It was one of the finest encounters we could see between Riazi vs Gundecha. Any pure cricket lover would love this match as not only it was well fought by Gundecha against a strong team but we also got to see great individual performances.
Rizvi had won the toss and elected to bat first. At one point they were 133/4 & Gundecha were looking good. The bowlers leaked a lot of runs after the lunch session and there were also a lot of dropped catches too. Abhinav singh scored a magnificent double century to take his team to a big total. Vinod Mistry also played well for his 64 and so did the lower middle order where all chipped in with little cameos. However, the highlight of their innings was Abhinav as he scored 203 off just 183 balls. Singh was dropped a few times but he capitalized the opportunities to score big. His stroke filled 203 included 30 fours and 4 sixes which meant he was scoring boundaries at will. Rizvi eventually ended their innings at 472/8 declare. Bhavesh sachdev took 3/65 while rudra chipped in with two wickets. Om Vadher also bowled well on the 2nd day picking up 2/49 in 12.3 overs.
Gundecha started off well but the openers gave away their wickets & in came the new little master & the run machine of the season “Suryansh Shedge”. Suryansh who has had a wonderful season continues his golden patch with the bat with a back to back hundred & 3rd of this season. Suryansh who lacked support again from the other side stood like a rock. Suryansh who is aggressive by nature played patient cricket as he knew the game needs to be drawn. Right handed Shedge scored 195 off 183 (11 fours & 3 sixes) while Jai Kanodia’s strong unbeaten defence (7* off 36 balls) to draw the match reminded us of Dravid & Laxman.
Gundecha who fought really hard to survive and draw the match were unluckily all out just 2 overs before the end of the game at 321 (2nd day’s play). Rizvi bowlers did a really good job & Abhinav came all guns blazing with the ball too as he picked up 4/34 in 10.4 overs. Just 12 more balls faced and the match could have been drawn. But that does not take away the efforts put by the Gundecha boys who fought till the last ball. They gave their best & even a test match became exciting to watch.
Abhinav Singh was adjudged man of the match (203 and 4wickets) but such was their spirit and hard work on the crease, even the Rizvi coach and parents clapped & appreciated the tough fight given by the Gundecha team.
It was a crucial semi-final match between Dr.Antonio D’silva school vs St. Xaviers. The match witnessed some amazing moments & performances and it was a good day for the Antonio team as everything had gone in their favor.
After winning the toss, Antonio school decided to bat first as that was what their coach had advised. The team was off to a shaky start where they lost their first 4 wickets under quick succession but Xavier’s were unaware of what was kept in store for them. Two talented batsman stuck to the crease and played wonderful innings to take their team total to 277/5 in 40 overs. Right handed Om Kantak scored a magnificent hundred coming in at no.4. Om completely acted as a savior for his team when wickets were tumbling. His innings was full of patience and class which included 11 fours and a huge six. On the other side was Ved Kerkar whose batting style was complete contrast to Om’s. While Om was all patience and class in his 100* off 131 balls, Ved scored 88 off just 53 balls(17 fours) where he tore apart the bowlers at will. Ved was outright counter-attacking the bowlers and kept the momentum going along with Om. Both the players stitched a match winning partnership of 183 runs which took the game away from St. Xaviers.
Chasing 278 is not tough but it is not easy either & Xavier’s faced the same trickiness facing the Da Silva bowlers. St. Xaviers were all out for 131 in just 34.5 overs and handed over a big win of 143 runs to Dr. Antonio Da Silva school. Ronak waghe(42) was the only one who looked solid against the Antonio bowlers. Off spinner Raj bowler well for his 2/37 & so did Yadnesh jadhav with his 2/25. However, it was Soham nalavade who was pick of the bowlers picking up three wickets (out of which 2 were clean bowled) with his pace.
Om Kantak who scored a great century also followed it up with a wicket (1/24) which made him ‘man of the match” Both the kids look promising and it was a good team performance too which will give them a lot of confidence in the finals.
JSW took on Viacom in a semi final game at the Vengsarkar Academy, Oval on Christmas eve – this being the first trophy round game for either side this season. In slightly damp and dewy conditions, Sachin from Viacom called correctly at the toss and had no hesitation in asking JSW to bat first, hoping his bowlers could extract some advantage from the conditions which were expected to level out by 10:00 am once the sun was fully overhead.
However both the openers from JSW belied this expectation as they rattled up 46 runs in the first 4 overs before Tauseef Khan was caught at the wicket. That brought in the talented Rajesh Pingulkar and what followed was mayhem as 75 runs were scored in the next 5 overs of which Pingulkar hammered 53 (24b, 11×4, 1 x 6) before being dismissed on the last ball before the drinks interval with the score on 121 on the board. The right handed pingulkar was outright entertaining & only dealt in boundaries. At that stage JSW looked set for a score in excess of 250. However excellent bowling by Atul Singh who was the leading bowler for Viacom, helped restore some normalcy while on the other side the JSW batting lost its momentum a little bit – compared to the first 10 overs – finally being bowled out for a score of 203. The target was a mammoth one but Viacom could afford to pat themselves for still pulling back the game at a time when Pingulkar and team looked like batting them out of the tournament.
The chase started in real earnest with Amol and Roshan firing on all cylinders for Viacom. The 2 openers played slam bang cricket scoring at better than a run a ball to reach 36 in 4 overs before Amol mistimed and popped one right back to the bowler. The next 2 partnerships each tried to build on the momentum and kept the run-rate at a steady 8 per over – however the man of the moment was again Pingulkar who took out number 2 and number 3 to leave Viacom reeling at 91/3 in the 13th over. From there on the chase while statistically possible was always going to be a massive task for the remaining batting order. Nothing exemplified this more than the bowling of Ranjit Pillai who triggered a mini collapse with 5 wickets in just 3 overs bowling his gentle breaks which cleaned up the entire middle & lower order. This was also the first 5 wicket hall of the season for any bowler in the Master’s Cup series and would have won him the man of the match award but given Pingulkar’s performance earlier in the morning along with his 2 crucial wickets, the umpires adjudicated in his favor.
Right Arm spinner Ranjit Pillai was particularly quite effective with the ball & hardly allowed any batsman to settle at the crease. Ranjit Pillai also succeeded in containing the batsman which played a very big role in their team’s victory. Ranjit pillai who wasn’t adjudged “man of the match” but his performance was no less than that.
JSW now proceed to take on Johnson & Johnson in the finals – and on current form this looks to be an exciting encounter.
Into their league match of the DGRS cup, Goregaon sports club and Raheja sports club were into a crucial face off. It was important for Raheja to win this match while a win for GSC would mean 4 consecutive wins which will take them to the top of the table.
Goregaon sports club won the toss & elected to bat first which was what they were looking for. Openers Ankit & Kishore hande gave a solid start with a partnership of 60 runs in the first 8 overs. While Ankit was out for 16, Kishore hande continued playing good cricket as he went on to score 55 off just 42 balls. However, things took a huge turn for Raheja as skipper Manoj Biwalkar took the run rate to the roof scoring a destructive 33 ball 60. He also added another 60 runs with Kishore Hande. Right handed Manoj smashed in all parts of the ground & not a single bowler was spared in his innings which included 5 big sixes and 3 fours.
It was because of this onslaught by Manoj, GSC posted a target of 220/5 in 20 overs. Raheja needed 11 runs per over & it was going to be tough anyday. GSC bowlers did a great job as Raheja team was restricted to 158/7 in 20 overs. Manoj the skipper was not done yet as he effectively contributed with the ball too taking 3/32 with his medium pace.
Goregaon sports club won the match 62 runs and continued their winning streak with 4 consecutive wins. Manoj Biwalkar was adjudged man of the match for his all round performance. It was also in good spirits to see Raheja club captain Harshad hardikar handing over the “mom” trophy to Manoj. GSC’s next match will be again SKN sports club & Manoj will be a player to watch out for.
It was a hard fought quarter final match between New Hind Sports Club & Payyade in the Purshottam Shield Tournament. Payyade had elected to field first after winning the toss since they have a solid batting line up to chase the score.
Payyade had a target of restricting them around 300 & partially succeeded in achieving that. New Hind which is equally a strong team as payyade batted well and managed to score 319/10 in 68.3 overs. Sunil Chauri who was dropped earlier was the pick of the batsman with 118 followed by Akshay Jambhekar (49) and Bhavin Thakkar (33). The frontline payyade bowlers did their job as pacer Asif Attarwala and experienced spinner Pardeep Sahu both took two wickets. The bowling was effective but a target of above 300 is always tough to chase. Hence the pressure of chasing was visible on skipper Parag and his team.
Payyade effortlessly chased the target in just 66 overs with the help of Onkar Khanvilkar and Sarfaraz khan. While Onkar is a talented player, we all know about Sarfaraz too. He needs no introduction & in fact it was because of the strong batting line up (till no.9) Payyade took the decision of bowling first. Left-handed Onkar Khanvilkar scored a magnificent 131* (9 fours & 1 six) at almost a run a ball which was completely crucial for Payyade’s victory. Sarfaraz Khan also scored 85* off 76 balls which included some fantastic sweep shots. Both the players stitched a 150+ partnership which took the game in their favor & eventually steered the team to a cruising victory. Fours and sixes smashed by both these players were nothing short of class and grace & they hardly wasted their time in their stay at the crease. To some extent the opposition was under pressure as Sarfaraz was yet to come & he did what was expected from him. The India under 19 & RCB player Sarfaraz khan showed his mettle at the crease while chasing.
Onkar & Sarfaraz both together chased the score in just 66.3 overs and won the quarter final match by 5 wickets and 9 overs to spare. The icing on the cake was Onkar finishing off the match in style with a six to lead his team into the semi-finals. Their coach Umesh Patwal was not present for this match but he would be elated to see his team’s performance and progress.
It was a high scoring and a neck to neck encounter between Super kings and Royals in the KSG 40-40 tournament. Super kings had elected to field first after winning the toss to put the opposition under pressure since they had a strong batting line up.
Royals were off to a terrific start with the help of right handed opener Tarak (70 off 42) & Paresh Valia (33 off 48). Things were sailing smoothly for Royals as they managed to score 313/5 in 40 overs. Rippal Mehta scored an excellent hundred off just 67 balls to help royals make such a good target. Though all the bowlers leaked runs, it was their left arm pacer Viren Mehta who bowled well. The Super Kings skipper took 1/30 in 7 overs where he was the most economical of the lot.
Chasing 314 in 40 overs is not easy but Super Kings were equally off to a good start with their openers Chintan Kanakia and Digesh giving a solid start. Chintan was excellent in his shot selection and scored a valiant 87 (74 balls). However, it was the man of the hour Janak Doshi who played a gem of a knock to take his team to a great victory. Not only did Janak stitched a great partnership with opener Chintan (120 runs in 74 balls) but he also pushed his team to a victory with his 61 ball 96. Scoring at a strike rate of above 150, Janak did not spare any bowlers and scored in every part of the ground en-route his match saving 96 which included 15 fours and an effortless flick towards the leg side for a six.
Though Janak was dismissed on 96, he had already done the job for his team as they managed to reach 314/8 in just 37 overs. Janak fell just 4 runs short of what could have been a memorable century. He was adjudged man of the match & Janak and the whole team will move ahead in the tournament with a lot of positives.
It was the all important quarter final clash between Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala College vs KJ Somaiya. Jhunjhunwala had won the toss and elected to bat first as they wanted to make a big score.
They succeeded with the bat and the decision of batting first did go in their favor as Jhunjhunwala scored 342/7 in 45 overs. Right handed opener Shubham Nave scored a brilliant 62 at the top of the order while Parikshit 66 off 30 and all rounder Shams Mulani (53) also played crucial cameos. Though these batsman chipped in with runs it was Tanush kotian who took everyone’s notice as he scored a flawless 121 off just 80 balls. Tanush who came in at no.6 surprised the opposition as he scored a brilliant innings down the order. His 121 included 9 fours and a six and did equally good running between the wickets. Tanush kept the scorecard ticking as he did not waste time at the crease. Tanush scored freely everywhere but covers was his favorite area as he scored a lot of runs in that area. He was also particularly comfortable against the spinners & targeted them more.
KJ Somaiya were bundled out for just 80 runs in 27.5 overs and Jhunjhunwala won the match by 237 runs. The Jhunjhunwala bowlers did a fantastic job to restrict them to such a low score. All-rounder shams mulani who scored a half century also contributed with the ball taking 4/29. The left arm spinner broke partnerships at will. Bhavin Darji gave equal partnership in bowling to Shams Mulani as he also picked 4/17 in his 4 overs. Left arm spinner Bhavin darji hardly gave any runs & took wickets one by one.
It was a great all-round show by the whole team & especially by “man of the match” Tanush Kotian who also plays for Mumbai Under-19. Tanush looks very promising and he surely has a lot of milestones to achieve in the coming days.
Dynamites and Sankalpan fought neck to neck in the super 8 round of the AT20 championship. Fresh from a close defeat by just one wicket in their previous match, Dynamites came in with a lot of conviction to give their best against Sankalpan. After winning the toss Dynamites decided to field first as chasing a score under 14 overs would give them a bonus point.
Sankalpan were off to a shaky start after both the openers (Sumit & J Mistry) lost their wickets quickly. It was their frontline batsman Ronith Ramesh who played a crucial knock of 88. Mehul who dropped his catch at 40 went on to score 88. Ronith was the sole warrior for Sankalpan as his knock helped them reach a defendable total of 149. A Latkar took two wickets while Shahen Mistry took one wicket (1/29) & also contained the batsman to some extent.
Though Dynamites had a good batting line up, things did not go the way they wanted as they were struggling at 39/5 at one point. In fact they had scored only 50 runs in the first 10 overs until Shahen Mistry(opener) the danger man did not lose his wicket. Shahen who had opened the innings remained unbeaten till the end to help his side win the match in just 17.3 overs. Such was the onslaught of Shahen that he scored his last 50 in just 15-20 balls. Mistry’s knock included 14 fours and 3 sixes & he was outright entertaining throughout his stay at the crease.
Yes this is the same Shahen Mistry who scored an electrifying 69 ball 165 in the first match of the same tournament. His 2nd brutal century in the tournament helped his side to win again & he was adjudged man of the match for his uber glamorous display of batting. Shahen who is at no.2 in the highest run getters list with 366 runs in the tournament is not too far to top the run charts & topple the in-form Sumit Nigade who is at no. 1 with 381 runs.
Considering that Shahen is again back to what he does best, Sankalpan must be planning strategies to face him correctly in their next encounter.
Some people are born to shine and some people reach heights through sheer hard work. Such is the story of this one talented kid called Vedprakash Jaiswal. Suryansh shedge has some serious competition in terms of greatness from this amazingly talented right hander.
It was the 3rd knockout match between VN Sule and Fatima high school. VN Sule who is known for their strong batting line up elected to bat first. They were true to their decision as they went off to a great start though Yash & Harsh were out cheaply. It was their skipper Vedprakash Jaiswal who did the talking with the bat. The right handed opener who scored a 172* in the 1st match again came all guns blazing & scored a mammoth 209 off just 117 balls. Though wickets were tumbling from the other end, Jaiswal played with complete ease and authority. Vedprakash was completely brutal and hardly spared any bowlers of the opposition. His 209 included 32 fours and 3 sixes out of which his flick(six) towards the deep midwicket against a fast bowler was his personal favorite. Being a right-handed wicket-keeper batsman himself, Ved gave us strong memories of the legendary right handed wicket keeper batsman Adam Gilchrist who is till date considered to be one of the most devastating wicket keeper batsman in world cricket.
Jaiswal’s 209 and samarth’s 31 helped their team reach a total of 314/9 in 45 overs where almost 60% of the runs were scored by Jaiswal himself. What’s more interesting is, Ved’s coach had told him to atleast make a total target of 250 or more to defend. But such was the day he alone himself scored a 209! Vedprakash was there right till the end and was dismissed in the 43rd over trying to pull in the midwicket.
Chasing such a big score, Fatima school succumbed to the pressure and were faltered out for just 126 giving a huge victory by 188 runs to VN sule. right arm spinner Atharva bhosle took 5 wickets and was pick of the bowlers. Bhosle was majestic with the ball where 3 out of 5 wickets were clean bowled. VN Sule won the match in style & skipper Vedprakash Jaiswal was awarded man of the match for his heroics with the bat.
Vedprakash Jaiswal who is looking so bright for his coming future dedicated this knock not only to his hard working father and mother but also dedicated it to his coaches Gopal sir & Ashok sir who dedicate their time and hard work over him. His father Jaiprakash jaiswal who used to be a budding cricketer himself in his early days wishes that his son completes all his dreams where he fell short off & he must be feeling proud of his son for sure.
- Another exciting match took off between Vikroalians Sports Club team & Achievers Rock in the Junior Champions League (Boys under 12 Cricket Tournament) organised by N L Dalmia High School. Achievers team had won the toss and elected to field first. The decision went in Vikhrolians favor as they wanted to bat first.
The decision did go in their favor but they faced initial trouble as Vikhro team were at one point 3 down for just 4 runs. The opposition had complete control over the batsman until Bhavya and Ram Mayekar became the saving grace for their team. Both the batsman and especially Mayekar fought like a warrior to help their team come out of the trouble. Left handed Ram mayekar’s knock was very important because Vikhrolians could have not reached 137/9 in 25 overs if he had not remained unbeaten on 48*. Ram came up with this knock when almost his whole team had collapsed. Mayekar was comfortable against both the pacers as well as the spinners & smashed 6 fours en route his match saving innings.
Achievers (Red) were given a target of 138 to chase in 25 overs. Aryan pawar from vikhro was stunning with the ball picking up 4 important wickets of the opposition & not allowing a single batsman to settle at the crease. The right arm medium pacer really bowled well & also got decent support from Swayam. Achievers were all out for 82 in 18.5 overs & Vikhrolians Sports Club won the match comfortably by 54 runs.
This win will certainly give a lot of confidence to the Vikhrolians Sports Club boys & they will move ahead in their next match against Police Club with renewed confidence and energy.
