Reports from Cricket Club of Dombivali’s Internal Tournament’19

Internal season started with a bang at Asahi Ground, Taloja. Behind the scenes efforts of Internal committee, and others those who were involved in making this tournament happen would have been really proud and happy to see what transpired at Taloja yesterday. All that nervous energy and anxiety of players was finally put to rest yesterday. Shouryas and Avengers locked horns in the first encounter. Being put in to bat,  Shouryas were jolted by 2 quick wkts. Ankit accounted for Manish Patil first, who mistimed a lofted drive to mid-on. Hiren was also cleaned up Ankit. Ankit if gets going bowls good seam up stuff. Akilesh and Shrikanth started forming a partnership after opening pair left. Shrikanth was timing the ball superbly. A glide towards point was a classic shot by him, ball jst raced to the boundary in a jiffy. Akilesh played well for his 29, but was a bit off colour. He jst  couldn’t, t get the big shots going. The wicket was 2 paced in the morning. Lots of movement for the bowlers. Rinat was swinging it like a banana. Lots of movement in the air and of the pitch for him. Rinat got Shrikant off a  mistimed  shot. Shrikant tried to loft one on the on side, ending up lofting ball straight up in the air. Patange took a nice catch to send back Shrikanth. Barring above 2 none other batsman from  Shouryas could get going. Aniket  hit Mangesh for a humungous six over mid-wkt, but Mangesh soon got him. Aniket tried to loft Mangesh over covers but ended up hitting a dolly catch to Vishal. Mangesh was pick of the bowler for Avengers, he lead frm the front claiming 3 wickets for just 15 runs in 3 overs. Outstanding bowling by him. Rinad was also rewarded for his bowling with a solitary but imp wkt of Shrikant. Ankit claimed 2 wkts and Virendra accounted for Prasad surve. Nana Mhatre bowled well conceding just 12 runs in his 3 overs. Target for Avengers was 100 runs.

With their batting line up it seemed a cake walk. But What I hv seen of Aniket as a captain, he is very strict and positive. I knew he would spur his team for a assualt. And his ace bowler Chetan Dunakhe got it bang on. Adwait and Nishant were both castled by Chetan.  Sandeep Patil tonked Gandhi for 21 runs in 1 over. his knock included two 4’s and two sixes. Sandeep started to play his natural game. One thought this match could finish soon. But Chetan had other ideas, as he claimed the big fish. Sandeep played a pre-determined front foot defensive shot and missed, Chetan blew his poles. A very big blow for Avengers. As we all know by now, what damage can Sandeep do if he stays on the wkt. Well disastrous chase was on for Avengers. Chetans spell was a back breaker for Avengers. Classic stump to stump bowling by him. Aniket took matters into his own hands and bowled in power play too.  He dismissed Prajakt and Virendra in quick succession.  Shouryas didn’t allow Avengers to build any partnerships. Wkts fell on regular intervals for Avengers. Vishal Joshi tried resurrecting the innings with his 25 frm 29 balls knock and remained notout. Mangesh took on Shrikant aggressively hitting him for a boundary on on side. But Shrikant had the last laught as he castled Mangesh with a classic yorker. That was game set and match. Pradeep Anna’s spell was equally important in, Shouryas win over Avengers. He was bowling towards the end of the match. He bowled wonderfully well conceding jst 10 runs in his 2 overs claiming 1 wkt. PK,s injury was a jolt for Avengers. PK came into bat and tried his best to hit out, but Anna and Tushar  Patil kept him at bay. Eventually Tushar dismissed PK. A great win for Shouryas indeed. Avengers are themselves to blame, barring Vishal Joshi who played well, no other batsman could stay on the wkt for long.

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Next up . Shouryas vs Falcons.

Falcons elected to bat first. The wkt by now had lost most of its sting and bite after 30 overs of play. Chetan continued his honeymoon by scalping Aakash for a duck. Aaksh tried to hit it out of the ground but it went high up in the air. Aniket took a gud catch. Steve offered sm resistance with his 15 ball stay which included on boundary. Chetan scapled him to, catching him in front of the wkt. A debatble decision by umpire as it looked like ball hit him on the thigh. Swapnil who came back to CCD this year, made his intentions very clear frm the start as he  sent a knee high full toss from Hitesh out of the ground. Swapnil hit Aniket for a superb six over covers. Jst moving his hand effortlessly through line of the ball and the ball went miles over covers boundary. Swapnil was severe on Aniket who bowled so well in the first match. But the wkt as I said was getting better better with each passing movement. Bowlers found it hard to contain the batsman. Swapnil looked  like he was gng to walk over Shouryas, hit a lofted drive at long off. It looked like a definite six as fielder on the boundary Hiren seemed not able to judge the ball  distance properly,  but he flung high with one hand and fell backwards. Every one stood still as Hiren rose frm the ground with ball in his right hand. What a magnificent effort by him, certainly on e of the best catches I have ever seen. An astounding catch, certainly international class written all over it. Swapnil stood still in disbelief and walked by dejectedly scoring 39 runs with five boundarys and 2 classic maximums. Pratik and Nilesh’s took reigns in their own hand after Swapnil left. Both played excellent knocks forming a gud partnership. Both played with similar strike rates. Pratik  30 runs of 25 balls and Nilesh got 26 of 19 balls, each hitting 2 boundarys. Both these batsman ran their 1’s and 2’s quite well. Their gud effort  got Falcons to a total of 118 runs in 15 overs. For Shouryas, Chetan was again pick of the bowler with 3/1/6 and 2 wkts. Aniket and Tushar patil also took 1 wkt each. Vivek Iyer bowled well conceding jst 12 runs in his two overs.

So nice to see Prasad Surve up the order and playing. He is not fully recovered yet from his foot injury. But was really impressive behind the wkts. Vinay and Prasad got things going for Shouryas with a decent opening stand.  Vinay hit couple of boundaries and looked like could get a big score but was brilliantly caught by Nilesh off Dinesh Patils bowling. Prasad Surve looked busy in his stay at the wkt. middling most of the deliveries. Its a gud sign that Prasad is getting back in his knick, certainly one of gud players from CCD. Dinesh cleaned up Hiren taking his 2nd wkt of the match. Haresh Mama in quick succession accounted for  Prasad , Manish Patil and Ketan in his gud spell of 3/11 and 3 wkts. Top five of Shouryas batsmen where back in hut for 40 odd runs. The chase seemed was gng to be extremely difficult with so many wkts down. With increasing runrate per over, Shrikanth and rising star of CCD Satish took matters into their own hands. Soon this pair struck gold as Pratik more who is a gud bowler was at the receiving end. A disastrous and match turning over was bowled by him. An unlucky 5 wides started the over and from their on it was madness as four more boundarys  came of that Pratik over. One shot in particular by Shrikant was classic as he came outside off stump and hit Pratik on the legside behind the wkt. Luck also favoured this pair as Dinesh took a great catch on the boundary but his foot was over the rope. Satish Devkate and Shrikant played out of their skins to get their team over the line. Fantastic partnership by these two. So it was two out of two for Shouryas as their main players played well when needed. Shrikanth, Chetan, Satish and Captain courageous Aniket should all be proud of themselves and their fantastic team.

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Last affair of the day saw Avengers take on Rafael’s, electing to field first stand-in captain Abhijit started proceedings with Maalak and Allwyn. The idea was to use lack of pace against Mangesh and Adwait who both like ball coming on the bat. Well the tactic worked upto an extent as both Mangesh and Adwait were dismissed inside the power play but damage was done as Avengers got 50 of first five overs. It’s my personal opinion that wkt was flattest for the last match. Nothing was happening for the bowlers. No moment in the air or off the wkt. Allwyn conceded 22 in his 2 overs and Maalak went for 33 in his 3. Dr. Aashish has certainly made a pretty comback to CCD. He and Vishal Joshi played as if both of them were having casual nets. Picking their spot where they wanted to hit the ball. Vishal played a classic square drive of me which almost went for the maximum. Vishal certainly has made middle order batsmen spot of his own. He runs his ones and twos and collects boundarys regularly. Vishal scored 41 valuable runs studded with 6 fours and and a 6. I was extremely luck to get his wkt as he hoicked one over long onn. The shot looked as if it will go for six but Devaa took a wonderful catch to end Vishals stay on the wkt. But after Vishals departure it was Dr. Ashish’s show all the way. Amazing innings by him. He carefully choose the balls to hit. In full command he hit me for a six and four in the same over. Same treatment for Abhi Parab, as Aashish walked down the wicket and hit him straight over his head or six and followed up with a orgasmic inside out shot over point. Superb batting by him. Aashish was supported nicely by Virendra who batted and bowled well. Certainly a gud player in making if works on his bowling more. Almost all Rafeal bowlers conceded ten runs per over. My figures of 3/35 and a solitary wkt was due to lack of indiscipline in the bowling certainly. Actually extremely good keeping by Swapnil Junior as he saved many fours on leg side off my bowling. Thank you Batlyaa. Devaa bowled well within himself for figures of 3 overs/28 runs. YM bowled a solitary over to claim important wkt of Aashish. Bowlers are certainly to be blamed here for leaking runs, but credit also goes to the batsman who compiled 163 runs in 15 overs.

Surprising mood in Rafeal camp was not sombre, the energy was high positive. Santosh and other players said, if they can, we also can score these runs. whole team was optimistic but deep down a a tiny midget of doubt of getting 163 in 15 overs loomed large. As I came back out of the ground many people heckled and laughed at me for my bowling (ofcourse in friendly way). Its ok I thought. And cricket is a great leveler indeed. Because what followed and happened during Rafeals chase will be talked upon by many in days to come. I m quite sure about that.

Not a good start to the chase as YM was given caught behind in a debatable decision. Santosh walked in, and as they say rest is history. Rohi and Santy just gave all Avengers bowlers an gud old pasting. What we can call as old style dhulai. The wkt as so easy to bat, Santosh was walking across his stumps and hitting wherever he wanted to hit. Some of the cut shots which Rohi hit were really really special. Rohi hit one six across the line on leg side, that shows the confidence with which these players played. Things were happening so fast Avengers didn’t knew what hit them. 100 was reached in 8th over. Rohi 39 in 25 balls with 4 fours and 1 six and Santosh 37 in 16 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes made sure that they brought their team with in touching distance of the target. Santosh played like a mad man on a mission. Aashish got Santosh caught on the boundary. and Ninad was runout for 9. Still almost 60 runs to get. Rohi fell soon. The chase was on but stared to get tense enough. But Devaa 15 balls – 24 runs with 2 fours and a humungous six took away any fight left in Avengers. Devaa is such an valuable asset for any team. Good batting, bowling, fielding and most importantly a positive attitude makes him a great asset for any side.  Mangesh again bowled well for Avengers with 3/21  2 wkts. Ankit and Jadhav also got one wicket each. Avengers bowled well in thin patches but couldn’t contain batsmen from scoring freely. Last 3 overs, game got little tense after Devas departure. But new boy Shreyas hit Asshish for decisive boundary on legside. Great character shown by Shreyas under pressure. Abhijit also didnt rush and played smartly for the moment and not for the occasion. In the end Macchya hit a humongous six and won a famous win for his team Rafeal. Whole team ran towards the pitch to congratulate their batting pair on a famous, famous, very famous win. Confidence and positivity takes u a long way way.

Congratulations to all teams on making it a very action packed day. All the efforts of CCdians, coordinators and behind the scene operators should be proud of what they have achieved in making cricket more and more successful in CCD.

Report Compiled by

Mr.Ram Chaube