Played at the New Era Cricket Ground, Azad Maidan, Omni Global took full advantage after winning the toss and opting to bat first as they simply enjoyed hitting on the New Era Ground.
Openers Rounak Kulkarni and Vishal Pendurkar gave a flying start of a mammoth 187runs in mere 14 overs which simply took the game away from the opposition. Rounak played the supporting role to Vishal scoring 37 Ball 52 laced with 8 fours while Vishal Pendukar who is known to be an aggressive batsman played at a strike rate of 231 smashing 18 fours and 5 sixes as he scored 118 off mere 51 deliveries. Vishal plonked the bowlers with disdain as Omni Global reached a big total of 243/6 in 20 overs.
Future Generali in reply were bundled out for mere 58 runs thanks to a stunner of a bowling spell by Sanjay Dalvi who took 5/7 in 4 overs with 2 maidens. Bowling figures like this are not only commendable and difficult but they are also rare to see in the T20 Format. Sanjay ripped apart FGEN’s batting line up as Omni Global won the match by 185 runs where in Vishal was declared ‘man of the match”
It was Day 1 of the prestigious and highly competitive Progressive Cup 2019 organised by Cricket Club of Dombivali (CCD). IndiaFirst Life Insurance was pitted against CCD Blasters at the Sonale Cricket Ground, Bhiwandi, Kalyan on the 5th of January 2019. Blasters is one of the 3 Teams from CCD participating in the T20 Tournament. With 4 Teams each in 3 Pools, the Top 4 Teams based on a single Points Table (for the 12 Teams) would move on to the Qualifier/Eliminator Rounds à la the IPL.
IndiaFirst Life won the Toss and elected to Bat on a Pitch that looked hard and was devoid of any grass. The first Ball lofted Boundary by Skipper Ajish Abdul Rehman to the Covers fence was a sign of things to come. The second Over saw a sequence of 6, 4, 4, 4, launching IndiaFirst onto a rousing start. Though the other Opener Pushkar Sharma got out for 7 after the Score was 37/0 in 2.5 Overs, Vice Captain Ramana Meesala (20 off 12 Balls, 4 Fours) put on a Partnership of 53 with his Skipper. Akhtar Shaikh scored a quickfire 36 in 18 Balls with 4 Fours and a Six to put together 54 Runs with Ajish before getting out Lbw. All the while Ajish was blazing his way through with some exquisite Shots. Eventually he got out after scoring 82 off just 44 Balls that consisted of as many as 14 Boundaries along with a Six.
IndiaFirst’s Run Rate was around 11 per Over throughout. But the last 16 Balls saw a Partnership of 60 Runs from Babli Sharma (25 in 13; 2 4s, 2 6s) and Wasim Sayyed (29 in 8; 2 4s, 3 6s), before the Innings was inexplicably declared closed by the Umpires as Blasters could only complete 17 Overs in the stipulated time. IndiaFirst finished at 215/4 in 17 Overs, looking good to score at least 270 had the full quota been completed. The 17th Over had yielded 35 Runs. Between all the carnage, Sunil Mane (3-1-20-1) bowled really well. Though Swapnil Patil took 2 Wickets, he went for 57 Runs in his 3 Overs.
In reply, needing almost 12.7 Runs per Over, Blasters were never in the game after being 11/4 in 4.2 Overs and 37/6 in 8.5. No. 8 Vaibhav J played a lone hand, being unbeaten on 53 from 33 Balls that consisted 8 Fours and 2 Sixes, while the IndiaFirst Skipper tried out his non-regular Bowlers in the latter half. Nitin J (18) and Prasad Surve (17) provided some resistance.
Pacer Dharmendra Gupta was the pick of the Bowlers with a spell of 4-1-13-2 with twice rattling the Stumps. A bullet throw by him from the deep got Prasad Run Out with a Direct Hit. The other Opening Swing Bowler Imtiyaz Khan also bowled well taking 2 for 14 in 3 Overs. Medium Pacer Sandeep Shetty also took 2 Wickets for 21 Runs in 3 Overs. Wicket-keeper Babli bowled tidily for a short spell of 2-0-11-1. Finally, Blasters ended up with 113/9 in 17 Overs, thus losing by a high margin of 102 Runs to IndiaFirst Life. Their Innings consisted of 4 Ducks. Ajish was adjudged Man of the Match for his superb Innings.
Ajish Rahman
Western Railway Accounts Team after electing to bat first at Cross Maidan suffered a batting collapse getting all out for 151/10 in 42.3 overs. The bowlers did an impressive job with as many as 4 bowlers chipping in with 2 wkts each.
On the other hand, DTDC despite losing openers early won the match chasing it down successfully with the help of Yogesh Poojari and Sushant Kadam. Both the batsman- Yogesh 50* (8 fours) and Sushant Kadam 58* (8 fours) batted confidently as they anchored their team to a commanding win.
Played at the Shivaji Park, Dadar between Oxford Public School and Don Bosco, Don Bosco won the toss and opted to bat first with an aim of making a big total.
However, little did they knew about the bowling havoc they will have to face as they were all out for 81 runs in 36 overs. The pick of the bowler was Mayuresh Shelar tormenting the batsman with his impressive line and length as he came up with envious bowling figures of 5/16 in 13 overs with 6 maidens. Mayuresh was simply accurate with the ball not allowing the batsman to open their arms while the rest of the bowlers chipped in with a wicket each.
Chasing 82 was a mere formality for Oxford School as they chased down the score in 18 overs winning the match by 7 wkts with Harsh Aade remaining unbeaten on 40*
Mumbai after being put to bat first gave a really strong batting performance declaring their innings on 517/6 in 115 overs. Bhupen who opened the innings continued his regal form this season smashing 7th ton in last 3 months. Bhupen laid the foundation for the innings smashing 167 off 268 balls (23 fours, 1 six) while also stitched a brilliant 240 run stand with Hardik Tamore who also scored a solid 109 (183 balls). Arman Jaffer (87), Shams Mulani (67) and Siddarth Akre (87) chipped in with impressive half centuries at the middle order as Mumbai were in command.
Tripura in reply were all out for 319 runs in their 1st innings receiving a follow on and again getting collapsed for 112 runs thanks to a match winning spell by Anjdeep Lad who came up with 5/28 to rattle Tripura’s batting line up.
Mumbai won the match outright by an innings and now qualify for the Quarter-Finals of Col CK Nayadu Trophy’19
Into the all important finale at the Bombay Gymkhana in Fort, it was a battle between two impressive teams. One was Al-Barkat who are always considered a strong team and favorites while on the other hand was IES New English who have been simply outstanding in this tournament giving tough fights to major teams to reach the finals.
Al-Barkaat after being made to bat first were at one point 76/4 and the odds were simply high on IES winning the match by restricting them to a low total. However, Al-Barkat stayed true to its reputation of being a formidable unit as their middle order consisting of Saumil Malandkar & Harshvardhan Pandey stitched a match winning 195 run stand for the 5th wicket. Saumil went on to score a brilliant 111 off 176 balls at no.5 laced with 15 fours while Harshvardhan scored a rock solid 121 (306balls) with 17 fours reminding everyone of Pujara’s grind in the test format as Al-Barkaat MMI English School from 76/4 declared their innings on 371/7 in 127.4 overs.
IES New English School were on the other hand in a better situation than Al-Barkaat in their first 30 overs however left-arm spinner Anurag Singh who is always a trump card for Al-Barkaat in pressure situations came up with 5/74 in a marathon spell of 51.4 overs. Himanshu Singh also bowled well taking 3 wkts as IES were all out for 217 runs with Manan Bhatt the only one to score a 50+ score smashing 63 runs.
Al-Barkaat MMI English School is the crowned champion of 125th year of Harris Shield cricket tournament beating IES New English on 1st Innings lead at BOMBAY GYMKHANA. Chief Guest Mr. Farooq Engineer who was a Former Test Cricketer and Wicketkeeper awarded the Al Barkaat MMI team with the prestigious title. The highlight of the day was Al Barkaat Spinners Himanshu Singh and Anurag Singh coming up with tight spells while the 195 run stand was simply crucial as well as epic for the Al-Barkaat School.
What a journey for New Horizon School it has been as they have performed consistently well throughout the tournament with various boys rising up to the occasion and giving impressive performances under their coach Ajay Bhagat.
Into the all important finals at the NMSA Ground, New Horizon and St. Xaviers took on each other for the final battle where in St.Xaviers electing to bat first were bundled out for 91 runs. Medium pacer Aaryank Shetty delivered right into the finals in a high pressure game as he came up with match winning bowling figures of 5/21 in 10.5 overs troubling the Xaviers batsman to the core.
It was a mere formality for New Horizon Public School as they chased down the score with ease winning the match by 7 wkts. Openers Tanish Shetty (34*) and Tanuj Hemdev (32) were the highest scores as New Horizon Public School won the finals and the tournament with dominance.
Highest wicket taker in tournament he took 16 wkts– Vihang Dighe
Highest Run Scorer-Tanish Shetty 174 runs
Best fielder-Vansh Faria
This same team had won DSO Tournament and various other tournaments in last one year. NHP team which had participated for the 1st time in NMSA won on its debut outing & is certainly a team with good reckoning force in Navi Mumbai
Teleperformances after being made to bat first at Central Maidan Thane scored 222/3 in 30 overs with their opener Priyank Patel setting the base for their team’s innings. Priyank was the highest scorer as he went on to smash a timely 109* off just 92 balls batting till the very end anchoring the innings at a healthy strike rate. Priyank smashed 7 fours and 2 sixes while all-rounder Neil Narvekar (44) and Sunily Lingayat (34) chipped in with crucial cameos.
Greater Mumbai Police in reply were bundled out for 202/10 in 29.3 overs as the bowlers did an excellent job. Spinner Farhan Kazi, Kalpesh Sawant and Deepak Shetty came up with 3 wkts each as they did not allow Mumbai Police batsman to convert their good starts into match winning knocks!
Intelenet Global services won by 20 runs thanks to some really tight bowling and an anchoring ton by their opener Priyank Patel.
IES VN Sule after electing to bat first at Parsee Gymkhana posted 334/8 in 90 overs thanks to their in-form batsman Raj Desmukh who currently averages a magical 602.00. Rajsingh Desmukh and Shubham Shinde stitched a match winning 243 run stand for the 2nd wicket where in Raj smashed 142 off 156 balls with 18 fours and 1 six while Shubham Shinde scored an equally impressive 139 runs as IES were put in a strong position by these two batters. Raj scored his 4th ton in 5 innings while Shubham has also been amongst the runs this season for IES.
Rizvi in reply were 337/6 at the end of the game’s play where the match ended in a draw.
Raj so far in Giles Shield-175*, 30*, 148*, 119* and 142, Batting Average-614.00 so far!
Route Mobile after being made to bat first at Cross Maidan were hardly deterred as they notched up a big total of 399/7 in 70 overs. Vishal Dhagaonkar was the highest scorer as he crafted a well made 107. It was an overall good batting performance with Shrideep Mangela (71), Sumeet Dhekale (82*) and Saeed Shaikh (55) smashing crucial half centuries.
Defending a good total of 399, the pressure was definitely more on the batsman than the bowlers and left-arm spinner Hitesh Parmar who is an experienced campaigner took full advantage of that coming up with timely breakthroughs. Hitesh came up with 6/97 taking crucial wickets as RBI were all out for 243 runs.
Route Mobile won the match by 156 runs and it was indeed a cumulative team domination.