Sudhagad School after being put to bat first by Shantiniketan School gave a target of 81 runs. Karan Bharti smashed a game changing 40 runs in mere 10 balls much to the entertainment of his team mates and the spectators. Karan was aggressive with the bat plonking big sixes in the death overs out of the park.
However, it was a rain affected finals and Shantiniketan School could not chase down the total successfully. Karan also took the very 1st wicket with his fast bowling while Vipul Patil chipped in with 2 wkts for mere 4 runs.
Sudhagad School won the finals while Karan Bharti was declared ‘man of the match”. Vipul Patil also contributed well and was the pillar for his team throughout the tournament. It’s difficult to win a single title and when you win a big tournament like DSO for three consecutive years it’s definitely a commendable achievement. Sudhagad School under Pro Kings Sports Academy is the only school in Mumbai to win 3 back to back DSO Titles.
Kerala Windsor CC after being put to bat first at Shivaji Park, Dadar managed to score 149/10 in 40.2 overs for their 1st innings. The team could have been bundled out for a lower total than 149 had it not been a crucial cameo by Swapneel Hazare who scored a quickfire 44 runs in 32 balls (5 fours, 1 six) at no.8. From the bowlers it was Saiel Surve being the pick of the lot taking 5/53 in 13.2 overs with his wily left arm spin.
Sangam Sports Club in reply were all out for 139 runs in 34.4 overs despite a excellent knock by their opener Vinit Mestry who scored 62 runs in 53 balls laced with 5 fours and 2 sixes. Vinit played his natural game though he lacked support from the other end.
Medium Pacers Siddarth Bafna and Tejas Patani ran though Sangam’s batting line up taking all 10 wkts between themselves. Siddarth bowled a match winning spell of 6/42 in 12 overs while he was nicely accompanied by Tejas Patani who took 4/37 in 15 overs as Kerala Windsor clinched a win on 1st innings lead.
Known for his effective left arm spin where he has given some great performances for various teams in all these years, Sagar Udeshi is certainly on fire this season with the ball. In the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Tournament, he was able to dwarf the batsman with his spot on bowling taking wickets at crucial junctures for the team. Overall, Sagar bagged 19 wkts in 10 matches at a brilliant economy of 2.87 in the Vijay Hazare’19. Apart from being the most economical bowler in Vijay Hazare, Sagar also bagged wickets of KL Rahul and Bipul Sharma adding icing on the cake for his team Pondicherry.
Sagar certainly brought in all his experience which came in quite handy for the Pondicherry Team. In 2018, Sagar was amongst the top wicket takers in the Sri Lanka Tier ‘A’ Tournament where he came up with a stunning 57 wkts in mere 8 first class games sitting at the 2nd position of the top wicket-takers list in the entire country.
Sagar was also amongst the top 5 wicket takers & the most economical bowler in the North Yorkshire Durham League. Here’s wishing Sagar all the luck for a great career ahead.
New Hind CC batting first at Sunder CC, Cross Maidan were all out for 122 runs with Anuj Chhajed (27) & Sachin Sanghvi (25) top scoring at the middle order. Left-arm spinner Digvijay Singh was again amongst the pick of the lot taking 4/26 in 11 overs with 3 maidens.
However, Amar CC received a great fight with the ball thanks to some excellent bowling Girish Kocharekar and Maxwell Swamianthan. Medium Pacer Girish penetrated into the top order taking 3 early wickets while the young Maxwell cleaned up Amar CC’s middle and lower order with a 5wkt haul. Maxwell with his effective spin took 5/30 in 14.4 overs alongwith 4 maidens to his name helping New Hind CC win the game on 1st innings lead as Amar CC were bundled out for 112 runs.
Usually known for his wide range of shots and consistent batting at the local level, Maxwell who recently made it in the Mumbai Jr Side impressed one and all showing his skills with the ball too in the Kanga League’19.
Women’s Cricket is the need of the hour and the growth which women’s cricket in India has witnessed in the last few years has been nothing but positive. Even our current Mumbai Women’s team is performing well remaining unbeaten in Senior T20 Tournaments. Hence to groom young women cricketers, you need to give them a lot of professional matches to play & practice at the local level & a tournament like this are nothing but a great platform for aspiring women cricketers.
The tournament will be conducted under the aegis of Mumbai Cricket Association while it is organized by Sporting Union Club & Kalyandas Memorial Sports Foundation. There are 8 teams which will participate in the tournament and the venues decided for the matches will be Shivaji Park Gymkhana & Mumbai Police Gymkhana.
Arundhati Ghosh (Former India Test and ODI Women’s Cricketer) speaking with Cricketgraph quipped “This tournament is supported by Hansaben Mehta who is doing a noble cause for Women’s Cricket, there will be 8 teams participating in the tournament and the winners receive a big prestigious Ajit Ghosh Memorial Trophy, It’s an open age tournament with 15 matches where most of the local players participating are from Club level & Mumbai age groups, hence good performances in this tournament will certainly be noticed which might give young women cricketers higher levels of opportunity”
The semi-finals will be on 4th at Police Gymkhana and the finals will be on 5th October on the same ground. The Winners receive Ajit Ghosh Trophy while the runners up receive Kalyandas Memorial Trophy.
In what can be termed as good news for all the aspiring cricketers & enthusiasts, India’s opening batsman Rohit Sharma has teamed up with CricKingdom Cricket Academy which is being setup and launched at Islam Gymkhana on 18th of October 2019. The academy has Rohit Sharma as their brand ambassador while Dhawal Kulkarni is the mentor which will be a great opportunity for kids to interact with them.
The event was conducted by relevant delegates of Rohit Sharma like his Younger brother Vishal Sharma, Rohit’s father Gurunath Sharma, Islam Gymkhana’s CEO Chetan Suryavanshi, Parag Dhaliwal-Country Head and Director of Crickingdom Academy, Yusuf Abrahani-the president of Islam Gymkhana amongst others. Rohit’s father and brother were also seen having a good time in the nets.
The normal batches begin from November 1, 2019 and the academy is open for all the boys and girls across all age categories starting from age 6. The academy has also decided to provide free training session once a week to all girls aged between 6 and 16. Specialised camps, clinics, fitness guidance, strength and conditioning, video analysis sessions, personal training and domestic/international tours are some of the other premium features offered by the academy to its students.
Excerpts received from the Press Release-
Spokesperson from Crickingdom Academy shares it won’t be a run of the mill cricket academy which you often see, this is going to be a unique set up where the youngsters will be groomed and trained under renowned coaches. The trainees will be put through a holistic program and the progress of every individual would be monitored by experts and their performances throughout the training period would be evaluated on a regular basis.
Brand Ambassador, Rohit Sharma, who is busy with the Indian team sent his wishes and said, “I am delighted that CricKingdom is launching a cricket academy in Mumbai. We can promote cricket at grass roots level through the tailored annual curriculum, in-house mobile app for training & tracking and global access to CricKingdom academies. The amazing team with its rich experience in running the best in class academy operations would definitely make this initiative come true.”
Mumbai team’s bowling spearhead Dhawal Kulkarni who has also played for India is being roped in as the mentor of the CricKingdom Academy and he shares’ Through CricKingdom, we’ll be opening centers not just in the Tier 1 cities, but also expanding the same platform in Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities in India. Parents will have complete visibility on the progress of their ward making it more transparent and impactful.”
Chetan Suryawanshi – CricKingdom CEO who was also Singapore Cricket Team captain for 10 years said “CricKingdom is a platform that connects cricket, players, coaches and students in an integrated ecosystem that drives seamless engagement, interaction, learning and transaction. CricKingdom will remove inefficiencies that exist today, making every user’s experience productive and delightful.”
Parag Dahiwal – Director & Country Head who also represented Singapore said, ‘We want the kids to start playing cricket at the early age of 5, where they build the muscle memory and develop soon to be a feeder for the schools, districts, state and national sides.’
Pics-
Ghatkopar Jolly Gymkhana after electing to bat first were off to a shaky start with both the openers departing for ducks and scoreboard reading 2/6 thanks to some quick blows by fast bowler Bharat Shinde. However, the team did manage to put up a fight thanks to some gritty knocks by Saurabh Singh (44 runs) at no.4 and Bins Neyoth (57 off 50) at no.6. Bins played aggressively under pressure hitting 8 boundaries en-route his crucial half century as Ghatkoper Jolly Gymkhana reached 196/10 in 43.2 overs.
From the bowlers, left arm spinner Azharuddin Querishi was the pick of the lot taking 5/63 in 15.2 overs.
Pandurangwadi CC who were off to a equally disastrous start with 3 down for 11 runs got back into the game on the back of Mahesh Sankpal and Ashwin Shelke’s 58 run stand for the 5th wicket. Mahesh coming at no.5 scored 53 off 65 balls while all-rounder Ashwin Shelke chipped in with important 43 runs at no.6 pushing team to 149/8 in 34 overs. Rajiv Mehra also provided a quick cameo of 21 runs in 9 balls with an aim of helping his team win on 1st innings lead.
The match ended in a draw and it was a game where batters saved the match from both the sides.
KRP XI after being put to bat first at Oval Maidan could muster up a total of only 65/10 in 36 overs. KRP XI suffered a collapse by the hands of Borivali CC skipper Rakesh Naik who yet again came up with a impressive spell. Left arm spinner Rakesh took 5/16 in 10 overs while he was nicely supported by Prathamesh Golatkar who took 2/10 in 10 overs along with 4 maidens. Both the left arm spinners made life difficult for the batsman while it was the experienced local cricketer Padmanubhan Mudaliar at no.4 fighting it out with a gritty 32 runs to save his team from an embarrassing 1st innings total.
Borivali CC in reply scored 120/4 in 36 overs thanks to some solid knocks by opener Tushar Tiwari (44) and the experienced Sushant Kadam (54 off 66 balls) helping Borivali CC win the match on 1st innings lead. KRP XI batted in 2nd innings too losing 8wkts for 29 runs where in Prathamesh Golatkar took 4/9 in 9 overs with 4 maidens.
It must be a mixed feeling for Rakesh Naik who used to be the skipper and one of the crucial players of KRP XI in his previous seasons! By the way Rakesh is now in the top of the highest wicket takers list with 14 wkts in 3 innings at an average of 2.00. Prathamesh has also been impressive this season with 11 scalps in 5 innings.
Navi Mumbai Sports Club after being put to bat first at Azad Maidan were all out for 90 runs in 42.2 overs. Opener Tejas Bandal top scored with 40 runs while rest of the batsman struggled with with as many as 8 batsmen not able to score in double digits. It was a collective performance by the bowlers with Rohit Bhere, Pravin Vagare, Shashank Jadhav and Daulat Meher bagging 2 wkts each.
Navi Mumbai SC in reply bowled well almost clinching a win with Mangrol CC escaping a narrow defeat with one wicket in hand at the end of the game’s play. Left-arm spinner Bharat Purohit was fantastic with the ball coming up with 5/13 in 16 overs which included 6 maidens. On the back of Bharat’s timely breakthroughs and good support by Nilesh Pardeshi (3/17), Mangrol SC were 59/9 in 40 overs before the game ended in a draw.
Bharat with 13 wkts in 5 innings so far is now sitting at no.3 amongst the top wicket takers in the G Division Kanga league.
The Academy is sponsored by Richscoop Ice-creams
The opening ceremony of Sanjeevi Cricket Academy was held on 15th of October, 2019 at the Kohinoor Banquets at evening. The event was graced by none other than the legendary Dilip Vengsarkar Sir while it was also attended by MCA Committee members, players, former players and Coaches. Both the Founder Arun Kotian and Head Coach Praful Waghela are thankful to all the invitees who spared their time and came to the event.
Praful Waghela shared with Cricketgraph “ I would like to thank first and foremost Dilip Vengsarkar Sir for coming despite his hectic commitments, all the other dignitaries from MCA, we were elated to see the likes of Arvind kadam, Abhay Hadap, Pradip Sundaram, Prakash Puranik sir, Rohan bane, Usman Malvi, Ranjeet sir & Onil Gandhi from Richscoop and Arun sir our founder to make this initiative a success”
Sanjeevi Cricket Academy which is based at Azad Maidan Ground (Fort Vijay CC) also provides coaching at number of locations in Mumbai and Pune. Ranjeet Borwake the owner of Ice Cream brand “Richscoop” has partnered with Sanjeevi Cricket Academy for the growth and development of sports in Pune.
The academy is a brainchild of founder Arun Kotian who shares with Cricketgraph that “This academy is purely a gift of god by the God of Cricket” . Our Constant aim will be to give Mumbai Quality Cricketers who can play top division and higher levels of cricket”
Arun Kotian further shared with Cricketgraph- “We wanted a role model to inaugurate our Academy. When Mr.Ranjit Bowarke came to know about Atharva and the hardship his mother Vaidehi Vinod Ankolekar faced to upbring Atharva, he decided that she is the right person for our Academy opening. Even after her husband’s death she nurtured the dream of Atharva of playing for India by giving tutions and also she got selected as the first lady conductor in BEST. We are proud to felicitate her with our Role Model Award”
Praful Waghela one of the prolific Club Level Cricketers who has also represented Mumbai First Class Cricket & India U 19 world cup is the Head Coach at the Sanjeevi Cricket Academy. Praful Waghela speaking with Cricketgraph shared-“Our aim is to impart highest quality coaching to the kids. Cricket is not just about bat and ball, it’s also about the right frame of mind, your mental balance, hence we will be also working on those aspects and take yoga and meditation into consideration” Praful also shared that our aim is to make players ready to play top division club cricket and we will be giving our best to groom them”
Sanjeevi Cricket Academy also thanks Jayant Zavri from Fort Vijay CC because of him they got one center to train kids. In December, there will also be ECB coaches coming to the academy on a talent hunt while the academy will regularly welcome MCA Coaches, County Cricketers and First Class Cricketers for interaction with students. Professional Trainer Bipin Waghela will be the academy’s fielding and Fitness Coach & Naynit Agre will be assistant coach while ECB coaches will also come in December where they will give opportunity to talented kids from the academy to play 4 months in England in Div I and Div II Cricket.
Sanjeevi Cricket Academy will divide its students into U14, U16, U19 & U23 groups where students will also get a chance to play in MCA Tournaments. At present the academy boasts of 4 nets at Fort Vijay while they also have video analysis to help out the students to find their niggles and improve their game. Apart from getting MCA Games, the students will also get chances to play practice matches with other clubs & international Tours.
