Venue : Elf Vengsarkar Cricket Ground Mumbai | Match Scorecard | Tournament Details
Star India are the winners of 6th edition of Masters Cup, organized by One World of Sports.
IL&FS: 160/7 in 20 overs (A Patil 74, S Shinde 25*, R Deo 2/22, M Kumar 2/26)
Star India: 162/4 in 18.3 overs (R Pawar 65, R Naik 41*, M Kanitkar 2/26, N Sarfare 1/29)
Report:
One team playing for the first time in a tournament, reached the final courtesy its strong batting line up. Other team a seasoned campaigner, already won a title recently, high on confidence and favorite to emerge winner. Both teams boasting of some really good players and a never-say-die attitude are up against each other. The first team being IL&FS and Star India being the other one. Everyone expected it to be a close fought contest. Star won it comfortably at the end, courtesy their brilliant bowling and exceptional batting but IL&FS had their chances.
IL&FS won the toss and elected to bat first. A lot was expected from the top order who had steered their team right through the tournament. But this was a different day. In IL&FS innings, top three went cheaply. Varun Madnani went for 0 in the very first over itself. After that Kanitkar was given out LBW. Nikhil Sarfare also threw away his wicket after consuming 26 balls for his 8 runs. These three had been the leading scorers for ILFS in previous matches of the tournament. So it came as a shock that these 3 were dismissed very cheaply and ILFS were on back foot within the first 3-4 overs itself.
Someone was required to stay at the wicket and bat through the overs in order to pose any challenge to Star India. Half the side was back in the pavilion in the 10th over with just 52 runs on the board. They were in danger of getting all out inside the 100 run mark. But one man, Akshay Patil played a gem of an innings and transpired what could be one of the best turn around ever seen. Without much support from any other batsman, Patil single handed took the attack to the opposition and struck a brilliant 74 (51 balls, 10×4) and took his team out of deep waters. S Shinde also played a good cameo of 25* to take the score to a respectable 160.
M Kumar was the chief tormentor with the ball as he removed both the openers in his first spell. He was well supported by S Bhalerao and skipper Randhir Deo.
Star’s innings was characterized by the fact that they never let the required run rate slip from the beginning. Batsmen were aggressive from the very first ball. Even though the score was high, every batsman who came in got the scoreboard ticking so required run rate was never a problem at any stage of the match. They lost 4 wickets in all, 2 of them taken by M Kanitkar. Only time when the match could have taken a twist was around the 11-12th over when it was hanging in balance, slightly in favour of Star. A couple of wickets at that stage would have given IL&FS a good chance to make a comeback in the match but that was not to be.
Opener Rajendra Pawar, who made 65, ensured that Star were comfortable in their chase. When he got out at the 12th over juncture, IL&FS had the chance to come back but it did not happen. Right from the first ball, Star were chasing the target with a clear plan in mind and opening partnership of 50 odd runs gave them the impetus. From there on, it was some consistent batting by the top order. They chased the target in the 19th over itself and won the match and the tournament.
Akshay Patil and Rajendra Pawar were jointly given the man of the match award for playing equally important innings for their respective teams. Rajendra Pawar and Nikhil Sarfare won the best batsman and best bowler of the tournament respectively. The awards were handed over by Mr. Nitin Kukreja from Star India, Mr. Chandan Pawar, Skipper, KPMG and Mr. Saurabh Singh, skipper, Axis Consulting.
Captain’s Corner:
Nirav Jagad, captain, IL&FS, says, “It has been a fascinating journey for the last 3 months or so. We participated in this tournament for the very first time and to reach the finals is very satisfying but not surprising. When I look at the talent in the line-up and the strong bench strength I am hopeful for a better outcome next time around. The attitude of boys has been quite remarkable as they have accommodated a lot to put on the show they did, balancing work, home and passion for game. So a big thank you to their families as well. Coming to the game, we did very well to post 160 after losing our openers without much on the board. It reiterates the quality of line up. We just needed a few things to go our way as well. This experience has made us better cricketers and will come handy in our future games.”
Randhir Deo, captain, Star India says, “It was a well fought match by both the teams. IL&FS finished their innings on high even after losing early wickets. We didn’t lose hope and our batsmen went after their bowling from the first ball. It was a gripping final which eventually went in our favour. Taste of victory is always sweeter. The year 2015 has turned out to be a great year for us. We have played excellent cricket and won trophies and already eyeing one more to finish the season on a high.”
About the tournament: Masters Cup Series, organized by One world of Sports is the most popular corporate cricket series in the city. The company itself is a premium sports management company.
Ashutosh Goel, Director, One world of Sports says, “It has been great fun having so many teams participate in the tournament. My congratulations to both the teams to reach the finals and I hope they have enjoyed it as much as we have. We look forward to see these guys play more in the years to come.”
Report Courtesy: Ashutosh Goel, Director, One World of Sports
Match Report by:
Sumanyu Jain
Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph
Summary (Season 3, Match #25):
Delhi Falcons: 171/8 in 20 overs (Saurabh 47, Kanav 35, Ruchit 21, Apoorv 21; Ritesh 3/26) defeated
Realtors: 156/8 in 20 overs (Gaurav 64; Kumud 3/35, Mohitt 3/27, Shaan 2/26) by 15 runs
Having failed to defeat Realtors in previous all encounters, Falcons came face to face yet again with them for the last match of the season 3 for a one final go. Falcons captain Apoorv who was running out of luck with the coin for the past few games, called it correctly this time and had no hesitation to bat first. Ruchit and Apoorv started the Falcon innings and again got them to a flier as in the last couple of games. Both took on the Realtor bowlers in the powerplay and Falcons raced to 51/0 in 5 overs.
Realtors introduced Ritesh as the first chang. He first got Ruchit caught at long on boundary and then trapped Apoorv in front while playing across in the same over. Suddenly Falcons found themselves at the backfoot with both their openers back in the pavilion. Agney became Ritesh’s third victim when he was cleaned up trying to force one to break the shackles. Saurabh tried to rebuild the innings holding up one end and Aakash gave him company. Both tried to just nudge the ball around taking ones and twos. Their 35 run partnership ended in the 13th over with Aakash’s departure. Khurram got one rough decision from the umpire when he was adjudged caught behind when the ball had just brushed his pads and was sent back in disbelief. Mohsin didn’t last long getting run out going for non-existent single.
From 51/0 in 5 to 113/6 in 14, it looked like Falcons had lost their way. Kanav joined Saurabh in the middle who was going steady but running short of partners. Both of them played sensibly and did all the hardwork running for everything and converting singles into twos. Saurabh hit one right at the sight screen against seasoned bowler Sushil. Both were dismissed in the last over, Saurabh perished trying to play a scoop over fine leg’s head and saw his leg stump being dislodged. He departed for a well-made 47(38). Kanav was run out of the last ball of the innings for 35(21). Both of them helped Falcons post a respectable 171 in 20 overs.
With a RRR of 8.5 an over, Realtors openers played first two overs of Kanav and Kumud watchfully. Then they came with all guns blazing attacking Kanav and Kumud both in their second overs taking 15 and 12 runs respectively. The score raced to 42 in 4 overs. Apoorv brought in Mohit the only recognized spinner in the line-up in the 5th over itself, a bit early than usual. He was brought in to provide a breakthrough and responded instantly. Got Gaurav caught behind by Apoorv to a quicker one and the threatening partnership was broken. Shaan was brought in and he too bowled a tight 6th powerplay over giving just 3 runs. Mohit struck again in his second over again to a quick catch behind the stumps by Apoorv.
In a span of three overs Falcons pulled back things with Realtors 54/2 in 7. However Gaurav who was well set counterattacked in Shaan’s second over taking 13 runs from 8th and 10 runs in the 9th over. Saurabh was introduced in the 10th over and bowled 2 tight overs. Kumud was brought back to disrupt the partnership and he obliged the captain by removing Ruchit and breaking the 53 run 3rd wicket stand. But Saurabh’s 3rd over proved costly, Gaurav completing his half century taking 12 runs. With 52 to get of 36 and 7 wickets in hand, Realtors looked in complete control.
Mohit started the 15th over and was clobbered for a six over long off by Gaurav stepping out. After some planning between the bowler and captain, Mohit bowled two full deliveries quicker through the air beating the batsman. Expecting Gaurav to come down the track, then bowled the next one short and wide getting him stumped to a quick glove work behind the stumps by Apoorv. 45 of 30 was very much still gettable. Shaan bowled the 16th with immaculate line and length. He bumped in one short and got the batsman to top edge and Apoorv claimed his 4th dismissal of the night.
Still 37 were needed of 24 now. Saurabh bowled another tight 17th over and the equation just toughened to 32 of 18. Shaan came back to bowl his last and team’s 18th over. He bowled a well disguised slower bouncer getting the batsmen hit straight to Mohsin at square leg. Kumud started the 19th over straying on the leg side conceding a boundary of the very first ball to make it 22 of 11. But came back strongly breaking the stumps of number 7 and 8 and bringing the curtains down on any chance of revival for Realtors.
With improbable 21 to get of last over, Kanav’s pace and line was too much to handle for Realtors tailenders who could only manage 5, conceding victory to Falcons by 15 runs in this trilling match. Falcons broke the jinx against Realtors by winning the last match of the season.
Report Courtesy: Falcons Staff
Cricket is played on a 22 yard strip commonly known as a “pitch”. Nothing new! But have you ever wondered why in every international and domestic match and for that matter even in local cricket, there is ample focus on this strip?
Everyone talks about turning pitches, hard and bouncy pitches and flat tracks but have you ever wondered how such different types of pitches are created?
The people who create this “22 yard strip” are The Pitch Curators. Whatever different nature of pitches exist around the world, whether in international or domestic grounds, they require a lot of maintenance and hard work by the pitch curators in order to make them match-fit and last the duration of the match.
Focussing on local cricket, we met Ram Karan, pitch curator of Shradhanand College Ground, Delhi University and tried to understand the basics of pitch making.
He explains the process in brief as follows:
“After digging, first we put hard gravel followed by soft gravel, 6 inches each. Post that it is levelled and sand is filled. After putting the bricks, black soil to the height of 1-1.5 feet is put in and levelled. The pitch is thoroughly rolled. What we have created here is a hard wicket. It has a lot of cracks.”
He guarantees 200 overs without the use of spikes and is very much confident about his work.
But it’s not only about creating the pitch. What’s more important is the maintenance and that is where the curator’s expertise is the most important. It’s high time the pitch curators get their due, especially on local grounds as it is because of them that the cricketers get a base to play and create a name for themselves. Without them, cricket cannot exist, literally. It is “the platform” we always talk about.
Keep following CricketGraph for further insights into local cricket.
Article by
Sumanyu Jain
Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph
Venue: Navroj Cricket Club
A clinical all-round performance from Ajit Sonavadekar powered Abbott Healthcare to a 4 wicket win over Piramal Healthcare in the semi-final of Milan Memorial Tournament, Plate Division (40 over). With this loss, Piramal are out of the tournament while Abbott will have a shot at the trophy in the finals.
Piramal won the toss and elected to bat first. They were off to a bad start as half the team was back in the pavilion by the 10th over with only 37 runs on the board. Ajit removed the openers Aravindan and Ronak while Anand gave away his wicket to S. Bhoir after consuming 39 balls to score 15 runs.
Rahul and Vinayak stopped the fall of wickets for next 7 overs and scored 33 runs in the process. But once their partnership was broken, there was no stopping to Abbott bowlers who rattled the lower half of the batting with some accurate bowling. As a result, Piramal were all out for paltry 116 in the 27th over. Extras totalled to 30 and was the second highest score of the innings after Vinayak’s 33. Sandesh Bhoir captured 3 wickets while Ajit, Sandesh Agare and Sandeep managed a couple of wickets each.
Abbott’s innings were not a cake walk either. After the opening pair of Shankaran and Sandesh were separated in the 4th over, someone was required to hold one end and steer the innings. Ajit provided that solidity and scored 40 runs off 46 balls. He had short but crucial partnerships with Shankaran, Puneet and Sandesh Bhoir. He was the last man dismissed when the team score was 91 in the 21st over. But Ritesh and Vivek helped their team cross the line with no further hiccups.
Piramal’s Amol and Rahul bowled superbly for their 2 wickets each but the score put up by their batsmen was too less to pose any serious threat to the chasing team.
Ajit Sonavadekar for his all-round effort of 40 runs and 2 wickets was adjudged man of the match.
Brief Scores:
Piramal: 116 all out in 26.4 overs (Vinayak 33, S Bhoir 3/22, Sandeep 2/17)
Abbott: 119/6 in 24.5 overs (Ajit 40, Reetesh 17*, Rahul 2/23, Amol 2/28)
Match Report by:
Sumanyu Jain
Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph
Venue: Youth Own Union Plot 7 (Cross Maidan)
Due to some fine bowling performance lead by Shrinivas and excellent tactics by skipper Sudip Jadhav, CIPLA defended a score of 125 to emerge as the winners of Milan Mega Corporate League 2015 by defeating RMPL by 3 runs. It also created an absolute cracker of a match which could easily have been a one sided victory for RMPL.
In this all important final, RMPL were lucky with the coin and decided to field first. It can be said that they were spot on in the field as they restricted their opposition to just 125 runs. Throughout the innings, they never let a partnership prosper and were able to contain the CIPLA batsmen. Top 5 batsmen were back in the hut with only 70 runs on the board in the 11th over. They might have been in worse situation had their skipper Sudip not played a quick fire knock of 24 runs from 15 balls. But after he got out, the run rate started to decline. It was only due to no. 9 batsman Rajkumar’s sensible 38* that CIPLA could put up a respectable total on the board.
RMPL had a great day in the field as they affected as many as 4 run outs. Rest of the work was done by the bowlers. Dinesh More was the pick of the bowlers picking up 2 wickets and giving away just 14 runs.
At the halfway stage, it was RMPL’s game as 126 is a cake walk on most days. But this was not one of those days. They were off to a steady start as openers scored 32 runs for the first wicket. Even beyond the opening stand RMPL had the match in their control till the 16th over as they had scored 97 runs for the loss of only 2 wickets. But at this point the match turned on its head.
They lost 2 more wickets at the same score and then they ran out of gas. They lost wickets in a heap with CIPLA bowler Shrinivas being the chief tormentor taking 3 wickets. As many as 4 batsmen ran themselves out and it was the final nail in the coffin. At the start of 20th over they needed 10 runs to win with 5 wickets in hand. But only 6 runs were added to the total at the loss of 4 more wickets and they eventually ended for 122 runs thereby losing by 3 runs.
CIPLA captain Sudip says, “We had almost defended a score of less than 100 against RMPL earlier in the tournament. Though we lost that match, we knew that RMPL will make mistakes if we keep things tight in the field. We were losing the match till the 16th over but some great fielding and stellar bowling performance especially by Shrinivas enabled us to get back into the game and pull it off.”
Shrinivas Bommera was adjudged the man of the match for his turn around bowling performance. Kaushal Modi and Dinesh More from RMPL were adjudged the best batsman and bowler respectively. Rajkumar Shinde walked away with the man of the Series title.
Brief Scores:
CIPLA: 125/9 in 20 overs (Rajkumar 38*, Sudip 24, Dinesh 2/14)
RMPL: 122/9 in 20 overs (Shrinath 41, Prathmesh 25, Shrinivas 3/13)
Match Report by:
Sumanyu Jain
Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph
Suraj Sharma’s scintillating knock of 82 (51 balls, 4×11, 6×2) and Jayesh Whagmare’s quick fire unbeaten 37* (15 balls, 4×4, 6×2) enabled ICC overhaul a target of 177 in just 17 overs to defeat Dinsodhi Sports Club in DSC Challenge Cup.
Dinsodhi Club scored 174/9 in their allotted 20 overs. Manish Pandey top scored with 62 (57 balls, 4×4, 6×1). He was well supported by Shutanshu (51 runs, 39 balls, 4×6, 6×1).
Suraj Sharma for his excellent knock was adjudged man of the match.
Exclusive coverage only on CricketGraph
Riding on a superlative show from the bowlers and some sensible batting, Kotak defeated Airtel One by 8 wickets with more than 3 overs to spare to enter the final of Milan Corporate League, Champions Division. It was an important match for both teams as it would have brought them within the winning distance to the trophy. But as is the rule, only one will advance and it was Kotak’s day in the field.
Put in to bat first after losing the toss, Airtel were off to a nightmarish start. They lost Jitesh in the second over of the innings. As it turned out, it was not only a nightmarish start but a day to forget for Airtel as none of their batsmen could really stand up to Kotak bowlers as the innings crumbled to 82 all out in just the 15th over. Only Kalpesh (13), Mayank (21) and Prakash (16*) could enter doublt digits as the rest of the batting collapsed. Kotak’s bowlers had a great day. Meer captured 4 wickets and gave away only 10 runs while Tushar scalped 3. Bhavesh and Sagar managed 2 and 1 wicket respectively.
The writing was on the wall after the first innings itself but 83 still had to be chased. After losing Premal cheaply, Ritin and Ajit played sensibly and showed no urgency to overhaul the score. Ritin got out on a personal score of 17. Ranjit joined Ajit in the middle and with no further hiccups, they chased down the total in the 17th over. Airtel’s bowlers bowled well but there wasn’t much hope with such a low total to defend. Ravi and Prakash managed a wicket each.
Meer Ibrahm, for his devastating spell of 4-1-10-4 was adjudged man of the match.
Airtel’s Kalpesh Mehta says, “We tried to be too aggressive and played too many shots and lost early wickets. Therefore we were not able to build the momentum. We bowled well to get Kotak to play till the 17th over but the score was too less to pose a challenge to Kotak batsmen.”
Brief Scores:
Airtel One: 82 All out in 14.5 overs (Mayank 21, Prakash 16, Meer 4/10, Tushar 3/19)
Kotak: 85/2 in 16.2 overs (Ajit 32*, Ranjit 31*, Ravi 1/15, Prakash 1/23)
Match Report by:
Sumanyu Jain
Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph
Today’s matches of Milan Corporate Tournament, Mumbai are as follows:
Milan Mega Corporate League 2015 Red Ball T20 Plate Group Final: CIPLA vs RMPL
Milan Corporate League 2015 Red Ball T20 Champions Division Semi-final: Kotak vs Airtel
Milan Memorial Tournament 2015 40 Over Semi-final: Piramal vs Abbott @Azad Cross Maidan
Keep following CricketGraph for exclusive coverage and match reports.
Admissions are open for the Summer Camp 2015 at Madan Lal Cricket Academy for age group of 8 years and above.
Matches will be provided to players and best players will be selected for High Performance Academy Program.
Venue: Siri Fort Sports Complex, August Kranti Marg, Khel Gaon, New Delhi
Registration form is available online on the academy website: www.madanlalcricketacademy.com
For detailed review of the academy, keep following CricketGraph.
Venue: M.B Union (Cross) Mumbai | Match Scorecard | Tournament Details
Riding on Pradeep’s all round show and support from Vikas, Sagar and Ashwith, Societe Generale entered the semi-final of Dreamz Champions Trophy Regular Plate A by defeating HDFC Ergo by 64 runs. It was a low scoring encounter but Generale made it one sided by some splendid bowling performance and defended their score in style.
Societe Generale won the toss and decided to bat first in the knockout game. Both openers gave away their wickets to Suyog early in the innings. But middle order batsmen Pradeep (33 runs, 32 balls), Vikas (49 runs, 50 balls) and Sagar (27 runs, 15 balls) got their team back in the game and put a respectable total of 134 on the board. Suyog was the most successful bowler capturing 4 wickets when no other bowler could manage more than a wicket.
HDFC went in to bat with a relatively easy target but they were in for a surprise themselves. This can be highlighted by the fact that highest score of the innings was 17 by opener Lawrence. HDFC succumbed to the pressure created by Ashwith and Pradeep and were shot out for paltry 70 runs, thereby losing the match and semi-final spot by 64 runs. Pradeep captured 5 while ashwith scalped 3 wickets.
Pradeep was adjudged man of the match for his contribution with both bat and ball.
Brief Scores:
Societe Generale: 134/8 in 20 overs (Vikas 49, Pradeep 33, Suyog 4/16)
HDFC Ergo: 70 All out in 14 overs (Lawrence 17, Pradeep 5/16, Ashwith 3/19)
Match Report by:
Sumanyu Jain
Regional Manager & Editor@Cricketgraph