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”.
Ritesh Palav has always been one utility all-rounder and he has been in great touch this season with the ball. The left arm spinner who scalped 26 wkts in Kanga League ’18 along with a 6 wkt haul now continues to impress in the shorter format of the game in the Thane Vaibhav Tournament’19.
Century Rayon after electing to bat first at Central Maidan Thane were little aware about the storm they were about to face in the form of Ritesh Palav’s bowling. The spinner ran through their batting line up as he came up with amazing bowling figures of 7 wkts for 7 runs in 6.1 overs with 3 maidens.
A target of 48 was a mere formality as Datamatics chased down the score in 12.1 overs winning the match by 7 wkts.
AESA-Pune, a team showing signs as one of the contenders for the ‘AT20 – season VII’ championship, played their second league match against Edifice Cricket Club at Oval in the afternoon session yesterday, 29th December 2018. AESA-Pune acting captain, Mangesh Hande won the toss and elected to field first on a track looking great for batting. ECC started off in style with their ever aggressive batsman Mahesh Hirpara and Shaheen Mistry, one of the most dominant players of the tournament, scoring runs at will and at a run rate of over 10, in the first ten overs. AESA bowlers were wayward barring Mangesh. Seamers and the lone left arm spinner in Abhishek Shah, could not contain Mahesh and Shaheen who went on hitting boundaries and the bowlers bowled to the batter’s strengths. It was finally in the 15th over, Abhishek bowled with some loop and got rewarded with both the openers’ wickets. The score after 15 overs read 151/2, still in a very good position for a big score. But, Vikrant from the other end got a wicket in the 16th and Abhishek struck again in the 17th. That put ECC on the back foot with no big hitter left to take advantage of the last overs & the main strike bowler Mangesh had finished his quota when he bowled his fourth in the 13th over itself and ECC were finally restricted to 177/5.
With the good batting track, AESA were to take that score and they started off well with Chaitanya Padhye, asked to open the innings, hit a big one and two fours in the first over itself, taking the score to 16/0. Venkatesh Wagh on the other side was looking good too, scoring at run a ball, saw AESA-Pune scoring at a pace matching ECC. It was a loose shot from Chaitanya, playing away from his body and a good catch at mid-off, got ECC their first break through. AESA continued to lose wickets but the track helping the batters, no more swing and no turn for spinners, was proving to be good enough. Mangesh Hands and Neeraj were cruising along nicely till the 15th over when another loose shot got Neeraj out, trying to use his power against a ball not quite hittable. AESA still got to 154 in 16 overs with 5 wickets in hand and 24 to get from 24 balls when Mangesh tried to flick a straight delivery in the blockhole by Shaheen and got himself bowled. It could have still been managed to score 15 off 18 or 10 off 12 but the lower order batsmen could just not take the pressure and saw their team falling short by 5 runs of winning.
AESA-Pune lost 3 wickets through run-outs, 3 caught on loose shots, 2 being bowled and 2 being leg before, have many a things to work on, I am sure they will do it & fast.
It’s generally said that the better team won, but yesterday it was Mahesh and Shaheen who won and the better team ended up losing the match.
Author: Hemant Sathye
MIG opting to bat first at Karnatak Cross Maidan dominated upfront amassing 198/6 in 20 overs. Left-handed Kevin Almeida at no.3 led from the front scoring a breezy 69 off 45 balls ( 9 fours, 2 sixes) while the rest of the batsman chipped in with cameos to steer MIG to a solid total.
Chasing 199, the pressure was definitely looming on the Apollo CC batsman as their batting line up collapsed despite their openers Abhinav (29) and Ajinkya Parte (53) giving a good start. Apollo CC were all out for 126 runs thanks to a match winning bowling spell from medium pacer Nikhil Date who came up with 4/29 in 4 overs. Not only he kept taking wickets he also bowled at tight line and length not allowing the batsman to swing their bat!
MIG CC clinch a win by 72 runs and with this win they qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament.
Vinayak Marine Servies were least affected after being made to bat first at the Vengsarkar Ground as they were in a different mood that day. The batsman attacked right from the word “Go”with openers stitching a 126 run stand in mere 69 balls. JP Pandya scored a flashy 53 while his equally aggressive partner Rakesh Trivedi went on to score a brilliant 110* off 65 balls batting till the very end. Not only Rakesh anchored the innings but also played quickly at the same time smashing 15 fours and 2 sixes at a healthy strike rate of 169.23.
Speaking exclusively to Cricketgraph- Rakesh Trivedi quipped “I thank my team owner who is also the skipper Mr.Ravi Kapoor for his passion and love towards the cricket that me and my team members got such a beautiful opportunity to play cricket”
Greensole Titans in reply managed to score 170/6 in 20 overs as Vinayak Marine Services won the match by 45 runs where in Rakesh Trivedi was declared ‘man of the match’