Best Batsman: Satyalaksha Jain 169*; Best Bowler: Yash Singh 6/46
One of the most premier and prestigious Under 16 cricket tournaments in Mumbai, Kalpesh Koli Cricket Tournament started simultaneously at 8 different grounds in Mumbai on Saturday, 9th May. Former India International Kiran More was the Chief Guest while famous Marathi Actor Mr. Yedekar was the guest of honour at the 25th year of the tournament.
Following is a brief history of the tournament followed by the Round 1 results:
Inception
The tournament is named after late Kalpesh Koli, a promising young 14 year old leg spinner who lost his life in a tragic accident. Nagesh Thakur, then the coach with MCA wanted to provide a platform to youngsters to play competitive cricket rather than just practice. Therefore his idea of tournament was approved by MCA and BCCI and the first edition was conducted in 1991. He is currently the tournament secretary.
Every match is witnessed by a group of selectors who keep a close eye on the upcoming talent who are then selected to play for Mumbai state teams.
Format & Teams
Earlier the tournament was played in One Day format, but since 2002, two day matches are being conducted. All boys from age group of 14-16 years participate in the tournament. Few special rules include bonus points for scoring more than 300 or bowling out a team for a low score. Also a bowler is not allowed to bowl more than 20 overs in order to give all bowlers an equal chance to showcase their talent.
Currently 16 teams are participating as follows:
Group A
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Group B
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Group C
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Group D
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Results: Round 1 (Matches conducted on 9th & 10th May)
Group A:
- Kandivili Center : 157 (75.3 overs) (Kaustubh Kadam 3/45, Shubham Singh 3/18)
& 178/4(54overs) (Suved Parkar 68, Omkar Ghule 75, Kaustubh Kadam 3/45)
Drawn with
Virar Center: 116(43 overs)(Yashovardhan Mayekar 4/30, Manav Doshi 3/34)
MOM : Kaustubh Kadam
- Vasai Center: 339/6 (78 overs) (Satyalaksha Jain 169*, Aslam Shaikh 55)
Drawn with
Dahanu Chinchani Center: 136 (68 Overs) (Tanvish Waza 34, Navi Khan 31) &
Follow on 92/5 (30 Overs) Tanvish Waza 35)
MOM: Satyalaksha Jain
Group B:
- Shivaji Park Center : 134 (58.1) (Rohit Desai 65, Vignesh Solanki 3/23) and 138/8 (71 overs) Aarya Satpute 37, Varun Joijode 35, Vighnesh Solanki 3/5 )
Drawn with
Venus Malad Center : 279 (64.2 overs) (VaibhavKalamkar 117, Atharva Ankolekar 65*, Rohit Desai 4/59,Varun Joijode 4/57)
MOM: Vaibhav Kalamkar
- Kalina Center : 250 (95.1 overs) (Jayam Birawat 54, Aditya Srivastava 41, Varun Lavande
106, Deep Bhojne 3/38)
Drawn with
Worli Center 125 (47.2 Overs)Sameer Parab 4/21, Dev Patel 4/18) and 81/4 (28 Overs)
MOM : Varun Lavande
Group C :
- Mahul Center : 220 (60.4 overs) (Hitesh Chauhan 103, Ritesh Sharma 57, Yash Singh 6/46)
Won against
Ambernath/Bhiwandi Center: 118 (38.5 Overs) (Priyanshu Shrivastav 45, Mukund Sardar 4/34, Rajesh Sardar 3/24, Azar Shaikh 3/23) and 142 (63.5 Overs) Shrihari Madiyalkar 33, Rajesh Sardar 4/30, Ritik Sharma 3/12)
MOM : Ritik Sharma
- Oval Maidan Center: 206 (69 overs) Shabaz Qureshi 45, Viren Shukla 45, Ninad Thakur 5/37) and 161/3 (30 Overs) Del. Pratik Mhatre 85*, Rahul Vishwkarma 40
Drawn with
Mulund Thane Center: 107(39.4 overs) (Purav Parikh 4/21) and 73/3 (31Overs) Siddhant Singh 31*
MOM : Ninad Thakur
Group D :
- Bandra Center : 120 (47.2 overs) Sagar Sawant 5/80) and 297/9 (57 Overs) Arjun Tendulkar 78, Sagar Chabriya 59, Sanket Kaste 62,Akash Panchal 62, Sagar Savant 5/93) Drawn with
Ghatkopar Center : 176 (62.5 overs) Sahil Savant 37, Sagar Sawant 43, Shrinatha Chavan 3/36)
MOM : Sagar Sawant
- Bhakti Park : 197 (60.1 overs) Sanath Nakte 47, Jayesh Mohite 46 ,Anuj Bhosle 4/44) & 80 (31.5 Overs) Anuj Bhosle 3/18, Divyansh Saxena5/16
Lost to
DY Patil Center : 194 (52.1overs) Divyansh Saxena 33,Sidhant Mhatre 43,Shaksham Jha 44,Sanath Nakte4/39,Manoj Prajapti 3/37)
MOM : Divyansh Saxena
Keep Following this section for Round 2 results of Kalpesh Koli Cricket Tournament, 25th edition. Covered exclusively on www.cricketgraph.com
Article By:
Sumanyu Jain
Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph
Venue: LIC Plot 4 (Cross Maidan Mumbai | Match Scorecard | Tournament Details
What are the odds of winning a T20 game when you score just 123 batting first? Most people will bet in favour of the chasing team. But Sanofi, courtesy their excellent team work defended a modest 123 against Boehringer who eventually fell short by just 4 runs and lost the match.
It was not the match for spectators who just want fours and sixes. But the ones who enjoy the thrill of the game and the last ball finishes were in for a delight. Sanofi won the toss and elected to bat first. They were off to a poor start as both the openers went back with just 14 on the scoreboard. But Mihir and Ritesh steadied the innings by stretching the score to 75. But they battled very slowly. Particularly Ritesh who consumed 32 balls for just 12 runs. Mihir remained not out on 59 from 61 balls. It was due to some late hitting from Ranjit and extras that Sanofi were able to score 123. Most of the bowlers of Boehringer went for less than 6 an over but were not able to pick the wickets. Only Prashant managed a couple of wickets against his name.
124 should be a cake walk for most teams on any given day. But Boehringer were in for a surprise as like their opponents, they were also not able to score freely. Openers provided a good start scoring 57 runs in 8 overs. Once they both got out on the same score, the innings drifted apart. Only Prashant (31 runs, 25 balls) and Nitesh (20 runs, 21 balls) could offer some resistance but could not help their team cross the line. Boehringer fell short by 4 runs in the end.
It was some really tight bowling by Sanofi bowlers lead by Sushant who captured 3 wickets in his 4 overs. All others bowlers contributed in restricting the opposition and defending their total. Man of the Match Mihir, for his patient innings of 59 not out was adjudged man of the match.
Sushant from Sanofi says, “Never take it easy when you are in a winning position. Be active till the end of the game. Never underestimate the opposing team.”
Brief Scores:
Sanofi: 123/3 in 20 overs (Mihir 59*, Ranjit 22, Prashant 2/10)
Boehringer: 119/7 (Prashant 31, Navneet 26, Sushant 3/14)
Match Report By:
Sumanyu Jain
(Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph)
Cheering, aggression, DJ mixing it up, energy and excitement flowing all around the ground. It was all happening at Air India Kalina grounds as 22 teams fought for the ultimate Glory – The APL Marketing Ops 2015 Title. It was a great sight to see relatives, families and kids supporting their teams and enjoying the event despite the super-hot weather on both the days.
The objective of this tournament was to bring together the entire unit of Marketing Operations, promote team work and fitness, signify the importance of female players in a team, understand pressure handling (Super Over), make new friends and play some good cricket. Some teams won the knock offs on 25th April, some lost. But it was participation that counted the most. As they say, winning or losing, part of the game, what matters most is participating and giving your best shot.
11 teams made to the qualifiers showcasing some of the best team efforts. The perception that cricket is a male dominated game, took a changer where female participants made people applaud with their performances at par and sometimes much better.
The introduction of unique and thrilling Super Over (Tanatan) was purely to signify the one make or break chance that we get. Some capitalized on it, some perished. It was a game changer for lot of teams and kept the excitement on till the last ball of the tournament.
One win at a time, step by step, It was Fiat Ek number (M3) climbing the charts from one end and Super XI (PG DPDS M3) from the other. Patience, precision, team work made these two teams overcome the entire 20 teams that participated. Finals witnessed a tough fight between Fiat Ek number who finally seized the glorious APL Marketing Ops 2015 Title. Congratulations to the team on their win.
Finally, we would like to say a Big Thank you for all the teams that participated in this event and the Top levels for leading it from the front.
A Big Thank you to all the volunteers – Praveen Gomes, Bharat Varhadi – Astrazeneca, Harshit Asthana, Ajinkya Dalvi – UBS, Irshad Khan – RSA, Andrew Celestine – Mobilization, Manoj Patil, Siddharth Saire, Neha Gupta – PnG DPDS for helping in smooth functioning of the entire event.
Swapnil Panchal and Hardika Jani – PnG Virtual Solutions for all the creative and teaser work done.
Last but not the least, A Big Thank you to Alhad Nimbalkar and Sameer Shaikh helping us out in materializing this entire event. It was just a concept otherwise.
Looking forward for similar participation – until next season : APL Marketing Ops 2016
Check all the scores of Apl2015 by clicking here
Article by Zafar Khan
Venue: LIC Plot 4 (Cross Maidan Mumbai | Match Scorecard | Tournament Details
In what could be termed as one of the most one sided victories of all, ICICI first restricted Piramal for just 97 and then chased it down in double quick time. While it was somewhat a combined bowling effort first up, it was absolute disdain of bowling by Kuldeep Panda who smashed an unbeaten 53 in just 29 balls to see his team over the line.
Piramal won the toss and chose to bat first. It was a reason they regretted later on as their batting just did not click and they folded inside 100. After openers failed, it was No. 3 Anand Chawla who salvaged some respect by scoring run a ball 35 and was the major factor in his team reaching the score they eventually did. Apart from him no other batsman could reach even double digits. Much credit should be given to the ICICI bowlers who did not let any Piramal batsman to explode. Harshad took 3 wickets while four other bowlers managed a wicket each.
98 was too easy a target for ICICI but they made it look too easy by some power hitting. The match was over by the 10th over as they chased down the target scoring close to 10 runs an over and 8 wickets to spare. The innings was only about one man, ICICI opener Kuldeep Panda. He thrashed Piramal bowlers to all corners of the park and scored 53 runs in just 29 balls to seal the victory for his team. He was deservingly given Man of the Match for his scintillating knock.
Brief Scores:
Piramal: 97/7 in 20 overs (Anand 35, Harshad 3/20, Shinde 1/08)
ICICI: 103/2 in 10 overs (Kuldeep 53*, Vinod 21*, Stanley 1/22)
Match Report By:
Sumanyu Jain
(Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph)
Venue: Plot No. 3
A complete team effort both by batsmen and bowlers ensured a final berth and a shot at the trophy for Nomura as they entered final in style with a comfortable 44 run victory over Naaptol in Milan T20 Red Ball semi-final.
Naaptol won the toss and opted to chase. Nomura openers Bhawik and Sumant provided an explosive start to the innings hammering 78 runs in just 8 overs. Bhawik was particularly hard on the bowlers scoring 54 runs in just 36 balls consisting 8 fours. Nomura then lost 3 wickets in quick succession including both openers and were in a spot of bother of wasting away such a good start.
But quick and handy contributions from rest of the batsmen including Deepak (25 runs from 21 balls) and Inder (30 runs from 13 balls) prevented Nomura’s innings from slipping away as they scored a challenging 174 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. Naaptol’s Kiran and Ashish were the only two bowlers who could test Nomura’s batsmen. Kiran scalped 3 while Ashish took 2 wickets.
174 is a daunting task especially when final berth is at stake. And it actually proved too high a mountain to climb for Naaptol. Like their opponents, Naaptol openers also provided their team a swashbuckling start, adding 40 runs in just 16 balls. Abhishek was the chief contributor with 30 runs off only 12 balls studded with 7 boundaries. Once he got out, Naaptol’s innings just lost the track. No other batsman could keep up with the asking rate as the match slowly slipped away.
As many as three batsmen ran themselves out. Harnik tried his luck with a 14 ball 23 towards the end but he did not get any support from the other end as Naaptol ran out of batsmen with as many as four overs remaining. Nomura’s bowlers bowled superbly with most of them managing a wicket at least. Pratik captured two wickets to emerge as top wicket taker of the innings. Bhawik was adjudged man of the match for his superb knock.
Brief Scores:
Nomura: 174/5 in 20 overs (Bhawik 57, Inder 30*, Kiran 3/25, Ashish 2/34)
Naaptol: 129 all out in 16 overs (Abhishek 30, Harnik 23*, Pratik 2/13, Deepak 1/9)
Match Report By:
Sumanyu Jain
(Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph)
Venue: Fort Vijay Cricket Ground Mumbai | Match Scorecard | Tournament Details
Last over. 8 runs to win. 7 to tie. 3 wickets in hand. Any bowler would not fancy his chances in today’s game in this situation. No pressure of boundaries. Only singles and doubles would do. But what happens is 2 out of the remaining 3 wickets fall on the first two balls with just one run being added. Now the situation reads 7 to win from 4 balls with a solitary wicket in hand. Still anybody’s game. But bowler Narayan keeps his cool and gives just 3 more runs and takes the final wicket on the penultimate ball of the match handing his team a 3 run victory.
In the quarter final of Dreamz Trophy Regular Champions, IndusInd Bank won the toss and opted to bat first. They had worst of starts as opener Jay was out for a duck on the third ball of the match. No. 3 batsman Sagar joined hands with other opener Kailash and both had a partnership of 50 runs in 49 balls.
After the fall of Kailash’s wicket, Sagar had short but important partnerships with Saurabh and Yogesh and took the score past 100. They eventually scored 143 runs in their allotted 20 overs. CEAT’s Ajay was the pick of the bowlers with 3 wickets in his quota of 4 overs.
143 was a modest total and has been chased easily in the past. But the match went closer than expected. CEAT’s batting was all about opener Shirish who controlled the innings single handed with a sparkling 49 ball 74 consisting 9 boundaries. Once he got out, no other batsman could do the finishing job as they could not score the required 8 runs in the last over and fell short by only 3 runs.
IndusInd bowlers Jitendra and Narayan managed 3 wickets each while 2 wickets went to Yogesh. But it was Narayan’s last over heroics that helped IndusInd ending on the winning side. Man of the Match Sagar, for his excellent innings of 65 of just 44 balls was adjudged man of the match.
Here’s what Sagar has to say: “It was an extraordinary game of cricket. Due to some superb bowling at the end we were able to pull it off. Credit goes to the bowlers Yogesh, Jitendra, Kailash and Narayan who bowled superbly. Also we started our batting well but could not capitalize in the last 5 overs. CEAT bowled and fielded well. Overall it was a stunning effort by entire IndusInd Unit.”
Brief Scores:
IndusInd: 143 all out in 20 overs (Sagar 65, Yogesh 27, Ajay 3/21)
CEAT: 140 All out in 19.5 overs (Shirish 74, Narayan 3/24, Jitendra 3/34)
Match Report By:
Sumanyu Jain
(Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph)
Cricket being the most popular sport in the country, there is no dearth of upcoming cricketers from a very young age. This more or less explains the reason behind the increasing number of academies in almost all major cities. Delhi is fast becoming the centre for cricket and has given many cricketers to the national side in recent years.
In this article, we talk about Delhi Cricket Club, one of the premier academies in Delhi based on our conversation with P.K Singh, Coach, Delhi Cricket Club.
About the Academy
Delhi Cricket Club was founded 7 years ago in search of cricket talent and providing cricket coaching to economically backward people as well. It currently has 8000 registered members out of which close to 4500 are active. About 20-25 boys play at least district every year.
Vision
Club’s objective is to search for cricket talent and produce professional cricketers. In order to eradicate poverty as a reason of not playing cricket, BPL players are given as much as 50% discount in the fees.
DCC only plays in BCCI registered tournaments. More emphasis is on practice and preparing teams for tournaments that come under the BCCI umbrella.
Training & Progress
DCC’s primary focus is on fitness. A typical training session includes warm-ups, running, sit-ups, push-ups etc. among other things. One typical feature which may be different from other academies is that there are daily nets for all at DCC. Bowling machines are also used for nets.
Within one year the target is to represent district level. If you play district cricket then you are counted in some level of cricket recognized by BCCI.
Age groups span from 8 years to 32 years though maximum proportion of students belong to the category of 19-25 age group. Academy is open seven days, even during tours and coaches are always available.
Video Analysis
DCC is already using video analysis technique and has been very effective according to Coach P.K Singh. “We have our own cameras. Students are also told to have their video recorded. They see themselves and also show coaches, and then we work out the problems. It is currently happening in Panchkula stadium branch.”
DCC Edge
Here the students are trained to become professionals. It is not like a closed park where they just come, play and go. A lot of focus is on improvement of technique and then practicing it. A coach is always there with the students. To give a chance is important whether the student plays from Delhi or any other state. Money is not the objective but training is.
Academy at a glance
Name: Delhi Cricket Club
Contact: 1800-3002-9299; www.delhicricketclub.in
Timings: 2:30 to 6 PM (Monday to Sunday)
Coach: P.K Singh
Total No. of coaches: 11 (Min. district level)
Members: 8000 registered all over India
Centres:
- Siddharth Internnational School, Dilshad garden, Delhi
- Panchkula, Haryana
- Punjab
- Ranchi, Jharkhand
MCA has launched a new initiative for local players and this time it is directed towards tennis cricketers. This is first of a kind step in identifying talent from different backgrounds.
As per the official website of MCA – www.mumbaicricket.com ,
Mumbai Cricket Association is organizing a raw talent search for tennis ball bowlers in the age group of 16 yrs to 19 yrs at various centres across Mumbai and Thane. The schedule of second and third trials is as follows:
Venue Date Time
Chimaji Appa Ground, Vasai 11th & 12th May 2015 – 9.00 am onwards
Sonale Ground, Bhiwandi 14th & 15th May 2015 – 9.00 am onwards
The Selection is open for all local fast bowlers.
Shortlisted fast bowlers will be trained at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy at Bandra Kurla Complex.
Cricketgraph.com urges the entire community to share this news with everyone and especially the local tennis bowlers. You never known there could be a Malinga, Waqar, Wasim, Bret lee or Umesh Yadav in the making !
Cricket has gone through various changes especially in the last few decades. And who knows better about this than our coaches who have seen and witnessed this change at the grass root level.
We present an exclusive one to one bit with Nagesh Thakur who is a senior cricket coach in Mumbai, Maharashtra. He has given us various insights about how cricket has changed over the years with respect to commercialization, parent- student approach and what role a state administration plays in development of the sport and so on & so forth.
About the Coach:
Nagesh Thakur started playing cricket in the 1960s. He played for Mumbai and Shivaji Park Gymkhana when Ajit Wadekar was the captain and players like Ramakant Desai and Babu Desai were in the team. He has been managing Central Bank of India in the sports division as manager and coach and is also a current secretary of the prestigious Kalpesh Koli Cricket Tournament.
Following are the excerpts from the conversation:
On changes in Cricket in last few decades:
Coaching has reached to a whole new level. Today it includes fitness trainers, psychologists and nutritional values etc. as against earlier times when only cricket basics were being taught.
Coaching has become an equal passion now. Most academies have multiple coaches, each for batting, bowling, fielding and also for different age groups.
Because of T20 and IPL, slam bang cricket has become trendy. As the formats change, the importance of fielding has also increased. Fitness is a key component of training. The whole mind set of the sport has changed with new rules coming in from the international body.
On commercialization of the Sport:
First the 50 over World cup and now the T20 world cup- the following is immense. As a result branding and sponsorships come in and players bag huge sums of money. This has drastically changed the way cricketers think. Professionalism has become a priority.
But it has a downside as well. Focus has shifted from earning money from the sport rather than the sole aim of playing for the nation. There has to be a balance between the two. Otherwise we will lose some really good young cricketers to money.
Parents have also become open to a full time career in sports. They give more liberty to their child to choose a career option. Therefore, the number of players attending the academies and camps have increased over the years.
On the role of Mumbai Cricket Association:
MCA is doing a good job in development of cricket. Apart from providing the usual infrastructure, summer vacation camps Under-14, 16, 19 and 25 are also organized. In about 100 camps, Experts and Coaches of BCCI Level 1, 2 and 3 are appointed to impart proper cricket training. As we are all aware Mumbai is historically the best state team in India, the cricket association is one major reason for that.
On Coaching Style:
At a very young age coaches impart a general training including fitness and basics. As they grow, they get trained by specialized coaches for batting, bowling and fielding so as to get into the intricacies of their respective field.
It becomes the responsibility of the coach to give a proper direction to his student and provide a suitable platform. In this competitive environment, a good coach can really help a student last the distance.
Advice to young cricketers:
“Be sure of what you are doing. Hard work is the key. Don’t move around to different coaches. Stick with one and stay focussed. Jumping from one coach to another will only be a waste of time.”
Kalpesh Koli tournament begins tomorrow. Keep following CricketGraph for the exclusive coverage of this prestigious tournament.
Interview By:
Sumanyu Jain
Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph
Datafriends thump FCC by 6 wkt in finals and pilfer 1st FCC T20 crown at All Saints School ground, Bhiwandi on 2nd May’2015.
We saw 3 back to back rousing T20 games in a day between 4 teams who were fighting hard each second to win the game but finally the teams who played greater Cricket, enthused ahead. Here we present the concise details for our readers:-
Semifinal-1 : Cricket Club of Dombivli (CCD) V/s Datafriends (Result – Datafriends won by 4 wkts)
7th match of the tournament and 1st knock out game i.e. Semifinal-1 was played between CCD & Datafriends. CCD Captain Mangesh won the toss and elected to Bat first. In 2nd over of the innings (bowled by Rohidas), CCD opener Advait cracked 4 back to back boundaries and on last of ball of the over; Advait tried clearing the field over rope, but the dream came to an end when the 5th continuous hit of an over converted into a catch by Vaibhav Mali (who is currently playing for Mumbai Under 23 team) running from long on towards deep mid wicket. It was surely a catch of the tournament. Advait made cracking 18 in 8 balls (4×4). After Advait, Girish More tried to escalate the score but wicket keeper Mangesh who was standing close behind the stumps on fast bowling of Nikhil, collected a bowl and stumped Girish More within a fraction of seconds. Other CCDians too tried to put a big total in front of Datafriends, but could not succeed and wickets kept on falling for CCD at small intervals. The highest score from CCD was 26 in 25 balls (4×4) by captain Mangesh & Yogesh scored 12 in 15 (2×4). The other batsmen did not reach a double digit figure. Datafriends bowler as usual bowled a tight line and restricted CCD to 100 taking 9 wkts. Vaibhav Mali (left arm spin) & Tushar (right arm spin) varied their spin and length almost on each ball. Vaibhav took 3 wkts in 4 overs conceding only 7 runs with 1 maiden over and Tushar’s bowling figure was (4-0-14-1). Other bowling figures were Nikhil (4-1-11-2), Rohidas (2-0-28-1), Santosh (2-0-13-0), Sudhir (4-0-23-1).
During a small chase of 101, Datafriends opener Nikhil & Vaibhav gave a partnership of 55 in 5 overs. Captain cool Mangesh stepped up forward and took 5th over of the innings to bowl with a field like 2 sleeps, 1 gully, 1 point, 1 silly point which was so accurate that it put pressure on Vaibhav and Vaibhav got out at 1st sleep with a great diving catch by Sandesh. Vaibhav scored 25 in (3×4, 2×6). The same field kept on by Mangesh in his next 2 overs and put his best effort to take the wickets. But he could not make it. Datafriends achieved target in 9.5 overs and won the game by 6 wkts entering the finals. Bowling figures of CCD were Hitesh (2-0-21-0), Girish (1-0-12-0), Mangesh (3-0-24-4), Ajit (1.5-0-10-0), Machindra (1-0-8-0).
Semifinal-2 : FCC V/s Thane Advocate (Result – FCC won by 5 wkts)
8th match of the tournament and 2nd knock out game i.e. Semifinal-2 was played between Thane Advocate & host FCC. Captain Mangesh decided to Bat first giving FCC a 1st chase of tournament. Rohan started well with the strokes initially and failed to kept the momentum. Both openers of Advocates returned pavilion in quick succession at team score of 32 & 36. Rohan scored 24 in 22 (4×4) & his partner Sagar made 7 in 6 (1×4). After these quick wkts, Raj & Nikhil took over the charge and made partnership of 46 in 40 balls. Raj scored 46 in 39 (7×4) and Nikhil picked 19 in 21 (2×4). Towards the end of the innings, Kundan (26 in 15, 4×4, 1×6) helped Advocates to reach a respectable total of 143 loosing 7 wkts. Captain Ashish bowled his best bowling of the tournament so far giving 20 runs in 4 overs taking 2 wkts. Other shiny bowlers of FCC were Vikrant (3-0-13-2), Ankit (3-0-17-1), Prashant (2-0-16-1).
Target of 144 looked very comfortable in front of Strong & Experienced batting line up of FCC. However after loosing a wicket of opener Prashant (15 in 16, 2×4) in 6th over on score of 35, the other veteran opener Manoj played a sensible innings making a quick fire partnership of 46 in 37 balls with Hiren (14 in 12, 2×4). The partnership was damaged by Pratap taking a wicket of Hiren in 12th over of innings. After this 2nd wkt, Advocates tried to wrap up the game swiftly taking more 2 wkts, putting a pressure on FCC. However Manoj used his experience and kept on playing his game hitting square cuts, pulls, cover drives, straight drives covering 50% of the target. Manoj scored a colossal 73 in 56 balls hitting 9 boundaries & 3 massive sixes before returning pavilion. Manoj scored highest individual score of the tournament. After loosing Manoj, Captain Ashish stepped in but could not open his account. It felt that this will put a lot of pressure on Deepak at the other end, nevertheless it did not affected breezy Deepak and he gave a victory for his team in 19th over hitting 33* in mere 19 balls (4×4, 1×6). FCC won the game by 5 wkts and entered into Finals. Like in previous matches, Thane Advocate tried to convert the game into their pockets, but could not manage it completely. Best bowling figures from the Thane Advocate were Ninad (4-0-19-2), Vishal (3.1-0-20-0), Rohan (3-0-25-1), Pratap (3-0-28-2).
FINAL : FCC V/s Datafriends (Datafriends won by 6 wkts.)
After winning the toss, FCC decided to bat 1st into a Big Final to put a gigantic total for Datafriends. But continuously 2nd time in a day, opener Prashant failed to put a score. Vaibhav Mali who bowled a 1st change for Datafriends, took a wicket of Prashant in 3rd over. From there on, veteran Manoj once again took a charge for FCC and continued his great batting of semi’s into Finals. Manoj scored his 2nd fifty of the tournament in 41 balls hitting 8 fours & 1 six. Manoj was stumped at 50 runs by keeper Mangesh on bowling of Santosh. Manoj did not get support from other FCCians as expected. Towards the end of innings, Imtiaz scored 20* in 20 (3×4), Ankit (12 in 8, 1×4, 1×6), Hiren (12 in 8, 3×4). Datafriends bowled out FCC to 132. Datafriends bowler specially Spinners duo (Vaibhav & Tushar) once again bowled a perfect length & spin varying the line on every ball. Bowling figures for Datafriends are Nikhil Pawar (1-0-11-0), Kuldeep (4-0-29-1), Vaibhav (4-0-13-2), Rohidas (3-0-16-1), Santosh (4-0-34-2), Sudhir (1-0-10-0), Tushar (3-0-17-3).
To chase a Target of 133, Datafriends (DF) were in need of 6.65 runs per over which was a bit easy for batting line up of DF. Captain Ashish took the responsibility and opened the bowling. As expected opener Nikhil Patil & Vaibhav gave a start of 35 in just 2.4 overs. But a much needed break through for FCC was given by Ashish in 3rd over with a wicket of Vaibhav (28 in 11, 1×4, 3×6) followed by a wicket of “Wall” Sudhir (3 in 4). Sudhir got out with thick edge on a bowling of Prashant and catch was superbly taken by keeper Hiren. Santosh & Nikhil kept on moving the score after fall of 2 quick wickets, and made a 3rd wkt partnership of 34 in 29 balls. Santosh scored 23 in 15 hitting 3 fours and 1 six before getting out as LBW on bowling of Ankit. FCC kept on fighting hard, but could not succeed in front of strong will power of Nikhil Patil who scored 39* in 46 balls hitting 5 fours. Nikhil was well supported to complete the target by Anmol (12 in 12, 1×4) and Tushar (17* in 8, 4×4). DF managed the target in 15.5 overs with 6 wkts left and clinch the 1st ever FCC T20 crown easily. Bowling figures from FCC were Ashish (3-0-31-1), Prashant (2-0-22-1), Akshay (2-0-16-0), Pandurang (2-0-16-0), Ankit (1-0-7-1), Vikrant (2-0-12-0), Manoj (3-0-24-1).
It was a 1st tournament organized by FCC (efforts taken completely by Mr. Subbu, Hiren, Dr. Ashish & FCC Team) in 3 days (25th / 26th April & 2nd May’15) with MCA Umpires Shri. Upasani, Shri. Vilas Jadhav & Shri. Sengupta and MCA scorer Shri. Anant Kuperkar.
(Article by Sachin Rajput, Sr. Editor – Cricketgraph)