Bandra Heroes had a great day in the office as they won both the matches held on 4th May against Shivaji Park XI & Thane Marathas at Sachivalay ground & Police Gymkhana respectively.
The morning match was indeed a great match which turned out to be entertaining as we got to see great individual performances. Thane Marathas won the toss & elected to field first where Bandra made a mammoth 235/6 in 18overs. In reply Thane Marathas managed to score only 165/9 and lost the match to the Bandra Boys. All-rounder Shams Maulani(LHB) was declared ‘man of the match’ as he scored a swashbuckling 82 off just 39balls which included 7fours & 5sixes while Shoaib Siddique also played an entertaining knock of 42* off just 14balls down the order pushing their team total to a healthy 235. Chasing 236, Right-handed wicket-keeper batsman Mehboob Shaikh gave a terrific start & was the lone fighter as he scored a superb 81 off 39balls(10fours,5sixes) at the top of the order but lacked support from the other end. Shams Maulani picked up 2wkts too making it a perfect all-round perfomance.
Back in the day, the evening match was no less an entertaining affair as Bandra Heroes again put their best foot forward to defeat Shivaji Warriors. Winning the toss, Bandra elected to bat first and opener Aman Khan gave a perfect start any team could ask for as he scored a flamboyant 55 off mere 26balls(7fours,3sixes). Left-handed Shashikant Kadam also played a terrific knock scoring 51 off mere 25balls(3fours, 4sixes) to help Bandra reach a defendable total of 164/5 in 20 overs. It was a close match where Shivaji warriors lost the match by just 5runs but this is how matches should be where both the teams give their best. Opener Eknath Kerkar scored a Valiant 61 but the efforts went in vain while all-rounder Shashikant Kadam took 2wkts with the ball making him earn the ‘man of the match title’.
Looking at the current form of the Bandra Boys, they certainly look favorites for this year’s title. Cricketgraph congratulates the whole team for their win & wishes them luck for their upcoming encounters.
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There are good performances & than once in a while in cricket we get to see extra-ordinary performances, Javed Shaikh’s bowling falls into that extra-ordinary slot as he completely annhilated the opposition with his effective leg-spin. Perfomances like this makes it all the more easier for us when we sit down to prepare monthly rankings in bowling, batting & all-round performances.
AIDEM & Pidilite faced each other for a crucial encounter at M.B Union Ground in Mumbai. AIDEM won the toss & elected to bat first with an aim of putting the opposition under pressure. However, their decision to bat first did seem to backfire as they were all out for just 75/10 in 16.1 overs. Right-arm leg-spinner Javed Shaikh turned out to be quite a revelation as he bowled a mesmerizing spell of 5/5 in his 3.1 overs. A bowling spell like this in a T20 can be done only if you are special & talented for sure. Javed completely bamboozled the batsman with his tight line & unplayable deliveries and was supported well by left-arm orthodox spinner Bhavesh who took 3/12 in 3 overs.
Chasing a mere 76 runs, Pidilite chased the score in just 12.5 overs with 6wkts to spare. Opener Harshad Salkar was the pick of the scorer with a 23ball 25. Sharad from AIDEM was the pick of the bowlers taking 3/15 in his 3 overs.
Pidilite won the match by 6wkts & Javed Shaikh was declared ‘man of the match’ for obvious reasons. Cricketgraph congratulates Javed & the whole team for their win & wishes them luck for their upcoming encounters.
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‘Attack’ & ‘confidence’ are the two words which describes the talented Jay Jain as he has consistently scored run in the past one month. Just fresh from a 58ball 104 a few weeks ago, jay bounces back again with a yet another flashy 90 off 67balls while Nilay Pawar also looked promising as he scored a gutsy 69 along with Jay at the Matunga-Dadar parsee colony in Mumbai.
MIG won the toss & elected to bat first to put Bhosale Cricket Academy under pressure. Their decision to bat first proved to be correct as they managed to score a mammoth 223/5 in 30overs. Nilay Pawar scored a confident looking 69 off just 55balls which developed the positive momentum for the team. Coming at 2 down, jay Jain scored a swashbuckling 90 off just 67 balls(6fours, 4sixes) to steer his team total to a very healthy 223 in 30 overs. Both the batsman batted well & attacked bowlers with complete authority. Left-arm spinner Ayush Singh was the pick of the bowlers taking 4wkts & was the only bowler who looked really good enough to trouble the opposition.
Chasing 224, Bhosale Cricket Academy managed to make only 100/7 & M.I.G won the match by 123 runs. Left-arm spinners Sairaj Murthy (3wkts) & Atharva dakve(2wkts) took 5wkts together to rattle the opposition.
Team MIG won the match by a big margin & Nilay powar was declared ‘man of the match’ for his all-round perfomance as he not only scored 69 but also took a catch & a wicket. Cricketgraph congratulates Nilay & Jay while also appreciates the good bowling of Ayush, sairaj & atharva and wishes them all the luck to keep playing good cricket for a long long time.
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The Fort Vijay Ground witnessed a low scoring yet an exciting encounter between two competitive teams namely Reliance Nippon & WNS. Team WNS won the toss & elected to bat first with an aim of making a big total, however the decision to bat first did prove them a little costly as things did not go in their favor.
Batting first, WNS managed to make only 112/9 in their quota of 20overs which is a chaseable score at any part of the day. None of their batsman right from their top order to the bottom could make much of a difference to the scorecard. Nikhil at no.7 was the only one who looked a little good while he lacked support from the other end. The bowlers also did a great job by not allowing any batsman to settle at the crease while also taking wickets at the right time. Right-arm off spinner Santosh Bhillare was the pick of the bowlers taking 4/22 in his 4overs doing the maximum damage. Santosh bowled really tight & kept on giving breakthroughs while Munna also bowled well taking 2wkts while giving only 15runs in his 4overs.
Chasing 113, WNS gave a really tough fight & did not allow them to win before taking their 7wkts. Dhawal Patel batted well & was the pick of the scorers with a 28ball 30 while Munna remained 22* off 17balls making it an all-round perfomance.
Reliance chased down the score in 19overs & won the match by 3wkts where Dhaval Patel was declared ‘man of the match’ while off-spinner Santosh & all-rounder Munna’s perfomance was also equally appreciation worthy. Cricketgraph congratulates the whole team for their win & also wishes them all the luck for their upcoming encounters.
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The Mitsui Shojit-20 League got off to a terrific starts with one of the strong favourites Mumbai Police Cityriders were given a jolt by the Bandra Heroes who defeated them by 7 wickets in the opening game in the double-leg of the Mitsui Shoji T-20 League, sponsored by Lal Bharwaney and held at Police Gymkhana ground, here today.
Put in to bat, Mumbai Police Cityriders, inspite of a fine knock of 53 by their Mumbai opene Jay Bista, the team could muster only 127 for eight in their allotted overs which is not the best of the scores to defend in a T20 game. Bista’s knock contained eight hits to the boundary but he lacked support from the other end. Chasing 128 to win, Bandra Heroes were given a pretty good start as their openers hit up 34 runs in the very first four overs before both the openers fell to the artistry of spinner Vinayak Bhoir. They did lose another wicket but then the pair of skipper Sujit Nayak (33*off 25balls, 3×4, 1×6) and Khizar Dafedar (45* off 21balls, 5×4, 2×6) saw them through without any further hiccups. Ex India cricketer Wasim Jaffer is also a part of the Bandra Heroes team. Both the players khizar and Sujit stitched a match-winning partnership to steer their team towards the victory line.
Bandra Heroes won the match by 7wkts and 6.3overs to spare & Sujit and Khizar’s performance was surely the highlight of the match & especially Khizar dafedar who contributed well with his all-round performance.
Earlier in the morning as a part of the pre-opening ceremony, Sports Journalist of Mumbai (Media XI) played well to notch up 128 for 3 in 15 overs. Thanks to some aggressive batting by skipper Devendra Pandey (27) and left-hander Taus Rizvi (25), However, hosts Mitsui Shoji XI overhauled their score in 14 overs as Mukesh Gupta (71) and Sachin Upadhaya(34) took them home for the loss of just two wickets. Mukesh was particularly outstanding as he scored a unbeaten 71* off just 42 balls dominating the bowlers with authority.
It was a match which was a low-scoring affair but still it remained exciting & there was hardly any dull moment in the match. MTNL & LTOSA clashed for a crucial encounter at the National Cross Maidan in Mumbai. On a batting track like cross maidan, LTOSA who have a good bowling attack elected to bowl first and put the opposition under pressure.
Batting first, MTNL could not extract the best from the pitch though they could have managed to score more than 150+ runs on this ground. Apart from their opener Kale hardly any player was able to make much of a difference to the scorecard. Kale scored a valiant 41 off 44 but lacked support from the other end. Luckily, Satya(17* off 7) at no.10 chipped in with a few boundaries & a six to push his team total to 127/9 in 20 overs. Fast bowler D.K(Deepak Kothiyal) gave a good start as he took 2wkts & a maiden in the 3rd over of the game itself which developed the positive momentum for LTOSA boys. Left-arm spinner Shiva Yadav was also quite effective with the ball as he took 4/14 in his 3overs(2 run-outs) while the rest of the bowlers also did a good job of containing the batsman.
Chasing 128 seemed to be a mere formality for the LTOSA boys as they chased down the score in just 13.2 overs where the openers almost completed 80% of the job. Right-handed Ajinkya Parte remained unbeaten on 41* off 38balls(2fours, 2sixes) playing the anchors role & stitching a 76run partnership while his opening partner Sagar Kamble scored a match-winning 46 off just 30balls. Left-handed sagar smashed 6fours & a six to steer his team towards the victory line.
LTOSA won the match comfortably by 8wkts & as many as 6.4overs to spare. It was a great bowling perfomance by the L&T bowlers while their openers did a terrific job. Sagar Kamble was adjudged ‘man of the match’ for his quickfire 46 while Ajinkya’s knock was equally appreciation worthy. Cricketgraph congratulates the whole team for their win & wishes them luck for a great future ahead.
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It was the all important quarter-finals of the Milan T20 between two strong teams namely Travelex India & Idea Cellular at the Sunder CC Ground (plot no.5) in Mumbai. On a decent batting track like Sunder C.C, Idea Cellular won the toss & elected to bat first in order to put the strong Travelex team under pressure.
Batting first, Idea Cellular managed to score only 141/9 in 20 overs which is somewhat a defendable score in T20’s thought they could have got the psychological advantage had they crossed the 150+ run mark. The top 3 batsman of the top order failed to fire but Vikas Sharma(24 off 15) & Kiran Salve(23 off 26) chipped in with crucial 20”s at the middle order which helped them reach a decent target. Ravi S at no.7 also chipped in with a quick 21* off just 14balls which proved to be quite handy. Medium pacer Sachin Chaudhary was the pick of the bowlers scalping 3/25 in his 4 overs followed by 2wkts for Akshay Jadhav & 1 for all-rounder Omkar.
Chasing 142 in 20 overs is usually a cakewalk for most of the teams but Idea Cellular boys did not allow the opposition to win the quarter-finals before taking their 8wkts. It was a close game where both the teams gave their best & this how matches should be. Left-handed opener Pranav Shalaka(53 off 44) & Deepak Pasi(40off30) gave a wonderful start & it looked like they would win the match comfortably until the rest of the batsman below them crumbled like a pack of cards. Vikas Sharma from Idea bowled exceedingly well & succeeded in troubling the batsman taking 4/16 in his 4overs Thanks to Travelex openers & especially Pranav who played a very patient knock of 53 helping his side cross the victory line while Abhishek at no.9 hitting the winning runs with a six.
Travelex India won the match by 2wkts & qualify for the semi-finals while opener Pranav was declared ‘man of the match’ for his brilliant half-century which helped his side win the match. Cricketgraph congratualtes the whole team for their quarter-finals win & also wishes them luck for a great semi-finals.
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Aakarshit Gomel has certainly been the ‘akarshan’ i.e ‘attraction’ of the tournament with his flamboyant batting as he has consistently scored runs & helped his team win the prestigious 68th Salar Jung tournament. It was the all important finals between two very strong teams namely the very experienced ‘parsee gymkhana’ & the strong ‘Souvenir c.c’ at the Islam gymkhana Ground in Mumbai. Souvenir CC won the toss & elected to bowl first with an aim of restricting the opposition to a low total.
Batting first, Parsee Gymkhana boys managed to post a very good total on the board as they scored 166/7 in 20 overs. Right-handed opener Aakarshit Gomel was once again the pick of the scorers smashing an aggressive 87* off just 55balls. Gomel started dominating the bowlers despite the fact that wickets kept on falling from the other end. Aakarshit smashed 12 fours & 2sixes in his 55ball 87* which propelled his team to cross the 150 run mark. Apart from him it was Raunaq Sharma (22 off 12balls) who managed to cross the 20 run mark. Sarfaraz Shaikh was the pick of the bowlers taking 3/33 in his 4 overs followed by a wicket each for Mohd. Azeem, Asif Querishi & Shoaib Sheikh.
Chasing 167 at more than 8runs per over in a finals of any tournament is a pressure situation & Souvenir succumbed to the pressure of chasing against a good bowling attack as they were all out for 126/10 in just 17.2 overs. Saddam Moinuddin Maulani was the pick of the bowlers taking 3/9 in his 3 overs followed by 2/23 by Raunak Sharma. All the bowlers succeeded in taking wickets at the right time while also remained quite economical which helped them restrict souvenir to just 126 runs.
Parsee Gymkhana won the finals of the tournament by 40runs & lift the trophy while Souvenir CC becomes the runner-up team in the tournament. Aakarshit Gomel was declared ‘man of the match’ while he was also declared ‘best batsman of the tournament’ with 231 runs & 3fifties in 3innings at an astounding average of 231.00 while left-arm spinner Asif Sheikh with 12wkts was declared the ‘best bowler of the tournament” Cricketgraph congratulates the whole team for putting up such a good show & wishes all of them to continue playing this good brand of cricket in the coming future too.
Also special thanks to Hanif Sir (the respected manager of the Islam Gymkhana Ground) who would regularly help with the updates & the tournament information so that the good matches & perfomances gets highlighted on time.
Souvenir CC Runner Up Team
68th Salar Jung Tournament closing Ceremony
68th Salar Jung Tournament Closing Ceremony
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It was a big match between two big teams namely National Sports Club of India (NSCI) & Bombay Gymkhana at the Bombay Gymkhana ground in Mumbai. Bombay Gymkhana XI won the toss & elected to bat first in order to put some pressure on NSCI.
Batting first, Bombay Gymkhana managed to score a competitive total of 159/7 in 20 overs which is always defendable. 150+ scores are always defendable in T20’s. Opener A Jain scored a quick 26ball 35 while I Mulchandani at no.3 scored a fiery 21ball 33 followed by some late onslaught at the lower middle order. C Shetty chipped in with a 22ball 26 at no.6 while Jeejebhoy at no.8 smashed an unbeaten 26* off just 16balls. G sahani was the pick of the bowlers from NSCI as he took 3/24 in 4overs followed by 2wkts for Yash Thadeshwar.
Chasing 160 at exactly 8runs per over, NSCI choked out for just 67runs in 13overs. Spinners Vikrant Rambhia & Charan Shetty took 6wkts together and gave just 14runs in their 5 overs combined. Right-arm off-spinner Charan took 3/9 in his 3overs while right-arm leg spinner Vikrant Rambhia took 3/5 in his 2overs to destroy the NSCI batting line up.
Bombay Gymkhana won the match by 93 runs & the highlight of the match was surely the tight bowling by the spinners-Vikrant & Charan. Cricketgraph congratulates the whole team for putting up a great show & also wishes them all the luck for a great future.
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It was a match between two competitive teams namely Glenmark & WNS at the S.F Sassanion ground in Mumbai. On a good batting track like Sassanion, WNS elected to bat first & make the most of the pitch conditions to post a healthy total on the board & put Glenmark under pressure.
Their decision to bat first proved to be correct as they went on to score a very decent total of 167/4 in 20overs. Openers Aditya & Dnyansagar Patil gave a fantastic start at the top of the order. While Aditya scored a quick 26ball 39, it was Dnyansagar Patil who almost played the anchor’s role till the end scoring a solid yet aggressive 75 off 57balls. Right-handed Dnyansagar smashed 7fours & a six and also equally toiled hard between the wickets to help his team reach a good total. Apart from the openers, it was Chiranjeevi at no.3 who scored a 17ball 22. From Glenmark Amit was the pick of the bowlers taking 1/23(4) followed by 1/28(4) by Jayant.
Chasing168 at more than 8 runs per over, Glenmark succumbed to the pressure of chasing as they managed to reach only 131/6 in 20 overs. Opener Shrinivas(34) & Mandar at no.3 (33) did look good with their respective 30’s but they could not convert their 30’s into a big score. It was also a really good bowling perfomance where the bowlers attacked in tandem. Left-arm spinner Ajay was the pick of the bowlers taking 3/26 in 4overs followed by Rahul kirodian who also chipped in with 2/21 in his 3 overs.
WNS won the match by 36runs & opener Dnyansagar Patil was declared ‘man of the match’ for his solid 75 at the top of the order. Cricketgraph congratulates Dnyansgar and the whole team for putting up a good show & wishes them to continue playing this good brand of cricket in the future too.
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