Riding on Samarth Seth’s quick fire 91 (59 balls, 10×4, 1×6), Maulana Azad Club won the 4th KC Sharma Memorial Under-19 Cricket Tournament by defeating Madras Club by 3 wickets in the final.
Batting first, Madras Club scored 250. Vaibhav Kandpal scored a brilliant 127 for his team. Maulana Azad’s bowlers Gaurav Chaudhary (3/52) and Lakshaye Sharma (2/43) did some good work for their team.
But Samarth’s explosive innings took the match away from the opposition as they chased down the target in just 33 overs. Samarth could not complete his century but was instrumental in his team’s title win.
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Venue: Young Mohamedan Cricket Ground | Match Scorecard | Tournament Details Riding on Sagar’s excellent knock of 85 and Vishal’s 4 wickets, IndusInd Bank entered the final of Dreamz Champions Regular A by defeating TATA AIG by 29 runs in the semi-final. TATA’s batting let them down after their bowlers had restricted the opposition to a modest total of 143, very much chase-able in current cricket scenario.
IndusInd Bank won the toss and opted to set a target for their opposition. They did not have a solid start to their innings as both the openers Jai and Kailash went back by the fourth over itself. But No. 3 Sagar Man of the Match and No. 4 Saurabh held the innings together in a partnership that lasted for 13 overs and scored 106 runs in the process. But as soon as the partnership was broken, IndusInd’s innings collapsed as they could score only 13 runs in the last 3 overs and lost 5 wickets.
TATA’s bowler Sudesh was responsible for restricting IndusInd to a score which looked at least 25 runs short by picking up some quick wickets towards the end. Abhishek also bowled well for his two wickets.
The final ticket was 144 runs away and some sensible batting would have made it look easier. Openers started steadily and scored 21 runs in 5 overs. By the time 10th over was bowled, 3 wickets had fallen with just 41 runs on the board. This is where TATA AIG lost the plot. Saving wickets for the end might be a good strategy but ticking the scoreboard is equally important even if the chase is not very high.
Due to the mounting pressure of required run rate, batsmen kept throwing their wickets away at regular intervals and TATA were out of the match soon. No. 11 Sudesh tried his bit towards the end but it was too little too late to change the fate of the match. TATA eventually folded for 114 on the penultimate ball of the match and lost by 29 runs and also a place in final.
IndusInd bowlers bowled well to prevent TATA batsmen to get away. Vishal was the pick of the bowlers scalping 4 wickets for just 17 runs. Jitendra grabbed a couple of wickets for himself.
Nitin Mistry, Captain, TATA AIG says, “The pitch played really bad and it was not a worthy pitch for the semi-final. However Sagar played really well when no other batsman was able to put his bat down.”
Click here for detailed scores of this match
Brief Scores:
IndusInd Bank: 143/8 in 20 overs (Sagar 85, Saurabh 23, Sudesh 5/19)
TATA AIG: 114 all out in 19.5 overs (Sudesh 23, Sai 21, Vishal 4/17)
Match Report by:
Sumanyu Jain
Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph
Venue: St. Xaviers’ | Match Scorecard | Tournament Details
It was a day for the double D’s as Dhiraj and Devendra guided their team to victory over FSS in the semi-final of Dreamz Challenger Trophy. Dhiraj grabbed 4 wickets to restrict the opposition to a below par score and then Devendra played a gem of an innings to anchor the chase and help his team cross the line with ease.
FSS won the toss and elected to bat first. They were off to a decent start with openers scoring 38 runs in just 4.3 overs. But soon they lost the second wicket as well. Rakesh Rao held one end and scored an explosive knock of 69 runs off just 36 balls including 5 fours and an equal number of sixes. Other batsmen just kept falling around him but he did an excellent job to take his team to a respectable total and was the last man dismissed. Had he stayed for the remaining 7 balls, who knows a score in excess of 150 would have posed some serious challenge to Insta?
Dhiraj was the pick of the bowlers capturing 4 wickets and giving away just 12 runs in his four overs. Aniket and Hrishikesh managed a couple of wickets each.
Insta lost their opening batsman Hrishikesh in the second over itself but it proved to be a blessing in disguise as the next pair of Devendra and Aniket smashed FSS bowlers in a match winning partnership of 114 runs in just 73 balls. Man of the Match Devendra was particularly harsh on the bowlers scoring 72 runs off just 47 balls that included four boundaries and four sixes. Aniket contributed with a handy 37. They lost 2 quick wickets towards the end but the match was as good as over by then and they won eventually by 6 wickets.
No FSS bowler could apply any sort of brakes on Devendra and Aniket and all of them went for plenty. With this win, Insta reach the final of the Dreamz Challenger Trophy to have a shot at the title.
Devendra from Insta says, “It was an excellent game between two professional corporate teams. The team which played better won at the end. Fortunately things went in our way.”
Brief Score:
FSS: 132 all out in 18.5 overs (Rakesh 69, Dhiraj 4/12, Hrishikesh 2/14)
Insta: 133/4 in 15.1 overs (Devendra 72, Aniket 37, Aniket 1/21)
Match Report by:
Sumanyu Jain
Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph
Venue : Young Mohamedan Cricket Ground Mumbai | Match Scorecard | Tournament Details After posting a modest total of 141, you cannot predict the result of the match accurately but more often than not, you will support the chasing side. That the team batting first will win is a normal occurrence but if it wins by a whopping margin of 73 runs, then the contest has to be one –sided. In the Dreamz Champions Trophy Regular Champions B semi-final, Learn Quest defeated Cex by 73 runs to enter the final in style.
Learn Quest won the toss and chose to bat first. Opener Ankur was unfortunately run out in the first over itself. But Mehul and Vishal stitched a partnership together and brought their team in to a good position. Their partnership lasted for 79 runs in about 11 overs. After that no other batsman could maintain the momentum and Learn Quest lost wickets in a heap towards the end when acceleration was required. They ended at a below par 141 and lost 8 wickets in the process. Cex’s Nikhil bowled brilliantly for his 3 wickets. Other bowlers also contributed for a wicket each.
Chasing 142 is not really an uphill task. But when it’s not your day, it’s not your day. The same can’t be said for Quest bowlers though. All of them bowled superbly and were amongst the wickets. Cex started the same way as their opponents, losing their opener in the first over itself. What began in the first over did not end till the 17th over. The wickets kept falling at regular intervals and Cex never really looked to chase down the total. Only opener Sandesh could stand against the bowlers for some time but it was not enough. The innings folded for a paltry 68 in just 16.4 overs thereby losing by 73 runs. Five bowlers shared a couple of wickets each.
Vishal was adjudged man of the match for his all-round effort of scoring 36* and taking 2 wickets.
Ashish More, Skipper of Learn Quest says, “We bowled really well. I think we were about 20 runs short but our bowlers covered up to give us a big win. Vishal was outstanding both with bat and ball. We are very happy to reach the final.”
Sandesh More, vice captain, Cex says, “It was a good match which we could have won easily but we did not play as per our true potential especially with the bat. But the credit goes to Learn Quest as they played good cricket in all areas and as a result they are in the final. Best of luck to them.”
Brief Scores:
Learn Quest: 141/8 in 20 overs (Vishal 36*, Mehul 28, Nikhil 3/22)
Cex: 68 All out in 16.4 overs (Sandesh 27, Piyush 17, Hemant 2/3, Ashish 2/7)
Match Report by:
Sumanyu Jain
Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph
Venue : Mumbai Police Gymkhana Cricket Ground Mumbai | Match Scorecard | Tournament Details
City Riders: 175 All out in 19.2 overs (Shahid 56, Almeda 38, Akhter 3/35, Aashish 2/25)
Ghatkopar Jets: 179/4 in 18.3 overs (Sarvesh 71, Swapnil 64, Santosh 2/30, Shahid 1/21)
Report:
This might not be comparable with India’s 1983 victory against the mighty West Indies, but despite being categorized as underdogs and odds stacked against them, Ghatkopar Jets have won the prestigious Mitsui Shoji Tournament 2015 and that too in style. They won by 6 wickets against a team whom they had failed to beat twice in the same tournament previously. But they won when it mattered the most- in the final. It was a comprehensive victory, to say the least.
Ghatkopar Jets won the toss and sent the tournament favourites- City Riders to bat first despite being smashed by them for the highest score of the tournament previously. Riders lost Jay Bishta early but Almeda continued from where he had left in the semi-final. He smashed the bowlers all over the park and scored a whirlwind 38 from just 18 balls. Ghatkopar were lucky to have got his wicket soon otherwise he would have created havoc for a longer duration. Next three batsmen also played well and got their team into a good position. No. 3 Shahid Shaikh was in devastating form and scored 56 runs off just 27 balls. City Riders were looking for yet another 200 plus total with 150 runs on the board in the 16th over and 7 wickets in hand. Semi-final hero Santosh Shinde was yet to arrive at the crease. It was the perfect platform for him to explode and get his team to a winning total.
But Akhter Shaikh came on to bowl the 16th over and the game turned on its head. He got Vinayak on the second ball and Santosh Shinde was run out on the third. This enabled Ghatkopar Jets to pull back the innings and they picked up some quick wickets and City Riders could not capitalize the slog overs. They were bundled out for 175, let alone score 200.
Akhter Shaikh was the pick of the bowlers, scalping 3 wickets. He got good support from Vaibhav Mali and Aashish More.
After restricting the opponents to a below par score, at least by their standards, Ghatkopar Jets were instilled with some confidence of chasing down the total. Their top order responded with the same spirit and despite losing Akhter Shaikh very early, Swapnil and Sarvesh took the attack to the opposition and scored at more than 9 runs per over for a partnership that lasted for 102 runs and 65 balls. This almost sealed the match for Ghatkopar Jets. Sarvesh continued the chase with Jaydeep and took the score past 150. Although they lost 2 quick wickets but they were well within the striking distance of chasing the total and winning the cup. Yogesh Pawar did not let the top order effort get wasted and did the finishing touches by scoring an unbeaten 10 ball 23.
City Riders, already ruing the fact that they let the game slip away in the last five overs of their batting, were carted by Ghatkopar batsmen and could not really come back into the game after that. Neither could they pick wickets nor stop the flow of runs. Only Santosh Shinde could pick up 2 wickets but more was required to defend the target.
Following awards were given in the presentation ceremony, in the presence of Former India International, Dilip Vengsarkar:
Man Of the Match: Sarvesh Damle (71 runs), Ghatkopar Jets
Best Batsman: Shashank Singh (417 runs in 9 matches), Shivaji Park Warriors
Best bowler: Santosh Shinde (14 wickets), Mumbai Police City Riders Skipper
Man of the series: Akash Parkar, Mumbai Police City Riders
Best player: Ajinkya Belonshe, Ghatkopar Jets skipper)
Captains Corner:
Ajinkya, Ghatkopar Jets: “The decision to field first was a good one. Bowlers did great job and fielding was also good. We kept our cool when City Riders were batting well but some good bowling changes worked for us. They fell short of about 35 runs, the way they were going. Out batsmen made the chase look easy. All credit to our team. I also thank them for giving me the captaincy as we had lost first few of our league matches and we had a point to prove.”
Santosh Shinde, City Riders: “We batted well but could not finish well. Our bowling was also not up to the mark. Dropped catches added to our woes. Congratulations to Ghatkopar. They played really well and deserve the cup.”
About the Tournament: Mitsui Shoji Tournament is a very popular tournament in Mumbai organized by Mumbai Cricket Club. Five teams participated in the 2015 edition with Twister and Sagar Samit International as the main Sponsors of the tournament.
We hope that you enjoyed the tournament as much as we did while covering it. We promise to come back soon with the next edition of the tournament.
Keep following CricketGraph for exclusive coverage of other tournaments happening around the city.
Match Report by:
Sumanyu Jain
Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph
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