Even though Mumbai with every passing day is getting modern in terms of technology, speed & infrastructure but silently there have been a few things which have taken a beating and one of them is quality cricket grounds for cricketers to play and practice. With infrastructure development projects taking place in every corner of Mumbai, the lush green areas of the city & many big grounds which were supposed to be only for sports have gone under the hammer for various projects. Hence, Mumbai at present needs a really good cricket ground where players can be groomed & bred .Amidst such ground crisis, we have a new jewel unearthed for Mumbai Cricket in the form of Somaiya Cricket Ground.
The Somaiya Cricket Ground at Vidyavihar is a Class 1 facility that is set for top-level Competition. The ground has a lush green outfield of international standard with a 68-meter boundary. The Cricket ground boasts of having four floodlights installed to meet the Class 1 criteria of 750 average Lux level. This ground will help train the students and those participating in the Somaiya Sports Academy to train under world-class conditions. The ground will also attract major Cricket enthusiasts in Mumbai city.
Mr Aazaz Khan– the brainchild behind this beautiful ground is the current Director of Somaiya Sports Academy. He has over 25 years of experience in the field of sports as well as marketing. He pursued Cricket in India, played Tennis and Squash in Corporate leagues. He has also done Cricket coaching certification under international coach, Nic Pothas. He pursued the intricacies of spin bowling with Imran Tahir (currently plays for South African national team) while he has played Cricket for Hamble (A Division – Hampshire) and various other Cricket Clubs in England and India.
He has served as a consultant for Hazaribagh Olympic Association and assisted their efforts in grassroots infrastructure and sports development among children and youth across various sports.
Putting the right infrastructure in place and giving emerging players a platform to showcase their talent and learn the sports they love has been a priority for Somaiya Trust. A lot of credit also goes to Samir Somaiya who is the President of the Somaiya Trust and Chairman of the Somaiya Group. There are currently 12 Cricket teams at Somaiya Vidyavihar University which are playing Cricket at a competitive level under the guidance of highly-qualified coaches and fitness trainers. This widening of the player base in an educational institution will ensure a steady supply of quality players helping Indian Cricket’s priority to keep pace with international cricket.
Snaps of the Somaiya Cricket Ground in Vidyavihar
Sunrise Sports Club batting first at Western Railway, Cross Maidan posted a total of 261/7 in 45 overs. In an innings where the 2nd highest score was 25, it was their all-rounder Rajeev Kamath at the middle order top scoring with a brilliant 131* off mere 100 deliveries. His innings consisted 15 fours and 3 sixes as he single handedly pushed his team towards a more than decent total to defend.
For Esplanade Liberals, even though they did not have anyone who could score a big innings but as we say where there is teamwork, there is less homework as almost every player contributed with crucial cameos which contributed towards the win for Esplanade Liberals. Amit Sharma at no.6 scored a match winning 52 while openers Dushyant Kadam (38) & Dhruv Thakkar (37) gave an ideal opening start to the innings.
Result- Esplanade Liberals won the game by 2 wkts.
Mumbai: Abhiyanshu Jha produced a superb bowling spell picking up five wickets which helped Team Yellow Sapphire record a convincing 5-wicket victory against Team Bleed Blue in the final of the Rising Star Premier League Boys’ Under-14 Cricket Tournament, played at the Belapur Sports Association Cricket Ground, Navi Mumbai.
After Team Blue elected to bat first, Yellow Sapphire’s left-arm spinner Abhiyanshu unsettled the rival bastmen with a teasing line and length. Team Blue innings folded for 118 runs in 30.1 overs with Abhiyanshu finishing with impressive bowling figures of 5 for 16 from 6.1 overs. Pratik Laharuka took 2 for 16 from four overs.
Rudra Sukale 29 runs, Lokesh Rathod 28 runs and Pranav Dawoolkar 18 runs were the only Team Blue batsmen to get some runs on the board.
Later, Yellow Sapphire easily chased down the target reaching 119 for the loss of five wickets in 24.5 over and emerge champions.
Smit Kochrekar top-scored with 28 runs while Karan Rajput was unbeaten on 19 runs and Atharva Mayure contributed 18 runs to ensure the team crossed the finish line. Team Blue bowlers Atul Jha 2 for 13 and Lolesh Mistry 2 for 29 picked the wickets.
Brief scores: Team Bleed Blue – 118 all out, in 30.1 overs (Rudra sukale 29, Lokesh Rathod 28, Pranav Dawoolkar 18; Abhiyanshu Jha 5 for 16, Pratik Laharuka 2 for 16) lost to Team Yellow Sapphire – 119 for 5 wickets, in 24.5 overs (Smit Kochrekar 28, Karan Rajput 19 not out, Atharva Mayure 18; Atul Jha 2 for 13, Lolesh Mistry 2 for 29).
SPORTSZONE T20 (JFSC) PUNE CRICKET TOURNAMENT 2019-20 – The match between VCA Achievers and Soft hard was played at Verrock vengsarkar cricket ground, Pune on 21st December. VCA Achievers won the toss and elected to bat first.
Except Prithviraj Shimlikar who scored 35 runs off 26 balls, no other batsman really upped their game and eventually due to lack of big scorers they were bundled out a score of 126 runs in 19.2 overs. For Soft hard, the trio of Vaibhav Agarkar, Abhijeet Jagtap and Rohan Fund picked up 3 wickets each.
Soft hard openers finished off the game with sheer ease and panache, Openers Rishi Raut scored 50 off 47 and Amit Kadam scored a quick 61 off 42 balls. The openers took their time as needed and importantly, they played comprehensively in the middle. They chased down the target in 14.5 overs. The VCA Achievers’ bowlers didn’t have any luck with the ball and were unable to pick any wickets.
Result – SoftHard won the match by 10 wickets.
Click here for Quarter final match Softhard Software VS VCA Achievers Match full scorecard ….
Played between Sunrise Sports Club and North Brook CC at the New Hind SC, Dadkar Maidan, Sunrise SC after being put to bat first could only managed a total of 129/10 backed by Swapnil Rawool’s crucial 40 runs. Karan Patel with 5/27 was the best bowler for Lord North Brook team.
Lord North Brook in reply scored 231/7 in 44 overs with Zakir Shaikh (64) & Nishant Shivalkar (55) scoring crucial half centuries. All-rounder Swapnil Rawool was the best bowler coming up with excellent bowling figures of 6/62 making it an all-round show.
Lord North Brook CC won the match on 1st innings lead while the match witnessed some impressive performances from the likes of Karan Patel, Swapnil Rawool, Zakir Shaikh and Nishant Shivalkar.
Don Bosco Matunga after being put to bat first at the Parsee Gymkhana ground lost both their openers quite early. However, it was Aryaraj Nikam at no.3 playing an anchoring knock of 95 runs in 179 balls laced with 15 boundaries. Aman Yadav who came at no.7 played the perfect foil hitting a quick 86 off 85 balls (10 fours, 3 sixes). Aman also stitched a 148 run stand with Aryaraj which ensured Don Bosco reached a competitive total of 275 runs in 61 overs. From the bowlers, Vishal Prasad with 5/56 in 11 overs bowled an impressive spell being the pick of the bowlers.
VK Krishna Menon School in reply were all out for just 60 runs thanks to their in-form bowler Harsh Mendon cleaning up the middle to lower order in style. Harsh who has been amongst the wickets this season for his school once again came good with a spell of 5/23 in 9 overs. It was on the back of his vicious bowling, Don Bosco won the match by 215 runs.
VN Sule Guruji batting first at MIG Cricket Ground were all out for 118 runs in 61.5 overs thanks to a terrific spell of spin bowling by the young Shubham Kharat. Shubham who played well this season in Kanga too where players were quite senior to him brought in his club cricket experience which came in handy for his school as he bagged 6/29 in 18.5 overs. Shubham eroded the entire middle and lower middle order coming up with timely breakthroughs.
IES New English School, Bandra in reply scored 197/5 in 72 overs on the back of Anurag Nair’s 50 and opener Aditya Pabalkar’s 41. The match eventually ended in draw with IES New English School winning the match on 1st innings lead.
MILAN MEGA CORPORATE T20 LEAGUE 2019-20 – Capgemini VS Lanxess, Capegemini won the toss and elected to bat first. The match was played at Cross Maidan on 21st December. The match was organised by Milan cricket club.
Capgemini openers did a splendid job with the bat, Jitendra Panchal (79 off 62) anchored the innings diligently throughout the period and opener Jayesh played the aggressor in the partnership, scoring 57 runs in 31 balls which interestingly included 11 fours. They had an opening partnership of 100 runs and with small contributions here and there, they reached a huge score of 199 runs in 20 overs losing 6 wickets. Lanxess used 8 bowlers in their innings and that might have proved counter productive, Darshan Bange picked up 2 wickets.
Lanxess loosed wickets regularly in the middle and no batsman really put up a big buck for his wicket. The highest scorer was Ashish k who scored 29 runs. Eventually, they crumbled at a score of 107 runs in 15 overs. Capgemini’s Yogesh Chehulkar
Picked up 3 scalps for 21 runs. Pinakin,Rahul Sardar, Shivaram yadav also picked up couple of wickets each.
Result – Capegemini won the match by 92 runs.
Click here for Capgemini vs Lanxess match full scorecard ….
Mumbai, 26, December, 2019 : India’s dashing batsman Rohit Sharma, who has caught the attention of young budding cricketer with his flamboyance and explosive batting style, spent quality time interacting with young trainees at the the Rohit Sharma-CricKindom Cricket Academy, at Islam Gymkhana on Thursday afternoon.
The Mumbai-based Rohit shared his experience with the upcoming cricketers and offered them advice on different aspects of the game.
When a trainee informed him that he could not handle short-pitch bowling and was afraid of being hit, the batting genius promptly told the youngster that there was nothing to get scared about.
“If you are frightened of being hit and getting injured this game or any other sport is not ideal for you. Every cricketer, batsmen or bowlers faces injuries while playing, but you have to learn how to cope with it. Australian batsman Steve Smith was badly hurt and suffered a concussion in the Ashes series in August, but he took a break from the next Test, but came back to resume scoring heavily,” Rohit pointed out.
The dashing opener Rohit believes that there is no harm in attempting the big shots or trying to play a flamboyant cover drive. “If the guy is giving you results by playing the big shots, there is nothing wrong in that. Playing shots is not a crime, but, what we need to be careful of is, if the player is repeating the mistakes, then he needs to be told how he should go about it the next time,” Rohit stressed.
“I would encourage a batsman to play shots if they want to, but at the same time they need to understand that they need to produce results. You may score 100 off 50 balls or 200 balls, it doesn’t matter, it is still a hundred. I mean if the guy is confident in his skills, I would back that skill. There should not be any restriction on how these young players want to bat. They should be allowed to bat freely, that’s how they will produce results,” he further stated.
The Rohit Sharma-CricKingdom Cricket Academy in Mumbai currently has 110 active students training under renowned coaches and trainers.
Besides Mumbai, the academy has training programs conducted in Pune, Hubli, Chennai and Vellore with three more soon to be launched in Vizag, Surat and Bangalore early 2020 and a few more lined up in other parts of India and overseas.
Valuable Sports Club batting first at United CC wicket posted a total of 283/10 in 59.4 overs. Siddhesh Gavande (46) and Omkar Rahate provided a brilliant opening start while Omkar went on to convert his good start into a sparking 117 runs. However, batters below these two could not capitalize or else even a 350+ total was quite possible on the cards. From Naval Dockyard, Amit Kumar with 4/30 was the pick of the bowlers.
Naval Dockyard in reply gave a tough fight almost coming close towards a successful chase but fell short by just 13 runs. Opener Sachin Katkar (44), Mangesh Vaity (69) and Devidas Koli (51) ensured a tight competition however the bowlers got the better of the opposition with Prathamesh Golatkar picking up 4 timely and crucial wickets. Prathamesh with 4/42 in 16 overs was the strike bowler as Valuable SC won the game by 13 runs.
