Raj Desmukh has been in excellent form this season for IES VN Sule and he is certainly stamping his presence all over in every match he is playing. Technically his batting average is 482.00 as he has scored 3 hundreds in his 4 Giles matches and he has remained unbeaten so far in all the matches. Not only has he been scoring runs at will but he is also scoring them quickly with dominance making him a player to watchout for in the coming years.
In his latest match against SVIS at the DPC Matunga Ground, SVIS team batting first were all out for 181 runs. IES VN Sule chased it down in style without losing a single wicket as openers simply thrashed the bowlers. Raj went on to score a fluent 119* off 86 balls which had 12 fours and 4 sixes while Tanay Khandeshi remainined unbeaten on 56* as IES grabbed one more Giles win by 10 wkts.
The all important semi-finals which was played at the NMSA Ground, Turbhe witnessed some impressive performances with New Horizon School opting to bat first posting 285/8 on the board in the allotted 45 overs.
Tanish Shetty opening the innings scored a brilliant hundred taking 99 deliveries to score 113 runs laced with 141 fours and a six. Apart from him Vignesh Narayan (49) and Prateik Sonare (44) chipped in with crucial 40’s as team reached a decent total. Anjuman Islam School in reply were all out for 44 runs thanks to a tearaway bowling spell by Vihang Dighe who seems to be in terrific form with the ball.
Vihang grabbed 6 wkts for 24 runs as New Horizon School qualify for the finals of the tournament under the able mentorship of their coach Ajay Bhagat.
SF Sassanian Club after being made to bat first at Bengal CC Shivaji Park were bundled out for a low total 98 runs thanks to a wonderful bowling spell by Amol Vaidya. The off-spinner took 6 wkts for 15 runs in 7 overs with 3 maidens as he did not allow the batsman to settle down easily.
Chasing a meagre total of 99 runs, Shravan Dhuri opening the innings plonked the bowlers and gave them a beating scoring a quick 71* facing 37 balls. Shrayan was in mood to finish things quickly smashing 12 boundaries as he Bengal CC won the match by 3 wkts in mere 10.5 overs.
The Automotive Cricket Cap Leaders Campaign has been getting excellent response from the cricketing community across various tournaments in Mumbai. There were numerous entries across each categories and the competition was surely intense out of which 3 emerged out to be the winners in each category.
Here are the 3 winners of the Automotive Professional Category Cap leaders for December 2018.
1. Jaswinder Singh from Spartans Doctor team won the elite “Automotive Yellow Cap” for the most popular category. The utility all-rounder took a 5wkt haul vs Twacha team in a T20 match wherein he came up with bowling figures of 5/15 in 4 overs in the Shri Barku G Patil T20 League 2018-19. Apart from that too he has been chipping in with wickets and small crucial cameos with the bat which play a very vital role in the T20 format. He won the Yellow cap because he secured the maximum votes / FB likes of around 274 votes.
2. Chintan Seth on the other hand became the winner of the “Automotive Orange Cap” for scoring the maximum runs in professional category. All his runs in December were scored in the ongoing AT20 championshp (Architect T20 tournament). Chintan has an aggregate of 148 runs which included a match winning 78 off 43 balls vs Mott Macdonalds and a 43 ball 70 vs Stup Consultants. Chintan has been quite consistent as well as aggressive with the bat for his team Royal Falcons hence it helped him clinch the Orange Cap.
3. Harshal Karvekar from Royal Falcons Team clinched the “Automotive Purple Cap” with 6 wkts to his name. The all-rounder took 3 wkt hauls twice in the Architect T20 Tournament and has been quite effective with his right arm off-break. Harshal has given some timely breakthroughs for his team and proved to be a partnership breaker too. Apart from taking wickets, he has also been economical with the ball with economy of below 5.5rpo in T20’s which is quite commendable.
All these winners are awarded with mini-IPL type caps, certificates & Automotive vouchers worth Rs.2500/- which can be availed within the wide network of Automotive Maruti service centers. The Top 10 winners in each category too will be awarded with Automotive e-vouchers worth Rs.1000/-. Automotive has service centers in Kurla, Dombivali, Nerul & Panvel.
A unique mixture of two different worlds; advertising and cricket, Sanjay Dogra has unequivocally been a renowned personality as far as Indian cricket circle is concerned. A former Ranji Trophy player, Sanjay Dogra hung his boots to become a very renowned advertising professional. However the bug of cricket that had bit him early in his life was still hovering around him. For the last 15 years, Sanjay Dogra, a former left arm spinner, who was known as one of the deadliest bowlers of his era and an opening bat, has been running a cricket academy in Kandivali.
One of the standout features of his academy in the Mumbai suburb is that the former Ranji player minutely scans the performance of each and every player that come to him to be trained. Only the ones with a spark in the eye and fire in the belly are picked up to be coached in the academy. It is startling to know that 19 out of 20 players are rejected, as Sanjay Dogra does not find that x-factor in them.
A task master in true sense, Sanjay Dogra believes in nothing but sheer hard work. The core values of discipline and punctuality are expected from the selected players. A no nonsense character by nature, Sanjay Dogra does not encourage cricketers who play the sport just for fun and have no ambition of playing at the highest level. The budding players who miss to fit the bill are unfortunately shown the exit door. There have been cases when selected players run away after joining as they cannot withstand the tough discipline and high intensity hard work at the training. But the players who have stuck, most of them either have entered the big league or on the way to it. Many players that have graduated from Sanjay Dogra’s academy are playing at the national level.
“I am not the right person to coach you in cricket, if you are looking at the sport only from a fun angle. I am here to impart top class training and make exceptional cricketers. To me, fitness, mental strength, and skills supported by concrete focus are the essential ingredients to cook the success story. I often say if you learn discipline and how to respect the game then you are obliging yourself and not anyone else. Players who understand this go a long way and players who don’t understand this find it difficult to train not only with me but also with anyone, and in no time disappear like a puff of dust”, explains Sanjay Dogra.
He further adds, “I take interest only in players with high intensity focus, and discipline. Success of a player is measured by how focused hard worker he or she is with collar down. Also if you give excuses you will be fooling yourself and no one else; scorebook is the report card which is the only and ultimate performance proof of yours. I am an ardent follower of performance, because eventually that is what will separate wheat from the chaff”.
According to Sanjay Dogra,
“Training is completely a thankless job and parents should rather push their children than the trainers to be more focused and work harder because if the player does so he or she will automatically catch the eye of the trainers and officials. Moreover, respecting the game and trainers defines the quality of your focus and personality”.
Sanjay Dogra has been at the receiving end of many kudos from the parents of the players that have been training under him. A few testimonials from the parents read as follows; “He is an epitome of hard work and is clearly a no nonsense person”, “If you want to get trained under him, you should be as determined and hard working as he is”, “Playing cricket for just whiling away time is not acceptable to him”, and “Punctuality, Discipline, Hard work, and Determination are the essential pre-requisites to join Sanjay Dogra’s academy”.
In a nutshell, it can be said that Sanjay Dogra is a firm believer in the adage, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”. Thus, Sanjay Dogra welcomes only those budding cricketers to his academy who are willing to work their backside off and perspire to succeed in the sport.
It was all in the early part of 2018 when we debuted with the Mumbai Ka Accurate Bowler event powered by NATARAJ PENS. Our team went to the remote corners of Mumbai and conducted various chapters with over a thousand participants overall. The 1st edition itself received lots of love and support with lots of talents emerging out. In the remote corners of Mumbai where we never knew, there were talented kids playing impressive cricket.
In the 2nd edition of our event which started at Kalyan and the 2nd chapter which was held at Cross Maidan was equally over whelming. The Cross Maidan chapter which was held at the United Cricketers ground kickstarted at 8am and the early timings did not deter the cricket lovers to attend the event.
There were hundreds of participants across schools and colleges giving their best to become the winner of the coveted contest. However, there were only two who surpassed hundreds of participants going on to win with dominance.
16 yr old Medium Pacer Likhit Rane who studies from Siddarth College was the winner of the “College Category”. He was spot on with the ball maintaining accurate line and length as he won all the 3 rounds including the sudden death round. Likhit was awarded spike shoes by SASA, Nataraj Pens, a box of leather balls by KIMATI Balls, a winning certificate from Cricketgraph and the coveted Trophy.
On the other hand 8yr old leg-spinner Laksh Chaudhary from Cumbala Hills High School was the winner of the School Category winning all the 3 rounds. The little dynamo had a tough competition from the other bowlers but he went on to win with elan. Laksh was also awarded Spike Shoes by SASA, a box of KIMATI Leather Balls, NATARAJ PENS Set, a Winners Certificate and a Trophy.
The final chapter of NATARAJ PENS-Mumbai Ka Accurate Bowler Event is at Ithink Sportz Academy starting from 8am on 5th Jan 2019. The address of the venue is Mahavir Nagar, Kamala Vihar Sports Ground near Kapol Vidyanidhi School at Kandivali West.
Some Snaps-
Bluestar CC after opting to bat first at the Oval Maidan were at one stage 130/8 despite the good start by their openers Aryan Patni (40) and Omkar Chettiar (26) but it was their skipper Rakesh Naik at no.9 scoring a very crucial 58 runs of 56 balls (6 fours) which took the team total to 187/8 in 45 overs.
Defending 188 in 270 balls, the pressure was surely more on the bowling side but left arm spinner Prathamesh Golatkar came to the rescue with a brilliant bowling spell of 5/20 in 8.3 overs which did the job for his team. Prathamesh was spot on with the ball as he troubled the batsman to the hilt giving breakthroughs at regular intervals.
Prabhu Jolly Young CC were all out for 85 runs as Bluestar won the match by 102 runs with dominance.
Played between Singhania School and Arya Gurkul at the Wayle Nagar Ground in Kalyan, Singhania School after being made to bat first notched up 401/5 in 43 overs. Shivam Shaligram coming in at no.3 scored a crucial 63 while Aayush Iyer who came at no.4 was the highest scorer smashing a brilliant 138 runs off mere 111 balls. Ayush batted confidently taking on the bowlers smashing 13 fours and 4 sixes as he steered his team to a match winning total.
Arya Gurkul in reply were bundled out for 107 runs as all-rounder Aayush Iyer led the match with the ball too coming up match winning bowling figures of 5/31 in 9 overs with his wily spin.
Smt Sulochandevi Singhania School won the match by a record margin of 294 runs while it was Ayush grabbing all the attention with his all-round show.
T20’s are always exciting and the reason for its excitement is knocks like this which add entertainment to the game. Arch Mavericks after being made to bat first at Vensgarkar Academy, Mahul were at one point in deep trouble 107/7 in 15.1 overs. The top order did not make any impact but it was Nikhil Jain at no.8 changing the script of the game with his blazing knock of 51 runs. Nikhil took full benefit of the last 5 overs as he thrashed the bowlers in every corner of the ground to score 51* off mere 19 balls laced with 5 fours and 3 sixes. Arch Mavericks who were 107/7 in 15.1 overs ended their innings at 160/8 in 20 overs.
SSA Strikers in reply were bundled out for just 39 runs as Vimal Hansraj (4/17) and Pranay Ranka (3/17) proved to be too difficult for them.
Arch Mavericks won the match by 121 runs while Nikhil Jain was declared ‘man of the match’ for his crucial cameo down the order.
Cricket frenzy has started and is building up slowly to a crescendo. CCD is runtime busy playing cricket like a German band, who’s making it’s best of performances with two back-to-back internal trophy tournaments. Players are already charged and are gearing up for upcoming tournament. Since announcement of CCD’s “PROGRESSIVE CUP 2019”, the excitement among every cricketer in CCD is very high octane. All active cricketers are trying to stay focused and to be in the right frame of mind. Not letting their energy, get diverted in various directions. Prime focus is to put in extraa hard yard in nets to achieve great results out on the field.
CCD’s “PROGRESSIVE CUP 2019” is one of many endeavor’s of CCD to spread the fragrance of this lovely game all around. Cricket brings a different smile and joy to us. Like a true cricketer, would feel the love for this game and say, “playing cricket certainly completes me from inside”. By arranging “PROGRESSIVE CUP 2019” CCD is laying solid foundation to promote this game far and wide amongst all, who play this game with pride and passion. “There is no limit to what can be accomplished when nobody cares who gets the credit” well this is the motto of CCD. With Twelve super competitive teams participating in this mega event, the action will certainly be hard. Only one team will achieve the dream of winning PROGRESSIVE CUP 2019.
In CPC 2019, there will be Man of the Match prize for every match and after final match there will also be prizes for Man of the Series, Best Batsman and Best Bowler. A lot of opportunity for players for individual achievements. But one should also remember, we stand strong as a team and that’s how victory comes. It’s a team game as different players have made contributions to the win.
One team, one dream.
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extraa OOMPH effort that a individual team displays as team work. And that is what takes that team a long way beyond business end of the tournament by finally winning it. Winner team in PROGRESSIVE CUP 2019 will take away Rs 42000/- + Trophy. Runners up team will walk away with Rs 21000/- + Trophy. Team finishing on 3rd place will also be rewarded with a coveted trophy. So all to play for, guys let’s play. Best wishes from CCD to all the participants and let’s make this as a grand success with a true spirit of a game called, “CRICKET”.