It was a match which had kept everybody’s nerves high. It was the finals of the police shield tournament between Karnataka and M.I.G Cricket club who fought their way to the finals after playing some really good cricket!
Winning the toss first, it was expected that Karnataka would put themselves to bat first as they have a strong batting line up. Their decision reaped dividends as they managed a mammoth 502/7 in the first innings which included a 123 from Eknath Kerkar & a fantastic double century from the talented Shivam Dubey who scored 211*. Shivam played a gem of an innings and it came at the right time when it was needed in the high staked finals! Though he was initially reluctant to play shots since the ball was seaming and the bowlers were really bowling good. Dubey stayed calm for the first hour but started scoring freely once he crossed his century. M.I.G managed to put a good show scoring 276/4 in 40 overs.
Karnataka again posted a big total in 2nd innings declaring at 400/8. In reply, M.I.G again managed to work hard but it wasn’t enough as they lost by 86 runs. Eknath Kerkar’s performance cannot be sidelined as he again scored a back to back hundred in the 2nd innings too for Karnataka where in his team eventually won the match and Shivam Dubey was awarded “man of the match” for his 211.
THE TOP PERFORMERS OF POLICE SHIELD TOURNAMENT
The tournament was quite a success and a lot of players came out emerging from the tournament right from the likes of Harsh Tank who was awarded “man of the tournament” for his great batting in the tournament which included a huge 182 and 94. Tank also took 6 wickets along with a string of good knocks.
Right arm off spinner Akshay Ghirap was awarded “bowler of the tournament” for taking 15 wickets in 4 matches for Karnataka with his fifer against Jain Irrigation being his personal favorite in terms of performance.
While Eknath Kerkar of Karnataka was the “batsman of the series” with his twin centuries in the finals being the highlights of his performance in the tournament while Sahil Madgaonkar of M.I.G was awarded the best fielder of the tournament.
Not only was the tournament a success but it also gave many players the wings to perform. It won’t be a surprise if we get to see a few names like Shivam Dubey, Akshay Ghirap amongst others come in the reckoning for the IPL.
Winning the toss first Abbott had some clear things in mind before coming to the crease. As their coach also mentioned they wanted to bat first and give a good target. Plus the pitch was good to bat on, Abbott managed a good start with their players chipping in with important cameos.
Abbotts performance was mainly highlighted by two brilliant knocks from Shantanu Chaudhary and Nilesh Gadekar. While Shantanu did not spared a single bowler covering all parts of the ground with his 33 ball 60 laced with 8 fours and a six, it was also good to see Nilesh playing the anchors role to perfection scoring a well timed and a classy half century (59) off 50 balls to help their side reach a decent total of 158/4 in 20 overs.
Chasing 158 is not a big thing but always tricky & the same thing happened with Hindustan Unilever team. Though they had a good start and they did not lose too many wickets but they managed for reach only 152 with the loss of 4 wickets in 20 overs. Mario fernandes’s heroics went in vain as he scored a gutsy 69 runs off just 59 balls which also had 2 sixes!
It was a match which remained exciting till the last over but eventually Abbott won the match by 6 runs. Rightfully, Shantanu’s brilliant 33 ball 60 made him earn man of the match award too! The team as a whole and Shantanu will be in good state of mind in the coming matches considering their wonderful win against the equally competitive Hindustan Unilever!
It was the 3rd match of Group C league of the AT20 Championship Trophy, Hellbenders skipper did had a few things in mind like they wanted to bat first, make a big target & put opposition under pressure, but it did not went that way as Hellbenders lost the toss and they were made to bowl. But as they say, whatever happens, happens for good, and this applied to the Hellbenders team too as they restricted the Talathy team to just 102 in 16.3 overs.
Though Talathy team went off to a good start with just one wicket lost for 69 runs in the first ten overs. It was their skipper Bhudev Yadav who turned the match around with a blazing 4-wicket haul. Bhudev took two wickets twice in two overs taking crucial breakthroughs and cleaning up the entire middle and lower order. His bowling spell was actually the turning point of the match & a major reason that Talathy & Panthaky got restricted to just 102.
As the skipper himself stated, the third and the fourth match were really crucial for them to advance ahead in the league, hence winning this was important. Hellbenders lived up to their name actually acting like hell to the opposition bowlers finishing off the match in just 13.2 overs. Fahad’s 28 ball 49 which included 8 fours played an important knock for his side
Eventually hellbenders managed an easy win over Talathy & Panthaky with their skipper Bhudev Yadav being adjudged man of the match! No doubt, Hellbenders will move ahead for the next match with a lot of confidence and a positive approach towards the game.
5th Contest of FPL Season VIII was set to roar at Beautiful Venue of Virar at Narangi Ground between 2 tough competitors who had memorable history of playing the game of cricket with each other and had always nail biting games in past 7 years and same was expected to transpire on 19th Nov’16.
The day began with National Anthem by both the teams and wishes to each other for the contest followed by toss winning by HI fliers and elected to bat first lead to another nail biting contest for teams and audience to witnessed concluded with entertaining win during last over of the game 2 balls & 3 wickets to spare.
Opener Ganesh Patil , Nilesh and Prateek has laid foundation of exciting game followed by super entertaining cameos by ShriNath Daange 4-4-1-4-6 =19 with strike rate of 380% and match winning notch by Roger 1-1-1-6-1-2-4- 4 = 20 with strike rate 0f 250% has seized the exceptional win for TCC which placed TCC on top of the table on that very day. Though it was batting led performances but can’t rule out the importance of fielding and TCC also done exceeding well started with Excellent Catch at short mid-off by Palu Gadvi and 2 brilliant runs outs by Ganesh and Nilesh brought TCC back to the game helped to restrict opponent at 165 runs at the end of 20overs
Ganesh Patil was adjudged Man of the Match for his entertaining notch of the day 45runs runs with strike rate of 150% with sky rocket three 6s and bullet alike five 4s.
IT WAS RETURN BIRTHDAY GIFT to TCC BY A SUPER ENTERTAINING OPENER. HAPPY BRITHDAY TO GANESH PATIL
no doubt they batted well and posted a good 166 on the board in 20 overs which also included a splendid knock of 76 off just 43 balls. Though TC’S skipper had a target of restricting them to 140 but it was because of this aggressive knock from Jigar which included 8 fours and 5 sixes that pushed his team’s total to 166, at one point they even looked good to score 180-190 but as wickets kept on falling from the other end, it became a little tough.
Jigar who was finally castled of a good ball from spinner Naresh Gadvi getting stumped by the keeper! But his job was not done yet as he even took two wickets with the ball. While Ganesh Patil was adjudged man of the match for giving a great start, it was also good to see Jigar Shah of Highflyers stating that ‘this knock of mine is dedicated to my best friend”
All in all it was an entertaining match which ended in good spirits & we wish that FPL may witness much more exciting games in times to come and keep entertaining viewers and participants.
ALL THE BEST TO BOTH THE TEAM FOR ALL FORTHCOMING GAMES .
HAPPY CRICKET & LET THE ENTERTAINMENT CONTINUE
Hailing from a cricketing family, Ankit is one of the talented cricketers we can one across at local level. Cricket runs in his blood and so is the hunger to score and prove. Playing against Central Railways, Nirlon won the toss and elected to field first since the pitch was moist and tricky to bat on. In fact the first day of this 3 day game of the Times B Division of the Times Cricket Shield Tournament was washed off because of bad pitch.
Putting the opposition to bat first, Central Railways did put up a good show making 381 Runs including a good 150 from Pravin Shetty. Nirlon had a huge task for sure after a good performance from Central Railways & in came Ankit Shastri who played a gem of an innings. As he himself said, the pitch was tough to bat on and the ball was moving on a moist wicket, hence all Ankit was looking for was to spend time at the crease and stitch good partnerships.
Not only did he created good partnerships and spent adequate time at the crease, he also scored a fighting century scoring 108 off 153 balls which surprisingly had as many as 18 boundaries. Left Hander Ankit who is known to be dashing and a penchant to score big runs played a perfect match winning knock to draw the match from a situation where his team could have also lost the game. Though he did faced some initial trouble from pacers like Kushal Kakkad & Vinit Dhulap but he eventually faced them & scored runs at the right time.
Fresh from a century against Central Railways, Ankit will be certainly into the spying eyes of the bowlers for his upcoming match against Intelenet!
The third round of Harris Shield match between Cathedral & John Cannon vs IES was a good competition where in Cathedral school won the toss and put themselves to bat first. The team reached a fighting total of 181/8 in 45 overs out of which No.3 batsman Shreyas Saraf scored a splendid 75*.
Shreyas was cool and batted like a pro remaining unbeaten till the end, just exactly what his coach and team needed from him. Shreyas who is known for his calm temperament at the crease and building the innings did exactly what his role was.
IES were put through some grueling bowling sessions and their Batsman were consistently kept troubled by Krish and Sumir. Left arm off spinner Krish Shah was the man of the hour putting strong performance with the ball taking a five wicket haul for his 5/24. He got adequate support from medium pacer Sumir Zhaveri too who grabbed important breakthroughs with his 3/37.
Bundling the IES school for 132 & winning the match by 49 runs, no one from their side apart from Yash’s 35 looked solid enough to face their bowling. Cathedral & John Connon who has a lot of support from their school management and principal to nurture the talents surely has an in form set of players in their arsenal to prepare themselves for the next round of matches!
It was Balmohan Vidyamandir Team’s day for sure putting excellent performance both with he bat as well as with the ball. Winning the toss first and electing to bat first, the coach and the team already had strategies in mind. Left Handed Opener Sanket Gawari was advised by his coach to stay at the crease for 45 overs and the boy exactly followed his coach’s advice with an unbeaten 106* not-out standing throughout the innings like a rock.
It was one of the most beautiful innings to see as Gaware not only managed to survive the entire 45 overs, his patience and persistence at the crease was also noteworthy as his coach himself applauded that fact. Such was his batting, Gaware instilled confidence in other batsman too helping Atharva and Mihir carve out crucial knocks of 44 and 34 respectively. Sanket was also instrumental in creating good partnerships with the batsman supporting his team to reach a total of 252 in 45 overs. Though Jash Dedhia took 4 wickets for Billabong but the damage was already inflicted.
Billabong started on a good note until off spinner Shreyash Pathak came in and disturbed the batsman with four wickets for 41 runs. Part time off spinner Yash Parab also chipped in with 3 wickets including a wicket where Gaware took a stunner of a catch dismissing Jash Dedhia which was the turning point of the match. Jash is a big player and can single handedly take away matches, quite evident from the fact that he scored 60 from a team’s total of 99 runs & also took 4 wickets.
It was a very important match for Balmohan to qualify to the next level of Harris Shield
Tournament and they righty came out with the perfect show. They have more tough matches to come & all they have in strategy is to again make a big score & put opposition under pressure!
Into the third round of Harris Shield, Anjuman Islam school faced with a shocker of a defeat getting knocked out in the league round itself. Anjuman winning the toss elected to bat first. VN Sule bowled with a lot of discipline and put great efforts to restrict a powerful line up of Anjuman Islam to just 195 in 45 overs.
Left armer Ayush Zimre yielded magic with the ball bowling almost half of the quota of 45 overs and picking up a record seven wickets. His 7/64 in 20 overs was a special effort and certainly dismantled the entire batting unit of Anjuman Islam.
Though not a small target but it was definitely chaseable & it became all the more chaseable because of a very very special knock coming from the bat of Vaibhav Kamble. His was a wonderful innings exuding poise and class along with lots of temperament. Though wickets were getting lost from the other side, Vaibhav was strong as a wall not allowing himself to get distracted! The match reached an exciting climax when six runs were needed of the last six balls and Yash Alvi came in with a match winning shot at the fag end when three runs were required from the last three balls hitting a fortunate shot above short third man
Considering a wonderful show put by VN Sule against a big team like Anjuman Islam, VN Sule is definitely a team not to be underestimated in the coming matches of Harris Shield Tournament.
Already getting the license to play their natural game from their skipper, Jai Gaba and his opening partner went for the kill right from the start of the innings against CEX. Winning the toss first, they wanted to post a good target as Jai mentioned and hence playing with composure as well as aggression was the need of the game. Quite evident from the fact that the openers amassed 75-80 runs in the first 10 overs itself.
Though it was a match without a powerplay making it a little difficult to score freely but Gaba took his chances to score and smash boundaries whenever it was required. His 29-ball 40 was quite influential torwads his team total reaching 145 in 20 overs.
It helped his side to put a good show with the ball too restricting the opposition to 115 & winning the match by 30 runs. Man of the match Jai Gaba whose only regret was giving away his wicket on a slow bouncer has stated he will look to smash such balls for a six the next time & will also see to correct his mistakes which he did in his last innings.
Jai also stated that he and his team are practicing hard to improve their game as more tough matches are about to come. Considering the dedication Jai is putting, Gaba will surely be one of the openers to look out for in the tournament.
The Dreamz T-20 Corporate Trophy 2016-17 Pre-quarter final Match Between Reliance Capital VS E.Clerk. Reliance Capital did the smart thing putting E.Clerk to bat first since they had a good bowling line up. The smart move certainly worked in their favor as E.Clerk could manage only 106 runs as Reliance were quite effective and tight in their bowling. Also kudos to off-spinner Rahul Jadhav who took four wickets for his side. Rahul got adequate support from all the bowlers including from man of the match Bharat Singh who picked up a wicket too.
It was already planned by the Reliance Capital team & their skipper that they will bowl well and restrict E.Clerk to a low total around 100 since they have a good bowling attack. The team succeeded on their plans and it was now the batsman’s turn to play their role & Bharat Singh completely performed that role with perfection apart from taking a wicket with the ball too.
Bharat though an attacking batsman kept his nerves at the crease & played extremely practical cricket. Singh just believed that playing straight as much as possible and not playing reckless shots would help him & his side get a comfortable victory. Singh exactly did that and scored a valiant 52 ball 62 not out laced with 9 boundaries and a wonderful six towards the short end. Though he was a bit cautious against the spinners, but Singh mostly targeted the pace bowlers scoring maximum boundaries against them. Bharat also scored a lot of runs towards the leg side which also included some perfectly timed boundaries.
As Bharat Singh himself said ‘it was important to respect the good deliveries but at the same time punish the bad ones, while one specific medium pace bowler Ashish from the opposition was tough to decode though he was not fully utilized by his skipper”
Though Bharat has no specific plans for the coming matches, he just wishes to continue playing good cricket and put more hard work to improve his game & his team’s performance.