Shantibhai Sheth Memorial CC draws the game against formidable team of Navi Mumbai Sports Club.

Finally, the wait was over and the romance of Kanga League cricket commenced. It was a refreshing site to see the grounds of Mumbai yet again clad with white color and the red cherry fizzing through.

For us (Shantibhai Sheth Memorial CC), the tournament started with some positive performance. We kicked of our tournament against a formidable opponent Navi Mumbai Sports Club going in as the underdog in the game. We went in this match with mixture of some promising youngsters and some seasoned senior pros to lend the experience. Although the wicket was covered with plenty of grass, it was a typical Kanga League wicket with spongy uneven bounce. We lost the toss and were put in to bat. We started of cautiously ensuring not to lose too many wickets in first 15 overs. By lunch, we were 88-2 which by Kanga standards is a brilliant score. Post lunch we lost couple of few wickets, but therein laid the advantage of having season pros in the team. What came to fore was the typical Mumbai cricket “Khadoos” mentality. They again fought through the tough situation and in the end we declared our innings on 165/7, leaving our bowlers a minimum of 40 overs to bowl the opponent out. We managed to put the opponent under pressure right from the first over and made vital breakthroughs at regular interval. Our bowlers toiled hard, but as the day progressed the wicket slowed down considerably with no pace, no bounce or turn in it. As the clock moved over to 5.20 PM and the umpires called time to lift the bails, the opponents closed the day on 64/8. The end result was a draw with 1 point shared among us.

There were some positives and throughout the day we outplayed our opponent in every department. But then, championships are won by grabbing those 50-50 moments in the game. In this game we could not, but we will improve as tournament moves into its later stage.

Article Contributed by Amit Patade

Amit Patade is a software engineer by profession.Past accolades – Associated with Mumbai cricket now for almost 25 years. He has Played ‘A’ divison cricket for Shantibhai Sheth Memorial CC, Rajasthan CC, MCA Certified O level coach and actively plays and contributes on local cricket.