When you are batting at no.6 or 7, most of the times you get to bat under pressure situations where either you have to bat with the tail or rescue the team from a low total or just slog in the last overs. Amitkumar Kori just did that recently in the ongoing Kanga League scoring a gem of knock from nowhere.
Played between Taki Team SC and Maharashtra Young Cricketers at the Dadkar Maidan, Maharashtra young cricketers who were made to bat first were in deep trouble at one point with 5down for mere 35runs. It was right handed Amitkumar Kori who came at no.7 and rescued his team by scoring an attacking 91* of mere 81balls hitting 7fours and 5sixes. Amit not only batted well with the tail but also played freely not sparing the bad balls which helped Maharashtra YC team reach 162runs in 41.5overs. Medium pacer Atish Golatkar was the pick of the pick of the bowlers looking impressive for his 4/62 in 19overs.
Taki Team survived with 8wkts down batting for 35overs till the game ended in a draw. Mahesh Jadhav bowled an excellent spell of 5/29 in 15overs with 7maidens as he did not allow the batsman to score runs easily. The match did not obtain any result but Amit’s 91* certainly saved his team from a defeat.
Vishal Adagatla
It’s always a good feeling to play alongside someone who is also your mentor and such was the case between the experienced Ajit Rodrigues and the young lad Arman Pathan. Ajit who also coaches Arman played together in the same team and the pair together spelled trouble for the opposition in the ongoing Kanga League.
Parsee Cyclists who won the toss made Bohra Cricketers to bat first restricting them to a very low score of 31runs with just 1batsman scoring in double digits. The principal destroyer for Bohra team was Parsee Cyclists medium pacer Ajit Rodrgues who came up with a yet another stunning spell conceding mere 11runs with 6maidens in his 9overs along with 7wkts. Ajit who took 7wkt hauls even last year seems to be in a great form while Arman Pathan took 4catches out of Ajit’s 7wickets in the 1st innings and 4wkts in the second. Ajit’s accurate bowling and Arman’s tight fielding wrecked havoc over the Bohra Cricketers.
Parsee Cyclists too struggled with the bat declaring their innings at 87/8 in 21.4overs. Bohra cricketers were left to struggle in the 2nd innings too with 8down for 90runs before the match ended. Ajit took another 4/27 in the 2nd innings taking his tally of wickets to a stunning 11wkts in the match. Farhad Daruwala, Ajit’s bowling partner also took 6wkts in the match. Parsee Cyclists won the match on 1st innings and it was a great day for Ajit, Farhad and Arman to begin the season with.
Rains did not wreck havoc today and thus we got to see a proper day of cricket in Mumbai. Certainly a great feeling for all the cricketers today who are practicing hard to perform to their full abilities. Today we got to see a talented opener registering the 1st ton of Kanga this season.
Played at the National CC Ground, Cross Maidan, Victory Cricket Club and Fort Vijay CC locked horns with Fort Vijay CC winning the toss and bowling first. Victory Cricket Club could have been bundled out for a low total but their opener Dhrumil Matkar played one of the elegant knocks you can see during this season. Left-handed Dhrumil went on to score an attacking 126 off mere 123balls in bowler friendly conditions which were laced with 10 huge sixes. 10sixes also happens to be the highest so far for an individual batsman in the tournament. Dhrumil treated bowlers with disdain as he showcased his big hitting abilities taking Victory Cricket Club to a very respectable total of 226/10 in 47overs. From the bowlers, right arm medium pacer Pankaj Jaiswal was the pick of the bowlers taking 4/47 in 11overs which turned out to be a very good spell.
Fort Vijay CC batted for 33overs for the loss of 3wkts before the match ended in a draw. It was a welcome change with no rains and Dhrumil certainly made the most of it by stamping his presence with a brilliant ton.
Sarfaraz Khan who is hailed as one of most talented young cricketers right now returned back to Mumbai after a 3yr stint with Uttar Pradesh. Sarfaraz played his 1st Kanga match today representing Payyade SC at Shivaji Park and he has certainly given a strong statement in his comeback match.
Payyade SC who took on Shivaji Park Gymkhana were struggling with 3wickets down for just 6runs. It was the arrival of right handed Sarfaraz at no.4 which helped Payyade to make a comeback into the game. Sarfaraz scored a superlative 87 off 107balls as Payyade SC from 3/6 reached 148/5dec in 45.4overs. Sarfaraz took on the bowlers with ease as he looked confident at the crease while wickets were tumbling from the other end. Sarfaraz smashed 9fours and 3sixes stamping his presence into the Mumbai Cricket with a bang.
Shivaji Park Gymkhana batted for 22 overs scoring 56/3 as the match ended in a draw. No results were obtained in the match but it was a good opening game for Sarfaraz as he rescued his team from a low total.
There was a hot debate going on since team India’s prominent players like Yuvraj Singh, Washington Sundar, Mohammad Shami, Suresh Raina & Ambati Rayudu failed the yo-yo test and being dropped out of the team.
Since then, some players have made a comeback to the Indian team & others still struggling to get that benchmark score of 16.1. Let us look at what exactly you can do to get that benchmark score (set by the BCCI) of 16.1 and some hacks to get the tremendous scores up to 19-22.
What is Yo-Yo test?
Yo-Yo is a variation of beep test, a running aerobic fitness routine that International cricketers had to undergo in the past. But passing beep test was not mandatory for selection as in the case of Yo-Yo. It probes a sports persons endurance and ability to pace himself towards the end of the maximal running aerobic fitness drill, an element of speed comes into play.
The grueling routine has two sets of cones that are 20 meters apart. Once, the beep is sounded, the athlete has to reach the marker on the other side by the time the next beep sounds, turn and get back to where he started before the third beep.
The frequency of beeps gradually increase for the subsequent trips, a trip is a successful completion of a run to the cones at the other end and back. There is a gap about 7 seconds between each trip.
What starts as a fast jog at the start becomes distinctly quicker as the test progresses with the duration between beeps decreasing. The point at which an athlete misses two beeps (twice unable to finish before the third beep goes off) is his score.
Why to fitness test an athlete?
Given the volume at which the cricket season goes on throughout the year, there is a belief that optimal fitness must be achieved. Irrespective, of the cricketers ’ability, the BCCI feels a minimum fitness level is non-negotiable.
Minimum benchmark scores of Yo-Yo test in some cricketing countries:-
COUNTRY SCORE
New Zealand 19
Sri-Lanka 17.4
England 19
Pakistan 17.4
India 16.1
As we can see India’s minimum benchmark score to pass the yo-yo test is very low, yet players fail to pass the test should really be a concern.
How to hack the Yo-Yo test?
As there is so much going around about the yo-yo test let us see some tricks and tips on how you can improve your individual scores.
- Improve your fitness level
This is an obvious tip that if you train yourself regularly and develop your current fitness level will eventually give you better scores in the future.
- Perform a Warm up
If you do not perform a warm up before the test then probably you will not be able to perform at your best and more worryingly, you could risk injury which could set your fitness back several levels.
Ideally 5-10 minutes of warm up which includes jogging, dynamic stretching and gentle turning motions would get you ready for the test.
- Turn efficiently
People who have done the beep test usually complain that the turning is the most difficult part.
You can perform a turn by placing one foot on the line, this will eventually cut down small steps that would save you the valuable seconds. Take sharp turns rather than taking wider U turns in the movement.
- Prepare your body
1. You are properly hydrated, making sure that you take sufficient liquids in advance.
2. You have eaten a light meal 1-2 hours before the test.
3. You have had enough sleep. (At least 8 hours)
(To know about how much and what should be consumed before the test please refer to my previous article)
4. Also before you do the test make sure that you use the bathroom. It’s difficult enough doing the test, never mind trying to do it with a full bladder.
- Mentally toughen yourself up
When your body says quit, your mind says “drop and give me another 10”.
Just push yourself to the fullest that’s the only mantra.
- Pace yourself and play your own game
When you are running these tests in a group, it can often be tempting to focus too much on other participants.
Don’t try to run other persons test just worry about yourself and keep pace with the beep- there is nothing to be gained by charging off too quickly or trying to match anybody else.
Some of the first people that give up early on the beep/yo-yo test are the ones- who run the fastest at the beginning. Save your energy for the later stages.
- Perform the test in favorable conditions
If somebody else is setting the test for you, this is not something that you can influence. However, if you do get choice over where and when you do the test you should remember that only extreme heat, wind or rain may impair your score.
- Ignore the boasters
Somebody is going o tell you that they have completed the score of 16.1 without any training. You have to prepare yourself for the test depending on your own fitness level as it may cost you a big selection & worst case scenario even your career.
This was all about the yo-yo test, I hope this article turns out to be helpful for you and you achieve enormous scores of 20-22 someday. Let’s take India ahead in the global standings of the yo-yo test. In the future, we are not sure what will be the gold standard for being fit would be. But, passing the yo-yo test is the need of the hour.
It was way back in 1968, Surinderpal Thukral learned the intricacies of sports manufacturing from his uncle & started Sunil Sports foraying into manufacturing of sports products. Sunil Sports had their own brand in the name of Brooks and Navina which at one time were distributed all over Mumbai, Karnataka, Secundrabad, Goa, Pune, Solapur, Hibli amongst other locations. There was a time between 1968 to 1990 when most of the sports shops in Dhobi Talao, Bandra, Ghatkopar, cst to Dahisar and cst to Kalyan sourced their products from Sunil Sports.
It was in 1992 Sunil Sports stopped manufacturing and entered into retail business. Exclusively speaking with Cricketgraph, Surinderpal Thukral explained the reason- “till 1990 the manufacturing we used to do was with original leather, post 1990 artificial materials started doing the rounds plus increase in labor costs were some of the reasons they stopped their manufacturing unit’
Now a sports retail outlet with the same team of employees he started many years ago, they supply sports products to various schools and corporate companies like CEAT Tyres & L&T. They are also the authorized dealers of SG and SS bats with various brands of cricket shoes.
Located in Bhandup west and celebrating 50 years, now it’s the next generation joining the business as son Jitin Thukral takes care of the shop along with his father Surinder Pal Thukral who started this brand 5 decades ago.
Sunil sports can be reached on
022-5661319
Shop no.9, Estate no.3, Below Raj Jog, LBS Marg, Opposite Pannalal Compound, Bhandup West, Maharashtra, Mumbai – 400078
Often looked upon as a step sibling of men’s cricket the women’s cricket in India is far from being popular. Reaching the finals of the ICC Women’s World Cup in 2017 did a world of good to the women’s cricket in general, as people of the country finally acknowledged that the women work equally hard as their male counterparts and can be equally successful if given sufficient opportunities. There is seldom any doubt that not enough girls are encouraged to take up the gentleman’s game, which is probably the reason for women’s cricket not being famous. It is like a chicken and egg story. Nobody knows what came first. In terms of women’s cricket, one does not know whether the women’s game is not much popular because not many play the sport, or because not many girls play the sport, the game is not popular.
Keeping this in mind, Mr.Yadav, a cricket enthusiast and a full time working professional contemplated to do something for women’s cricket in India. He started by covering women’s cricket news and stories so that the women’s cricket followers and cricket fans in general are aware of the happenings. As a part of the Global Cricket Community, he got the opportunity to interview cricketers from 105 countries. In this process, he realized that women’s cricket has a huge potential. In countries like USA, Argentina, Canada, and Brazil, women’s cricket is more popular than the men’s cricket.
After garnering tremendous success in this space, Mr. Yadav decided to start Female Cricket Academy in Mumbai. This Academy is meant exclusively for female cricketers and currently houses 40 players. In no time, Mr.Yadav’s venture is gaining popularity which is evident from the fact that his Facebook page has more than 38000 likes, Twitter handle has over 2000 followers, and Instagram has a whopping 78000+ followers.
Despite being a working professional, Mr.Yadav devotes his weekends to the Female Cricket Academy. Such an Academy is just the start of something big. Cultivating quality women cricketers is the main objective of Mr. Yadav’s initiative. With Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur being selected to play international T20 leagues, the future for women’s cricket looks bright and beautiful. The day is not too far when we have our very own Women’s IPL in this country, where cricket is a religion and cricketers are Gods. It’s time that we worship the Goddesses as well.
Mr.Yadav’s Female cricket academy currently operates out of Shivaji Park, Mumbai and is keen to explore partnership proposals from tier 2 & tier 3 cities to encourage a holistic development of women cricket in India.
Cricketgraph team wishes all the best to Vishal Yadav and Female Cricket Academy.
Rains have almost trimmed half of the matches this season in Mumbai and most of the players are eagerly waiting to play a match or two where they can showcase their hard work and practice which goes in the nets. Hence in a move by MCA, they have organized a tournament outside Mumbai in Patiala for the U19 team & in Andhra Pradesh for the U16 team.
The squads have been selected for the U16 and U19 Mumbai teams and this will be a practice tournament for the boys as they take on Andhra Pradesh in 3day test match format. The U16 Squad is touring with three wicket keepers namely Aditya Anand, Sai Chavan and Mayank Teotia while the skipper is yet to be announced. Since the matches will be a platform to practice, expect the playing XI to change in almost every game. Also the perfomance of the players will be noted for the final selection of the Mumbai team.
18 Players selected in the U16 Squad- Mayank Teotia, Sai Chavan, Aditya Anand, Musheer Khan, Jash Ganiga, Suryansh Shedge, Vedant Gadia, Ayush Jethwa, Ayush Zimare, Aman Tiwari, Arnav Desmukh, Himanshu Singh, Bhargav Patil, Prince Badiyani, Aaron Rodrigues, Harsh Shah, Shubham Gharat, Ayush Singh.
Few cricketers in Mumbai may have already heard of Aarkay Sports, a sports apparel brand which is donned by leading cricketers and Bollywood stars however not many would know it was earlier known as RK Sports.
RK sports has been operating for the past 3 decades as a retail store and manufacturing unit under Vikas Seth (the 1st owner), however the brand transformed to be known as Aarkay Sports only 4 years back when other 2 friends (Vinit Sinha & Sandeep Trivedi) decided to collaborate together.
These 3 friends have added a new dimension to the business as they have forayed into other cities in a big way with Sandeep Trivedi who runs a sports shop in Silvassa, also handles the Gujarat Market.
It’s been 4 years since they have all joined hands together and revived the brand with good response from the cricketing community. Till now the brand has worked with teams like Air India, DY Patil, Mumbai Customs while they have also tied up with corporate teams like Jindal, HDFC and Axis Bank. Aarkay Sports has also become the official apparel partners with the Indian Squash Association as their sportswear is not just limited to cricket.
Vineet Sinha, a competitive cricketer himself who plays from DY Patil and also featured in the recently concluded Mumbai T20 league spoke to cricketgraph, “the growth has been possible because we always believe in superior quality, the players know we won’t fool them with quality. Everything from sewing, ironing, packing, buttoning is done inhouse to ensure best quality is given to the players”.
Their commitment to deliver quality products also resulted in procuring orders from global teams of UK, Brussels and U.S.A.They also applied to be the apparel partners with the Mumbai and the Chattisgarh Ranji cricket teams.
With a manufacturing unit based in Dahisar and global aspirations, Aarkay Sports is poised to emboss footprints on the global map.
It’s a dream for every cricket aspirant to play alongside Sachin or just bowl to him and TMGA just brought that opportunity to get trained under Sachin Tendulkar.
It’s just not a brand name added to TMGA-Tendulkar Middlesex Global Academy, but the fact that he is personally involved makes the academy so special. The first batch of coaching was conducted between 6th to 9th August in London at the Merchant Tailor School Ground which is spread across 227acres hosting 12proper grounds with the best facilities. It had an amazing 1:15 training ratio with professional coaches from Middlesex County (ECB certified). There were coaches available for each skills like wicket-keeping, batting, bowling and fielding to make sure the young kids were properly groomed and analyzed. There was also Q&A session for the kids where they could ask anything to the batting maestro and the panel of coaches.
Jayesh Kulkarni who coaches at Euro School Thane and Rajwadi Cricket Club spoke exclusively with Cricketgraph as he shared “The best part was Sachin Sir himself would be present at the ground spending 3-4hrs everyday guiding the kids personally, Tendulkar sir would move from one ground to another tirelessly, he would attend each and every kid and answer to all their questions’
Out of the 8students in the 1st batch, 5 kids were from Euro School thane. Jayesh Kulkarni who is also a part of SSSK Sports Mgmt London were tied up in getting the admissions for the academy.
There will be camps held globally and soon it will be held in Mumbai too!
Some Snaps-
