Shekhar Tandel of Sodexo was the star of the day as he scored an unbeaten 64 off 62 balls against Subsea Pro on 27th Feb in Mumbai in the semi final of Kurukshetra Cup T20 Cricket Tournament. This tournament is organized by Beyond Infinity, a company formed by 2 brothers, Piyush Rai (COO) and Devashish Rai (CEO), who are passionate about cricket. Batting first, Subsea Pro could manage 122-8 in 20 overs. Opening bat Mayuresh scored 38 off 25 balls and was the top scorer for his team. Nainith and Karan contributed with the ball as they picked up couple of wickets apiece.
It was a cake walk for Sodxo as they chased down the target in 15.5 overs, keeping eight wickets in hand. Shekhar Tandel scored a magnificent half century and was well-supported by Karan who chipped in with a quick 25 off 22 balls. Shekhar was a treat to watch and played some good cricketing shots. He was positive, aggressive and took the attack to the opposition.
For his splendid knock of 64 runs off 62 balls, Shekhar Tandel was declared as the Man of the Match.
Riding on Aditya Gawade’s classic knock of 79 runs off 61 balls, Nomura posted a formidable 156-3 in 20 overs against Omni Marines on 27th Feb during Shiraz-e-Hind trophy match at New Era, Mumbai. Coming in to bat at no. 3, Gawade was positive in his intent and played his shots freely. He was the perfect example of calculated aggression as he respected the good deliveries and punished the bad ones. Owais Sayyed was the pick of the bowlers, picking 2-16 in two overs.
In reply, Omni Marines fell short of 13 runs as they were restricted to 143-9 in 20 overs. The solid opening partnership between Akash Patil (52) and Deepak (31) went in vain as the rest of the batting order collapsed like a pack of cards. Nilesh Kangare shined with the ball as he grabbed 3-11 in his two overs. Pratik Ahluwalia and Akshay Adukia rolled their arms over to pick up couple of wickets apiece.
Aditya Gawade was honoured with the Man of the Match award for his wonderful batting display (79 runs off 61 balls).
Picking up a fifer in a T20 was known to be a rare commodity before Hrishikesh Naik of IGATE bowled a dream spell against GEP in the semi-final of Milan Mega T20 Cricket Tournament on 27th Feb at Cross Maidan. Winning the toss and electing to bat first, GEP was bundled out for an innocuous total of 80 in just 15.4 overs. Patil (5-17 in 4 overs) led the IGATE bowling from the front and rattled the GEP batting line-up. The batsmen had no answers to his consistent and accurate bowling. Swapneel Kedari and Abhishek Mhatre chipped in couple of wickets apiece. Lower order bat Vishal Parab was the best with the willow as he scored 20 runs off 32 balls.
IGATE couldn’t have asked for a better semi-final as they had to chase down a humble 81 runs in 20 overs. Openers Abhishek Mhatre (35 runs off 23 balls) and Milind Thakurdesai (39 runs off 21 balls) did what the doctor had ordered for and achieved the target in 7.2 overs, keeping all 10 wickets in hand.
For his match winning bowling performance of 5-17 in 4 overs, Hrishikesh Naik was awarded with the Man of the Match prize.
CEX had an ordinary day on field as they managed to put on board a paltry 101 in 31.2 overs against Sony during Dreamz 40-over Cricket Tournament in Mumbai on 27th Feb. Sony bowlers bowled well to wrap up the CEX innings well inside 40 overs, thanks to Prathamesh’s five wicket haul. He finished off with envious figures of 5-16 in 5.2 overs, including one maiden over. He was the wrecker in chief as he ran through the CEX batting line-up in no time. Anand Surve supported him with 2-6 in his seven overs. Opening bat Nikhil Tanna top scored with 38 runs and found an able ally in Venkatesh lower down the order who struck an unbeaten 21.
It was an easy run chase for the powerful Sony batting order with Pratik Patil (52*) and Anad Surve (32*) taking their team home. The target was achieved in just 7.2 overs, with Sony keeping nine wickets in hand. Riding on aggressive batting performances of Pratik and Anand, Sony made a mockery of CEX bowling. The match was over well before time and the players of both teams got good rest ahead of their upcoming matches.
Prathamesh was declared as the Man of the Match for his outstanding bowling efforts of 5-16 in 5.2 overs.
A solid 68-run opening partnership from Mayuresh Rawool (30 runs off 30 balls) and Kiran Khatu (23 runs off 27 balls) of NEL was the talk of the match as they punished the SNC Lavalin bowlers during the SP Champions League Inter-Engineering Consultancy T20 Cricket Tournament on 20th Feb at Shivaji Park, Mumbai. NEL posted a defendable total of 139-7 in 20 overs. Santosh Pawar was the pick of the bowlers as he picked up 3-18 in four overs and was well-backed up by Abhishek Rane and Shankar Kolkar, both grabbing two wickets apiece.
In response, SNC Lavalin was bundled out for 103 in 19 overs, falling short of 36 runs. Sandeep Pathariya scripted an emphatic win for NEL as he accounted for 4-21 in his 3.5 overs. Milind More also shined with the ball as he picked up 3-22 in his four overs. Sandeep and Milind bowled well in tandem and rattled the SNC line-up. They were accurate, consistent and reaped the rewards for their wonderful bowling display.
Sandeep Pathariya and Milind More shared the Man of the Match award for their match winning bowling performance.
Rowdy Routers locked horns against Devils United in the big final of Netmagic Premier League on 21st Feb in Mumbai. Rowdy Routers won the toss and put the Devils to bat first. It was a disappointing batting performance from Devils as they were restricted to a paltry 60-9 in 10 overs. Middle order bat Hrishi (20 runs off 19 balls) was the only batsman to score a double digit score receiving no support whatsoever from the rest of the line-up. Suraj shined with the ball as he grabbed 3-2 in his one over. He cleaned up the lower order in no time. His disciplined bowling effort was rewarded as three out of the six deliveries that he bowled fetched him wickets.
Chasing a dismal 61 in the final was like a cake walk and Rowdy Routers would not have allowed the match to slip out of their hands. Though they lost a couple of wickets in their chase, Narendra (18 not out off 18 balls) and Sameer (6 not out off 8 balls) ensured that their team was home safe. Opening bat Nikunj provided a solid start scoring 20 runs off 19 balls, however he got out against the run of play. Routers achieved the target in 8.4 overs, winning the final comprehensively by eight wickets.
Suraj was declared as the Man of the Match for his brilliant figures of 3-2 in 1 over. As the tournament concluded, the best of the best players were felicitated for their outstanding performances. Chetan was awarded with the Best Batsman prize for his wonderful batting, Amit as the Best Bowler for his brilliant bowling, Priyank Hegde as the Best Fielder for his fantastic fielding and Zenil as the Man of the Series for his amazing performance all through the tournament.
Tecnimont had an amazing day at office as they bundled out Baker Hughes for a paltry 66 in 12.5 overs on 20th Feb at Shivaji Park, Mumbai during the SP Champions League Inter-Engineering T20 cricket tournament. Winning the toss and electing to bat first, Tecnimonth posted a formidable 158-7 in 20 overs. Middle-order bat Jameer Bijli was fantastic with the willow as he scored 45 runs of just 16 deliveries. Jameer was a treat to watch as he smacked the Baker Hughes’ bowlers all-round the park. Just the five boundaries in his quick-fire innings indicates that he ran well between the wickets. Ajit Tursakar also chipped in with a useful knock of 37 runs off 27 balls. In what turned out to be a run feast, Uday Saraiya bagged 3-21 in his four overs.
There was nothing much to cheer about when Baker Hughes came in to bat as they tumbled for a dismal 66 runs, thus losing the match by a huge margin of 92 runs. Sandesh Jadhav (25 runs off 25 balls) and Shyamsundar Parab (12 runs off 13 balls) were the only two to reach the double digit score. Sagar Mhasalkar, Jameer Bijli and Ninad Date rattled the Baker Hughes’ batting as they finished off with two wickets apiece.
Check your match scorecards for click on ..
Devils United locked horns against Maratha Warriors on 21st Feb in Mumbai in the Netmagic Premier League encounter. Batting first, Maratha Warriors posted 94-5 in 10 overs, with Gaurav (38 runs off 22 balls) and Zenil (27 runs off 28 balls) leading the batting from the front. Both these batsmen played well and helped their team put up a respectable total of 94 on board. Sushil was the best bowler as he accounted for 2-15 in his two overs.
Devils United put up a strong performance in response, chasing down the target in 9.5 overs, keeping five wickets in hand. The openers Priyank (19 runs off 10 balls) and Sushil (23 runs off 14 balls) provided a good solid start to Devils United. Though expensive with the ball, Zenil managed to pick up a couple of wickets giving away 19 runs in 1.5 overs. Sushil of Devils United was the star performer as he shined with both, bat and ball.
Riding on Dharmendra Desai’s brilliant knock of 33 runs off 36 balls, Jacobs managed to put up a decent total of 120-9 in full quota of 20 overs against Aker Solutions on 13th Feb at Shivaji Park, Mumbai during the SP Champions League Inter-Engineering T20 cricket tournament. Ganesh Sawant was the pick of the bowlers for Aker Solutions as he finished off with 3-31 in his four overs and received good support from Nilesh Shirke who grabbed 2-21 in his four. Desai was unfortunate to get run out. He was looking in good touch and would have contributed a bigger score with the willow after having got off to a solid start.
In reply, Swapnil Darekar, who top scored with 42 runs off just 25 deliveries, could not take his team home as he was not backed up by the rest of the batting order. Shrikant Patil bowled well for his 2-17 in his four overs. He bowled a disciplined line and length and was consistent throughout his spell. Aker Solutions were restricted to 107-8 in 20 overs, falling short of just 13 runs.
Dharmendra Desai was declared as the Man of the Match for his match winning knock of 33 runs.
Shivam Dube delivered when it mattered the most and performed exceedingly well in all departments of cricket. With the final match, Shivam also ended up being the second highest wicket taker (11) in the entire tournament.
The stage was set for the most awaited finale of All India DY Patil T20 cricket tournament at DY Patil stadium, Navi Mumbai. A tournament which over a period of time is slowly becoming a tournament of international stature with high viewership and close following from all quarters of cricket community.
The two titans DY Patil B and Central Railway team had a lot at stake. DY Patil B won the toss and elected to field a decision which seemed a wise one looking at the first innings scorecard. DY Patil B bowlers bowled very tight line and length offering no respite to the Central Railway batsmen. The pick of the bowlers was Shivam Dubey who picked up 5 wickets in 4 overs and gave away 33 runs. Other bowlers too were very disciplined and bowled their heart out with a strong intention to lift the cup.
At the end of their innings, Central Railway posted an average score of 115/8 in 20 overs. Salil Aggharkar top scored with 28 runs off 17 balls with 3 fours and 1 six at an aggressive strike rate of 164
It looked like a easy chase for DY Patil B however they lost 3 quick wickets in succession and were struggling at 41 for 3 in 7 overs. Shashank Singh and Shivam Dube batted sensibly and steadied the ship for DY B team. Shashank played side anchor role by remaining unbeaten on valuable 36 runs of 38 balls. Shashank came out as the leading run scorer in the tournament by scoring 181 runs in 6 matches.
Shivam stamped his authority by hitting a six and scoring the winning runs. His 57 came off 35 balls with 2 fours and 4 sixes. DY Patil B team comfortably won the finale by 7 wickets in the end
Keep following cricketgraph.com for updates on local cricket.