Long hours at office, work-filled weekends, no time for family or self are some of the complaints that we often hear from the dads. With the sole aim to give them a break from their back breaking routine and make life easier for the fantastic fathers, Zooter is organizing International Schools Dad’s Cricket Tournament in November.
The main objective for ZOOTER is to provide a top class cricket experience to all Amateur players who have moved on in life to pursue their professional and corporate goals but share a common passion for playing the game.
“It is our privilege to get associated with Cricketgraph that has been extensively covering local cricket in Mumbai. We always wanted to do something creative on the digital media, that’s why we have partnered with Cricketgraph for the dads tournament”, elucidated Mr. Shushrut Nasnodkar, Founder of Zooter.
The tournament will feature fathers of students from different International Schools of Mumbai. There are 12 teams participating in the tourney; BD Royals, BD Smashers, Mount Litera Mustangs, AIS Sparks, Fazlani,United, JNS Jaguars, JNS Young Veterans, Utpal Warriors , DAIS Aces, OIS Tigers, OIS Blasters, and Camp Rangers
The highlight of the tournament is that there will be four teams playing two finals; Champions final and Challengers final. Both these fixtures will be played in Pune. Accommodation in a five star hotel and lunch on match day will be provided to the finalists. The stage is set for a grand event and to set the ball rolling with the captain’s meeting on October 24.
As a part of this partnership, Cricketgraph will provide full digital coverage to International Schools Dad’s cricket tournament.
One of the experienced spinners in Mumbai Cricket who has been playing since many years- Hitesh Kadam showed that experience always wins as he as performed well in the Kanga league giving consistent breakthroughs to his team.
In the recent match where his team Islam Gymkhana was all out for 100 runs, Hitesh gave a excellent fight helping his team to make a comeback in the game restricting Gaud Saraswat CC to 65 all out with his excellent bowling spell of 7/28 in 12.2 overs. Hitesh bowled really well in the right areas defending a low total successfully as Islam Gymkhana won the match on 1st innings lead.
Hitesh certainly bowled a match winning spell as his team won the match from nowhere after being all out for such a low total.
Victory Cricket Club batting first at Dadkar Maidan managed to reach a respectable total of 201 thanks to their opener Jiniv Joshi who scored a solid 89 off 105 balls or else the team could have collapsed for a low total with medium pacer John Abraham leading with the ball taking 4/41 in 15 overs.
Chasing 202, New Hind SC openers made it a cakewalk as they thrashed the bowlers with a match winning 165 run stand for the 1st wicket. Left-handed Karan Shah fell just 4 short of a very deserving ton smashing 96 runs in mere 55 balls (10 fours, 5 sixes) and Parikshit scoring a 44 ball 67 (5 fours , 4 sixes). Both the openers took less than 20 overs to cross 160 runs and they were looking all set to finish the game in style.
New Hind SC eventually won the match by 8 wkts and all credit to their openers for making the chase so entertaining smashing 15 fours and 9 sixes in their opening stand.
Troubling DY Patil team batting first on their home ground in Nerul is very difficult as they have a very strong batting line up but MIG’s fast bowler Pratik Dabholkar ensured that he ripped through their powerful batting line up taking 4 crucial wickets eliminating their top and middle order batsman. Pratik came up with bowling figures of 4/51 as DY Patil were all out for 233 runs with Sarfaraz scoring a crucial 63.
Chasing 234 vs DY on their home ground is another task but MIG team which is in excellent form continued their winning streak as skipper Kevin Almeida and Gaurav Jathar anchored the chase to ensure a dominating win. Kevin scored 72 off 93 balls while Gaurav who is good nick continued his form scoring a match winning 91* off 88 balls as MIG CC won the match by 6 wkts and almost 17 overs to spare.
Batting first at their own ground, Mumbai Police Gymkhana were off to a shaky start as openers were out early but their middle order consisting of Mayur, Shrikant and Swapnil took care of helping their team to be in the game. Mayur at no.3 scored a crucial 50 while Shrikant Limbole who came at no.6 scored a match winning 96 off 110 balls (11 fours, 2 sixes ).
Shrikant also got brilliant support from Swapnil Kulaye who scored a solid 85 runs while also stitched a 160 run stand with Shrikant as they brought their team into a very strong position reaching a total of 327/8 in 70 overs.
MCA Colts gave a good fight with Chinmay Sutar’s 87 being the top score but they fell short of 31 runs as Mumbai Police Gymkhana won the match and also qualified for the semi-finals. From Mumbai Police Gymkhana, Prasad Patil took 3 crucial wickets while Nitish also bagged 3 wkts.
We always knew scoring in Kanga is difficult and especially those hundreds which are a daunting task. Then comes players who amaze you by not only scoring hundreds but smashing them in style with pure dominance. Dhanraj Shinde just broke this year’s fastest Kanga ton record which was earlier held by Rakesh Naik who scored in 57 balls.
Amar CC batting first declared their innings on 167/8 with Harshad Rawle top scoring with a gritty 76. New Amrit CC on the other hand were off to a good start with Dhanraj who come at no.5 continuing the good start left by the openers. Right handed Dhanraj was in the acceleration mode from ball 1 as he thrashed the bowlers everywhere in every corner of the ground smashing as many as 11 sixes and 5 fours dealing only in boundaries. Dhanraj not only smashed the fastest ton but also achieved one more record of most sixes in an innings in Kanga ’18.
New Amrit CC were 203/5 as they won the match on 1st innings on the back of Dhanraj’s blazing ton.
Some All-Rounders are truly special and this 26 yr old chap from Mumbai seems to be on a roll. The 6ft 5 in tall Risabh Singh has been in amazing form with the ball taking wickets consistently this season in Kanga. In the last 3 matches he has played, he has taken a 5wkt haul in every game and in his 4th game, he came up with his best bowling figures this season bagging a stunning 7wkt haul.
Chembur Gymkhana batting first at Oval Maidan declared their innings on 159/5 with Rajiv Mehra top scoring with a half century. Diamond Star SC in reply were bundled out for 86 runs, thanks to Chembur Gymkhana’s premier left arm spinner Risabh Singh coming up with fantastic bowling figures of 7/28 in 11.3 overs. Risabh has been able to bowl at good line and length not allowing the batsman to settle as he has turned the game upside down for the opposition many a times this season.
Chembur Gymkhana won the match on 1st innings lead and Risabh now has 25 wkts in mere 4 games with 4 Five wkt hauls!
Bhupen seems to have become a specialist opener playing such fighting innings now and then. This is not the 1st time Bhupen has scored a ton and batted till the end at a time when his team was struggling from the other end.
Payyade SC batting first scored 208/10 with Harsh Tank continuing his good form scoring a fluent 90 missing out by mere 10 runs on what could have been a back to back ton. Off-spinner Abhishek Srivastav was the pick of the bowlers taking 5/37 in 11 overs bowling a very impressive spell.
Bombay Gymkhana while chasing-Half of the team was back into the pavilion at around 100 runs but opener Bhupen fought it out and kept his nerve playing a knock which will be remembered for a long time. Right-handed Bhupen scored 102* off 201 balls smashing 7 fours and 2 sixes as he escaped his team from the jaws of a narrow defeat winning the match by 1 wkt.
Left-handed Pushkar has been a consistent player always giving good starts in whichever tournaments he has played this year. Pushkar has not only displayed his aggression but he also showed that he is one of the reliable openers to have at the top of the order.
John Bright team batting first were reduced to 184 all out with every bowler from Shivaji Park team doing a good job chipping with wickets. In reply, Shivaji Park Youngsters won the match on 1st innings lead by 7 wkts as Pushkar went on to score an unbeaten 116* off 90 balls smashing 8 boundaries and 6 sixes. Pushkar thrashed almost every bowler as he helped his team win the match. Pushkar also becomes the highest scorer with 227 runs at an average of 38.00 for C Div.
Pushkar Sharma apart from playing cricket, works full time as a phone manager with IndiaFirst Life Insurance in Mumbai and also plays for the recently formed IndiaFirst Life Insurance cricket team.
Mumbai team once again dominates the domestic circuit proving since years that Mumbai team is the best when it comes to cricket. Mumbai taking on Gambhir led Delhi team won the toss and fielded first restricting Delhi to a mediocre total of 177/all out in 45.4 overs. From the bowlers, Shivam Dubey and Dhaval Kulkarni were the pick of the bowlers taking 3 wkts each while Tushar, Shams and Royston also did a good job with the ball.
Chasing 178, Mumbai team which was struggling at 3/25 and 4/40 got back into the game as Siddhesh Lad and Aditya Tare stitched a match winning stand of 115 runs. Aditya scored 71 off 89 balls while Lad tried to finish the game in the end getting out for 48. It was their big hitting all-rounder Shivam Dubey finishing the match with his quick 12 ball 19* which had 2 sixes as Mumbai lifted the Vijay Hazare Trophy with pride.