It was the all important final encounter between Rizvi Springfield and SVIS Borivali at the Khar Gymkhana Ground in Mumbai. Without a doubt, two of the powerful teams of the tournament clashed together and an exciting competition was bound to happen. SVIS won the toss and elected to bat first to make a big target.
Batting first, SVIS did a fairly good job with the bat as they scored 285/6 in 45 overs. Openers Rahul Kesari (26) & Manan Jatakia(61) stitched a great partnership which set the positive momentum. Manan smashed a quickfire 61 off 49balls (7 fours, 3 sixes) which had set the tone for the rest of the batsman to continue. However, their pick of the batsman was Suved Parkar who scored a 71 off just 50 balls attacking the opponents with his aggressive batting. Skipper Suved smashed 11 fours and a big six in his 50 ball stay at the crease. Left-handed Gautam Waghela’s efforts were also noteworthy as he scored an unbeaten 60* & anchored the innings till the very end. Gautam who has smashed only one boundary in his knock of 60 smashed a six towards mid on in the last ball of the innings to finish the innings in style. From Rizvi Shreyansh & Aditya took 2 wickets each.
No doubt, SVIS had good score on board but a tough competition was always expected from Rizvi and they did gave a good one too. Rizvi fought hard but eventually fell short of 60 runs as they were all out for 225/all out in 38.4 overs. At one point of time, Rizvi were looking favorites for a victory when Yashasvi Jaiswal (40 off 22) was at the crease. Yash Salunkhe was also looking solid for his 49 off 80 balls. It was however their lower middle order batsman Shoaib Siddique who almost turned the tides with his 39 ball 62(6 fours, 4 sixes). But none of the batsman apart from these three fired and it was also some tight bowling by the SVIS bowlers which helped them clinch a victory. Spinner Rahul Kesari bowled a fantastic spell of 4/80 followed by a match winning spell by their skipper Suved Parkar taking 4/62 in 11 overs with his pace.
SVIS won the finals in a commanding fashion and Suved, Gautam & Rahul were adjudged ‘player of the match’ for their brilliant individual performances. SVIS won the tournament and Cricketgraph wishes their good run continues in the future too.
It was the all important semi-final match between Rising Strikers & Devils United at Vengsarkar Academy Ground Mahul Gaon, Mumbai. Rising Strikers wanted to bowl first since it was a good pitch favoring bowlers but they were eventually made to bat first after losing the toss.
Rising Strikers had a target of 140 in mind but they managed to reach only 125 in 17 overs. One down batsman Ajinkya Pawar steadied the ship for his team at a time when almost each and every batsman failed. Right handed Ajinkya scored a 41 ball 55 which looked extremely well-crafted and elegant. The only batsman who looked good and also created a great partnership with Ajinkya was Aditya Sawant who scored 49 off just 28 balls. Aditya smashed 6 fours and a six in his 28 ball blitzkrieg which helped them reach 125 in 17 overs. Both Aditya and Ajinkya were out in the 16th over. Had they stayed at the crease for a little more time, the total could have been different for sure.
Chasing 125, Devils United succumbed to some wonderful bowling by Rising Strikers as they were all out for just 108 runs. Medium Pacer Parag was the pick of the bowlers taking 2/17 in 3 overs while Aditya also took a wicket with his pace bowling too. Aditya also took one run out while Ajinkya took a diving catch of opener Hrishikesh which were some great moments in the match.
Rising strikers won the match comfortably with the help of these two players and advance their team into the further rounds of the tournament. Cricketgraph wishes their good form continues and they go on to win the tournament!
Fresh from a world record score of 292 in 20 overs in the previous match, Datamatics entered the crease with a lot of confidence in the 3rd league match against Tata Technologies at Fort Vijay Ground in Mumbai. Tata Technologies undermined the form of Datamatics as they elected to bowl first after winning the toss.
Datamatics were off to a great start with openers Pratik (35) and Shardeep smashing bowlers in all parts of the ground. Shardeep continued his attack and went on to score a blazing century. Left handed Shardeep Sawant scored a 57 ball 108 which lifted the team’s morale & continued their good momentum from their last match. Shardeep reminded us of the left handed opener David Warner who tears apart the bowlers in the same style. Shardeep’s knock included 13 glamorous boundaries and 4 huge sixes to enthrall the spectators. Their all-rounder Ritesh palav also scored a match winning half century down the order taking his team’s total to 239 in 20 overs. Ritesh scored a thunderous 58 coming off just 22 balls at a strike rate of above 265 which included 5 fours and 4 huge sixes.
Chasing 240 at 12 runs per over, Tata Technologies felt the pressure and they succumbed to it too as they were bundled out for just 82 runs in 19 overs. All-rounder Ritesh Palav again came to the rescue as he took 4/11 in his 3 overs with his left arm medium pace. Ritesh kept on breaking partnerships and gave important breakthroughs. Datamatics were handed over a big win of 157 runs with the help of these two talented players & also qualified for the further rounds of the tournament.
All-Rounders like Ritesh and attacking openers like Shardeep are always a big asset to a team when they perform like this and they were rightly adjudged ‘man of the match’ together for their individual brilliant performances. Cricketgraph wishes their good form continues and they make their team lift the trophy too!
Kimati Sports, one of the leading manufactures of leather cricket balls in India, in collaboration, with Cricketgraph, launched Corporate Bowler Award this February to recognize the bowling talent in the corporate sphere. The award will be bestowed on the best bowler of the week, based on the performance in the corporate cricket leagues. Beginning February 2017, the best bowler will be awarded with attractive prizes which include a certificate of appreciation and a Kimati leather cricket ball.
Omkar Jadhav of Johnson and Johnson bagged the inaugural Kimati Corporate Bowler Award for his bowling brilliance that was exhibited against Prince Marine Team at Vengsarkar Academy ground on 21st January 2017. Jadhav picked up a five wicket haul giving away just 18 runs in his spell of four overs. He bowled good lines and lengths making it difficult for the batsmen to score freely off him. Along with his scintillating performance with the ball, Omkar was handy with the bat as well, scoring a quickfire 30 off 22 balls, hitting two boundaries and a six.
The panel of judges had a tough decision to make as the other two contenders; Puneet Agarwal of Edelweiss and Jay Patel of Deloitte, both accounting for four scalps, were fighting hard for the Kimati Corporate Bowler Award.
Kimati Corporate Bowler Award will come back next week with a new winner, till then Cricketgraph and Kimati wishes you all the very best.
It was an exciting encounter between P.J Gymkhana and Mahim Juvenile at the P.J Hindu Gymkhana Ground, Mumbai. After winning the toss, Mahim Juvenile elected to bat first with an aim of giving a commendable target to the opposition.
Openers Sameen & Raj gave good starts of 31 & 32 respectively but things became jittery for Mahim as none of their batsman were able to convert their starts. As a result, Mahim Juvenile managed to score only 122 with the loss of 6 wkts in 25 overs. The bowlers did an excellent job and were spot on. Nutan Goel was the pick of the bowlers taking 3/13 in 5 overs with his off-spin. Harsh Tathare also took 1/18 while Pratham Wagh also looked good in containing the batsman.
Chasing 123 in 25 overs, Harsh Tathare and Nutan Goel almost finished of the game with an opening partnership of 94 runs. Nutan who took 3 wkts also scored a fluent 40 off 47 balls and Harsh scoring 41 off 51 balls. But, things took a u-turn after the openers lost their wickets as they lost 5 wickets in a span of just 25 runs In the next five overs and the match went on till the final over with 6 runs needed to win. It was eventually Rishikesh mishra finishing the chase with a boundary and winning the match for his team. No denying the fact that Mahim gave a very tough fight despite such a low target.
The players of Achievers Academy represented the entire P.J Hindu Gymkhana team who won the match by 5 wickets. Nutan & Harsh also did their job perfectly. These two will certainly be the players the opponent needs to be worried about as they are looking in a good form.
It was an exciting encounter between HT Media & Axis Sports Club at (High Court) Oval Maidan, Mumbai. Winning the toss, Axis elected to bowl first with an aim of restricting them to a low total and chase the target.
HT media did felt some early jitters as their top 3 batsman couldn’t convert their innings into big score but it was their middle order and lower middle order which resurrected the innings back for their team. No.5, 6 & 7 Rohit, Nirdosh and Pravin scored 45, 40 and 45 respectively which took their team total to a respectable 233/9 in 45 overs. All three batsmen hardly wasted any time at the crease and meant business straight away scoring runs at almost run a ball. From Axis, Ravi Shinde was the pick of the bowlers taking 3/39 in his 9 overs.
Chasing 234 in 45 overs is not the toughest job but it was some wonderful bowling by the opposition which changed the game. Axis sports club fought well but eventually fell short of 50 runs as they were all out for 183 in 42.3 overs. Right arm medium pacer Kavaldeep changed the team’s fortunes as he troubled the opposition with his reverse swing and bouncers. Kavaldeep bowled a fantastic spell of 4/30 in 9 overs and was the pick of the bowlers for HT Media.
Kavaldeep who was worked a lot on his reverse swing is finally getting to see the results of his hard work & he was adjudged ‘man of the match’ for his brilliant bowling. HT media and particularly their skipper Kavaldeep will have a lot of positive momentum by their side when they play their next matches of the tournament.
It was the nail biting and intense 2nd knock out match of the Saqib Rizvi Memorial Tournament at Fort Vijay Ground in Mumbai between IES Bandra and Rizvi. Rizvi who have a strong bowling line up elected to bat first after winning the toss.
Though opener Sagar was out without opening his account, Right handed opener Varun Lawande scored almost run a ball half century off just 49 balls. His innings set the tone for other batsman to follow. Atharva Ankolekar was again the pick of the batsman scoring a well crafted 65 off 97 balls. Atharva looked classy and continued his form from the last game where he had scored a half century. With some decent batting, Rizvi managed a decent score of 236 all out in 44 overs.
Chasing at 5.5 runs per over is never that tough but it was a magical spell by Rizvi’s Satyak Patel who changed his team’s fortunes. IES Bandra were all out for 173 and almost all the credit must go to this left arm spinner Satyak Patel who bowled a mesmerizing spell of 7/33 to bamboozle the opposition batsman. Satyak did not only took the 1st wicket of the innings but he kept on breaking partnerships time and again which rattled the IES batting line up.
Rizvi won the 2nd knockout match by a decent margin of 63 runs and spinner Satyak was adjudged ‘man of the match’ for obvious reasons. It was certainly a good day in the office for Rizvi & they will move ahead with vigour and confidence in the next matches of the tournament.
Out of the six solid performances, the expert panel, which boasts of umpires, IPL players and former Ranji players, picked up the top three performances in the form of Musheer Khan, Rahul Kesari and Suryansh Shedge. The panel brainstormed to reach at a consensus and finally chose the terrific three.
Needless to say, these boys have played some excellent cricket in the last 15 days which was considered as the period of judgement. The lads have not only done themselves proud but also made a good name for their school/academy in cricketing sphere. All these three players will be showered with accolades and appreciation for their wonderful accomplishments in the form of gifts, vouchers and certificates of acknowledgement.
1. Musheer Khan of Mumbai U-14 (3 days match) secured the first prize for his fabulous performance with both, bat and ball. He will be awarded an attractive gift from Fireblaze, a cricket equipment shop. The right hand batsman scored a mammoth of 257 runs in 310 balls muscling 34 boundaries against Baroda in the first match of West Zone tournament. He also went on to pick up six wickets in the three day match. Against Maharashtra, Musheer hit 75 runs off 122 balls and again scalped six wickets in the three day affair. Mumbai played its third match against Gujarat in which the child prodigy made a patient 39 off 106 balls and accounted for two wickets in the first innings.
2.Rahul Kesari and Suryansh Shedge won the second and third prize in the second Cricketgraph-Fireblaze Junior Performance Cricket Awards. Both these players will be bestowed with discount vouchers which can be used to buy cricket equipments from Fireblaze at a flat 40% discount.
Rahul Kesari of Swami Vivekanand School Borivali U-16 team impressed one and all with his mindblowing run with the bat. The opening batsman scored two centuries in two matches; 137 and 100. Rahul’s off spin came in handy for Swami Vivekananda, when he rolled his arm over to pick up three wickets in the first match and one wicket in the second game. The all-rounder made 29 runs and chipped in with three wickets in the third match that he played.
3.Playing for Mumbai U-14 alongside Musheer Khan, number four batsman Suryansh Shedge shouldered the batting responsibility with utmost care as he scored big in the three West Zone U-14 matches. Suryansh hit a quickfire 112 runs off 85 balls against Baroda, which was followed by yet another aggressive knock of 54 (42) against Maharashtra. In the third match Shedge smacked 112 of 111 balls and put Mumbai in a commanding position against Gujarat.
The other three contenders who were fighting for this prestigious Cricketgraph-Fireblaze Junior Performance Cricket Awards were Aayush Zimare of Mumbai U-14, Harsh Thatare of PJ Hindu Gymkhana/Achievers Academy and Vinayak Kunwar of Yashodhan School
It was the crucial knockout match between Century Rayon and Reliance Group at Central Maidan in Thane. Two equally strong teams facing each other is always an exciting competition. Winning the toss first Century elected to bat first and capitalize the opportunity of batting first by posting a big target on the board.
Century Rayon managed 143/9 in 24 overs and it was a decent bowling show from the opposition. Hardly any batsman converted their 10’s into a substantial score apart from 23* by Pintu Yadav down the order. Meghan, Mayur and Mangesh were the pick of the bowlers taking 2 wickets each. However, Meghan bowled really tight and also gave 2 important breakthroughs in the game. Infact Meghan took the 1st wicket in the very first ball of the innings and Reliance could not have asked for a better start than this. He also got able support from Mayur and Mangesh too thus restricting Century Rayon to just 143 runs in 24 overs.
Chasing 143, Opener Mayuresh gave a quick start with his 28 ball 35 but it was Sanket Jadhav who played a cool and composed innings of 62 coming off just 54 balls. Sanket smashed 8 fours and did equal amount of good running between the wickets. He also looked composed and timed his shots perfectly in his 54 ball stay at the crease. With the help of a quick 35 by Mayuresh and Sanket’s solid 62, Reliance group won the match by 6 wkts chasing the score in just 17.5 overs.
It was a big win for Reliance as they advance into the tournament with this knockout win, Sanket and Meghan were adjudged ‘man of the match’ for their brilliant individual performances & they will certainly be the players to look for in the coming matches of the tournament.
It was the knockout match between two exciting teams namely Khalsa College & SIWA Wadala at Western Railways Ground in Cross Maidan Mumbai. SIWA elected to bat first after winning the toss and that was exactly what Khalsa anyway wanted as the pitch was favorable for bowlers bowling first.
SIWA Wadala were all out for 169 in 34 overs. Chaitanya Patil & Pravin Bhandari were the only two batsman who looked good and managed to cross the 30 run mark as they scored 32 & 31 respectively with the bat. While Chaitanya opened the innings, it was Pravin who played a cameo down the order. Right arm off spinner Abhishek Shirodkar was the pick of the bowlers taking 3/25 in 8 overs for Khalsa. Shirodkar started off by removing the opener followed by two wickets down the order.
Chasing 170, Khalsa college completed the chase in style and won the match by 4 wickets and 6 overs to spare. Their pick of the batsman was Tasyam Chavan who scored an attacking 65 off just 38 balls. Playing at a strike rate of above 180, he mostly dealt in boundaries as he smashed 11 boundaries in his knock of 65. Chaitanya Abhishek also scored a good 35 at the middle order which further strengthened Khalsa’s chase.
Khalsa college won the knockout match comfortably against SIWA Wadala and Tasyam Chavan was adjudged ‘man of the match’ for his blazing half century at the top of the order. The whole team will certainly carry their positive momentum in the next matches of the tournament.