came up with wickets at right junctures for his team. Deven returned with excellent bowling figures of 5/46 while all-rounder Ravi Chaudhary contributed with the ball too taking 3/44.
Maharashtra Young Cricketers batting first were all out for 188 runs wherein Prashant Mhamunkar (67) and Amit Kori (43) top scored for their team. Amongst the bowlers, it was Mihir Khandhar who took 4/51 being the pick of the lot.
Star CC who were off to a patchy start with openers falling out early got back into the game, thanks to a scintillating 127*off mere 94 balls by their no.3 batsman Vinod Ade. It was a hurricane knock consisting of 8 sixes and 4 boundaries as he took on the bowlers with domination. Ratna Nadar who came at no.4 & scored 54 runs stitched a match winning partnership with Vinod as Star CC declared their innings at 223/5 winning the match on 1st innings lead.
By the way this was Vinod’s debut kanga league match & his 127* is also the highest individual score this year in Kanga across all the divisions.
Fazlani United after being put to bat first at the Somaiya Cricket Ground in Sion could only muster a total of 134/9 in 20 overs. A total of 130-40 in modern day t20 is quite chaseable and it was a tight bowling performance from the Mystic Jaguars bowlers. Abhishek Ranka (29 off 26 balls) and Alif Malkani (24 off 32) were the top scorers for Fazlani United in an otherwise dismal batting performance.
Chasing 135, Mystic Jaguars were certainly the favorites as they only required to play at under 7 runs per over. However, Fazlani United bowlers fought it out plucking out wickets at every few overs which broke the momentum of Mystic Jaguars. After a top and middle order collapse, Sameer Shetty (30 off 26) and Manoje Bidwai (21 off 16) did raise some hopes but it was Fazlani’s star all-rounders Alif Malkani (3/18 in 4 overs with a maiden) & Abhishek Ranka (2/20 in 4 overs) proving to be the game changers as Mystic Jaguars were restricted to 127/7 in 20 overs.
Fazlani United won the match by 7 runs on the back of their all-rounders Abhishek Ranka and Alif Malkani.

Camp Warriors after being put to bat first at the Somaiya Cricket Ground suffered a sort of collapse getting all out for 94 runs in 20 overs. It was a dismal batting performance with Farhan Patel’s 17 being the highest score. On the other hand, the Dias Aces bowlers were commendable coming up with crucial spells. Mehul Shah was the best bowler in the line up taking 3/14 with a maiden in his spell of 4 overs while Divya Mehta with 2/13 in 4 overs also came good.
For Dias Aces, chasing 95 seemed like a mere formality as they sealed the chase in 12.1 overs winning the match by 9 wkts. Opener Kalp Parikh (29*) and Rupen Jhaveri (32*) stitched a good partnership to sail their team towards a dominating victory.
Milan memorial league T 40-40 cricket tournament 2019-20 , 30th November, 2019 match : The 1st match between Omni sports club and Mahindra logistics was played at western railway ground, cross maidan and the second match was played between DMCC and SS Travels at Elphinstone ground, Azad maidan. The matches were organized by Milan Cricket club, the 1st match was played on Saturday and the second on Sunday.
In both these days, the game of cricket was highlighted more by the bowling aspect of the game than the batting one, the bowlers dominated with the leather over the timber. In the 1st match, Omni sports club’s Rishabh singh picked up an impressive fifer conceding just 30 runs that provided the aegis to the team leading to a victory by 7 wickets chasing 94 runs. The other bowlers also were spot on. From the Mahindra logistics side, Abhishekh pandey also picked a 4 wicket haul.

On Sunday, DMCC’s right arm pacer Shobit shetty picked up a illustrative figure of 7 for 25 in just 7.5 overs, the first seven wickets was bagged by him. His extraordinary bowling performance helped them to chase the target of 135 by 8 wickets.
Both these days were completely dominated by the men with the ball in the hand and it can be called a “wicket-takers week”.
Click here for full match scorecard ….
1st Match – DMCC VS SS Travels match full scorecard click here
2nd Match – Omni global vs Mahindra logistics match full scorecard click here
Evergreen SC after being put to bat first at Cross Maidan were all out for 91 runs in 25.3 overs. Most of the batsman found it difficult to convert their starts as spinners Sandeep Naik and Amol Patil took 8 wkts between themselves. Sandeep was particularly spot on taking 5/35 in 9.3 overs as he kept on providing breakthroughs at regular intervals which resulted in a two digit total for the opposition.
MB Union on the back of Mitesh Churi’s brilliant 53* off 60 balls surpassed the 1st innings target of 91 runs to win the match on 1st innings lead. MB Union who were struggling at 5/30 got back into the game thanks to a brilliant half century by Mitesh at no.7 as they declared their innings at 119/7 in 27.2 overs.
Sponsor XI after opting to opting to bat first suffered a batting collapse despite an envious batting line up. The only batsman who showed resistance was Kaustub Pawar who remained unbeaten till the end coming at no.3. KP scored 62*off 114 balls (7 fours) at a time when his entire team was all out for 145 runs in 42 overs. Left arm spinner Sagar Mishra who is the highest wicket taker in police shield continued to amaze with his consistency taking 5/38 in 17 overs while the experienced Pardeep Sahu was equally impressive in his spell of 4/57 in 13 overs.

Parkophene Cricketers chasing 146 were also in some sort of trouble with their scoreboard reading 5/48 at one stage. However, the game changed when Pardeep Sahu from nowhere came up with a match winning knock of 66*in just 58 balls (5 fours, 3 sixes). Sahu 2.0 has been not only more penetrative with the ball but his batting has also improved leaps and bounds. We remember watching Pardeep Sahu doing intense batting practice in nets this season while he also shared that he is working hard on his batting as contributions down the order always make a difference just like this knock which helped Parkophene Cricketers clinch a memorable win by 2 wkts.

Pardeep Sahu has been in top form taking wickets in every tournament he has played this season while his added ability to bat down the order is just the icing on the cake any team would wish for.