Mitsui Shoji Cup 2nd Semi-final: Santosh’s effort outshines Swapnil’s century; City Riders enter final
Venue: Police Gymkhana
It was undoubtedly a match of individual brilliance. . A typical semi-final thriller with momentum shifting from one side to the other. High Scoring encounter. A swashbuckling century. Last over finish. A player batting first scores a power packed century and still ends on the losing side. It is hard to recall how many of such brilliant centuries have ended up on the losing side. But that is the beauty of the game. He was out done by 2 individual performances by the chasing side that helped them not only defeat their opponents but also reach the final and have a real shot at the trophy.
We are talking about the 2nd semi-final of Mitsui Shoji Cup played between City Riders and Bandra Heroes. City Riders won the toss and elected to field first. The pitch was tailor made for batting and ground was small, but they backed themselves to chase in what was going to be a high scoring encounter.
But they would not have expected to be done in by one player i.e. Bandra opener Swapnil Salvi, who stole the limelight by smashing a brilliant 124 from just 52 balls (9 fours, 12 sixes). He spared no City rider bowler and was dominant in all the partnerships till the time he was on the crease. It was due to his knock that Bandra Heroes crossed the 100 mark in 7th over itself. He lost his opening partner Omkar after adding 105 runs with him. Other batsmen just played around him as he did the bulk of scoring.
At the half way mark, Bandra were scoring at 13 runs per over. But they could not capitalize in the slog overs as Swapnil got out and scoring rate dropped. Bandra Heroes eventually ended at 207 runs for the loss of 6 wickets.
There is not much to write about Riders bowling. Bhavesh Patel was smashed for 27 runs in his only over. Opening bowlers Santosh and Vinayak managed a couple of wickets each but they were also expensive.
City Riders had to chase more than 10 runs per over from the word go and a place in finals was at stake. Bhavesh Patel’s nightmarish day continued as he was out after hitting a solitary six. Amit Dani removed the next two batsmen in quick succession and Bandra could see the final place. But what happened next was complete mayhem. Opener Kevin Almeda was not affected by the wickets falling at the other end and continued hammering the bowlers and kept the required run rate under check.
He was unfortunately run out with almost half the runs still remaining to be chased. His other partner Sameer Patil also got out in the same fashion and Riders were in deep trouble with required rate mounting and wickets falling. In walked Santosh Shinde and with his absolute power hitting, completely changed the complexion of the game. He added 42 runs with Vinayak to control the innings and then stayed till the end to take his team over the line and into the finals. He remained unbeaten on 68 (28 balls, 8×4, 4×6). Amit Dani was the pick of the bowlers capturing 3 wickets in his quota of 4 overs.
With this win, City Riders have reached the final of Mitsui Shoji Cup and will lock horns with Ghatkopar Jets. Santosh Shinde, for his exceptional match winning performance was adjudged man of the match.
Here’s what Santosh has to say: “When you chase a big target, scoring in first 6 overs of power play scoring is important and Almeda did just that and maintained good scoring rate. When I came it was easy as required rate was in control. Wicket was also good and it was difficult for bowlers to restrict the batsmen. Swapnil batted really well. For the final, few strong players will return for us and our combination will be better.”
Brief Scores:
Bandra Heroes: 207/6 in 20 overs (Swapnil 124, Amit Dani 29, Vinayak 2/38, Santosh 2/41)
City Riders: 212/8 in 19.4 overs (Santosh 68*, Kevin 66, Amit Dani 3/44)
Match Report by:
Sumanyu Jain
Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph