It was great carnival atmosphere at the Dadar Parsee Colony Gymkhana, Matunga, Mumbai this Sunday (22-Dec-2018). The prestigious Corporate T10 Cricket Shield 2018-19 organised by Positiveleap Management just got started with a bang. 16 competent Teams across 4 Groups would battle it out to reach the Semi-finals by topping their respective Pools.
IndiaFirst Life Insurance took on the mighty Mahindra Insurance Brokers Ltd. in their first League Match of the Tournament. After winning the Toss, they elected to bat on one of the best Pitches at the Matunga Gymkhana Ground.
They got to a good start with 32/1 in 3.4 Overs before Babli Sharma was run out after scoring a quick 22 off 14 Balls that included 1 Four & 2 Sixes. At 50/2 in 5.3 Overs, they looked poised for a total in excess of 100. But with 3 quick wickets falling at the same score, they found themselves reeling at 50/5 in 6.1 Overs. Only a late order lusty hitting by Waseem Sayyed (28 off 15) with 3 huge Sixes ensured that they reached a respectable 84/7 in the allotted 10 Overs.
Pacer Siddhesh More was the pick of the Bowlers with excellent Figures of 2-1-4-2. Medium pacer Gaurav Suryavanshi (11 in 2 Overs) and off-spinner Kapildev Sardesai with 2 wickets provided good support.
While Bowling, IndiaFirst kept it tight from the start with a brilliant Spell from Medium Pacer Pushkar Sharma, who ended with Figures of 2-0-10-2.
Needing 49 in 30 Balls with 8 wickets in hand, it was anybody’s game after the 6th Over. 29 Runs in the next 2 Overs really turned the tide in favour of Mahindra, with just 20 needed in 18 Balls with 8 Wickets to spare. Left Arm Spinner Waseem Sayyed took a crucial Wicket and gave away just 7 Runs.
With 13 needed off the last 2 Overs, with 7 wickets still remaining, Skipper Ajish Abdul Rehman decided to take upon himself and have another go at the opposition (despite conceding 14 Runs and a leg bye in his previous over that included 8 wides). A brave decision at such a crucial juncture, it turned out to be Match-turning one. 6 Balls of sheer quick Bowling saw 2 Wickets for just 2 Runs.
With 11 needed in the last Over, he trusted his deputy Ramana Meesala to do the job for the Team in the tense moments with his great experience. Ramana had represented his State AP in the Under-16 to Under-23 Categories till 2005. He didn’t disappoint though, with a measured first 5 Balls that saw just 3 Runs and a Wicket. With 8 required off 2 Balls, 4 Byes ensured that it went till the wire. 4 needed off 1, and a dot ball ensured that IndiaFirst Life Insurance Won by 3 Runs. Waseem was awarded the Man of the Match Award for his All-round performace.
It was a great start to a professionally organised Tournament.
Rising Phoenix after electing to bat first at Oval Maidan made a score of 178/6 in 20 overs with openers V Madlani (60 off 50b) and J Mulchandani (39 off 24b) giving the platform for their team with a flying start. P PARIMI with 3/34 was the pick of the bowlers from Star India while the rest of the bowlers chipped in with decent spells.
Chasing 179 in at T20 is not a cakewalk but Star India made it look easy thanks to their aggressive opener Mandar Tondkar who scored 79runs off 46 balls laced with 5 fours and 6 sixes at a healthy strike rate of 171.40. Mandar smashed the bowlers and displayed some brute hitting as Star India won the match by 4 wkts and 2 balls to spare while Mandar getting the ‘man of the match’ award.
Team Edifice played it’s first league match in this season against AHC ( Architect Hafeez Contractor ) at 1.00 noon today at Dilip Vengsarkar Academy at Mahul
Tushar Koli called the toss wrong and AHC elected to bat . A tad sloppy fielding from Edifice wherein four catches were dropped . AHC were 100/7 in their 18th and finished with 122/7 in their 20 overs setting Edifice a target of 123. As the tournament rules allowed ; Edifice had in the playing XI two external players and Bhudev was an ex Edifician and bowled his 4 allotted overs pretty tightly. Swapnil was brought one a little late however bowled with a plan . Mahesh got hit in his second spell . Ravi should have bagged at least one more wicket and the catch got dropped. Aditya and Shadab were the bowlers from Edifice who picked up a wicket each . Must admit ; Aditya is a good find and I presume he shall continue with his form .
Mahesh and Sumeet opened for Edifice and we were 43/2 at 3.4 overs when Mahesh perished to a non existent wallop and earlier Sumeet got bowled. Ravi and Tushar played real sensible cricket . Ravi played a good knock of 26 runs and perished in the fifth ball of 13th over when the score was 121/3 . Tushar remained unbeaten with a well compiled 47 runs and was declared the Man of the Match. Edifice ended the game at 125/3 in 13.1 overs and Tushar ended it in style with a sweetly hit 4 to the square leg boundary
Had the catches offered by AHC been accepted by Team Edifice; the score would have been much different
Well done Team Edifice
Team Edifice now plays it’s second league match on Saturday 29th December at 12.00 noon with AESA , Pune at Elf Grounds , Churchgate.
-Ramji Sarangan (Author)
Played between Chandrakant Patkar Vidyalaya and Srima Vidyalaya,, Srima Vidyalaya after being made to bat first at Santosh Sports Academy Ground managed to score 105/4 in 20overs. The bowlers did a good job coming up with economical spells.
Chasing 106 in a T20 match is a mere formality most of the times and Prabhajan who opened the innings for CPVD smashed a quick 60 off 47 balls laced with 10 boundaries as he steered his team towards the victory line in mere 14.4 overs.
CPVD won the match by 5 wkts and 5.2 overs to spare while Prabhajan was the highlight performer of the match.
Played at the Cross Maidan, Churchgate, it was all fireworks as Puneet entertained one and all with his blazing display of power hitting. Edelcap after being made to bat first notched up a healthy total of 200/4 in 20 overs thanks to their aggressive opener Puneet who plonked the bowlers right from the beginning. Puneet went on to smash a brilliant 51 ball 103 laced with 13 fours and 3 sixes. He played at a strike rate of just above 200.00 with only 8 dot balls in his innings.
HDFC Ergo in reply were all out for 104 runs with Chandan coming up with an economical spell of 3/22 in 4 overs. Edelcap won the match by 96 runs while Puneet was declared ‘man of the match’
Played between B.Arun KumarSports Club and Bank of India at the Western Railways Ground. B Arun Kumar SC batting first notched up 222/10 in 45.1 overs with Deepak Gaikwad at no.5 scoring 81 runs being the pick of the scorers. Left arm spinner Omkar Ghule was the pick of the bowlers coming up with bowling figures of 5/60 in 19 overs.
Bank of India in return were all out for 135 runs, thanks to a terrific bowling spell by Sarfaraz Shaikh who came up with match winning bowling figures of 6/32 in 16.1 overs. Sarfaraz was quite wily with his off spinners as he picked up crucial wickets which helped his team win the match in a commanding fashion.
Harsh who displayed some elegant batting in Harris Shield where he scored 122 and 87 in Harris Shield and 117* in under 15 Ghosh trophy in the month of December 2018 now shows his batting prowess in the Giles Shield.
Played between OLPS and IES Charkop at the Shivaji Park Dadar, OLPS winning the toss elected to bat first and notched up a total of 412/3 runs in 45 overs. Harsh Tathare opening the innings played a sublime knock notching up a brilliant double ton. Harsh scored 208 off 144 balls laced with 28 fours as he smashed some brilliant shots thrashing the bowlers with confidence.
IES Charkop in reply were all out for 44 runs, thanks to a match winning bowling spell by Aryan Agle who came up with a match winning spell of 7/18 in 9 overs troubling the batsman with his impressive line and length. OLPS won the match by 368 runs and it was definitely Harsh and Aryan becoming the standout performers in the match.
The second edition of Nataraj Pens, Mumbai ka Accurate Bowler contest will be kicked off in few days. The first chapter will be held at Kalyan West on 23 Dec Sunday at 2:00 PM.
This contest is completely free of costs for school & college students. There would be 2 winners in this chapter, one in each school and college category.
Date:- 23 Dec | Sunday
Time:- 2 PM Reporting Time
Address:- Santosh Sports Cricket Academy, Aadhar Wadi Jail Road, Near Don Bosco School, Lulla Complex, Kalyan West, Thane.
White Tshirts will be preferred but not mandatory.
The winner of this chapter would get an english willow cricket bat, cricket kit bag, sasa shoes & kimati balls along with trophies and certificates from Nataraj Pens.
Played between St.Arnolds Andheri and Anjuman Islam at the Shivaji Park Ground, Anjuman Islam won the toss and elected to field first and make a big total.
Their decision to bat first was quite spot on as two of their openers Zaid and Faizan Shaikh registered a record 351 run opening stand for the 1st wicket in 42 overs. Anjuman Islam did not lose a single wicket as the openers batted till the end with Faizan thrashing the bowlers with his impressive batting scoring 248* off mere 136 balls laced with 34 fours. All eyes were on Faizan as he played some excellent shots in his marathon knock while Zaid Ansari from the other hand played the supporting role scoring 103* off 111 balls.
St.Arnolds Andheri in reply were bundled out for mere 36 runs as Manas Mukadam came up with a match winning bowling spell of 5 wkts, 2 runs and 3 maidens in 5.3 overs while Sujit Dalwi took 4 wkts for 8 runs as Anjuman Islam won by a record margin of 380 runs.
Played between Gokuldham High School and VK Krishna Menon Academy at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana, GHS won the toss and elected to bat first scoring 236/9 in 45 overs. Arsh Krishnater who came at no.4 chipped in with 63 runs off 131 balls being the leading scorer for his team while Meetra Parab gave solid support scoring 57 off 111 balls.
VK Krishna Menon Academy in reply were all out for 259 runs with all-rounders Roneet Thakkur and Arsh Krishnater again coming in handy with the ball taking 4 wkts each.
Even though VK Krishna Menon Academy won the match by 1st innings lead but Arsh continued to impress with his all round skills. Arsh now has 16 wkts in his last 3 matches and seems to be on a roll.