Star India lift Masters Cup 6; defeat IL&FS by 6 wickets
Venue : Elf Vengsarkar Cricket Ground Mumbai | Match Scorecard | Tournament Details
Star India are the winners of 6th edition of Masters Cup, organized by One World of Sports.
IL&FS: 160/7 in 20 overs (A Patil 74, S Shinde 25*, R Deo 2/22, M Kumar 2/26)
Star India: 162/4 in 18.3 overs (R Pawar 65, R Naik 41*, M Kanitkar 2/26, N Sarfare 1/29)
Report:
One team playing for the first time in a tournament, reached the final courtesy its strong batting line up. Other team a seasoned campaigner, already won a title recently, high on confidence and favorite to emerge winner. Both teams boasting of some really good players and a never-say-die attitude are up against each other. The first team being IL&FS and Star India being the other one. Everyone expected it to be a close fought contest. Star won it comfortably at the end, courtesy their brilliant bowling and exceptional batting but IL&FS had their chances.
IL&FS won the toss and elected to bat first. A lot was expected from the top order who had steered their team right through the tournament. But this was a different day. In IL&FS innings, top three went cheaply. Varun Madnani went for 0 in the very first over itself. After that Kanitkar was given out LBW. Nikhil Sarfare also threw away his wicket after consuming 26 balls for his 8 runs. These three had been the leading scorers for ILFS in previous matches of the tournament. So it came as a shock that these 3 were dismissed very cheaply and ILFS were on back foot within the first 3-4 overs itself.
Someone was required to stay at the wicket and bat through the overs in order to pose any challenge to Star India. Half the side was back in the pavilion in the 10th over with just 52 runs on the board. They were in danger of getting all out inside the 100 run mark. But one man, Akshay Patil played a gem of an innings and transpired what could be one of the best turn around ever seen. Without much support from any other batsman, Patil single handed took the attack to the opposition and struck a brilliant 74 (51 balls, 10×4) and took his team out of deep waters. S Shinde also played a good cameo of 25* to take the score to a respectable 160.
M Kumar was the chief tormentor with the ball as he removed both the openers in his first spell. He was well supported by S Bhalerao and skipper Randhir Deo.
Star’s innings was characterized by the fact that they never let the required run rate slip from the beginning. Batsmen were aggressive from the very first ball. Even though the score was high, every batsman who came in got the scoreboard ticking so required run rate was never a problem at any stage of the match. They lost 4 wickets in all, 2 of them taken by M Kanitkar. Only time when the match could have taken a twist was around the 11-12th over when it was hanging in balance, slightly in favour of Star. A couple of wickets at that stage would have given IL&FS a good chance to make a comeback in the match but that was not to be.
Opener Rajendra Pawar, who made 65, ensured that Star were comfortable in their chase. When he got out at the 12th over juncture, IL&FS had the chance to come back but it did not happen. Right from the first ball, Star were chasing the target with a clear plan in mind and opening partnership of 50 odd runs gave them the impetus. From there on, it was some consistent batting by the top order. They chased the target in the 19th over itself and won the match and the tournament.
Akshay Patil and Rajendra Pawar were jointly given the man of the match award for playing equally important innings for their respective teams. Rajendra Pawar and Nikhil Sarfare won the best batsman and best bowler of the tournament respectively. The awards were handed over by Mr. Nitin Kukreja from Star India, Mr. Chandan Pawar, Skipper, KPMG and Mr. Saurabh Singh, skipper, Axis Consulting.
Captain’s Corner:
Nirav Jagad, captain, IL&FS, says, “It has been a fascinating journey for the last 3 months or so. We participated in this tournament for the very first time and to reach the finals is very satisfying but not surprising. When I look at the talent in the line-up and the strong bench strength I am hopeful for a better outcome next time around. The attitude of boys has been quite remarkable as they have accommodated a lot to put on the show they did, balancing work, home and passion for game. So a big thank you to their families as well. Coming to the game, we did very well to post 160 after losing our openers without much on the board. It reiterates the quality of line up. We just needed a few things to go our way as well. This experience has made us better cricketers and will come handy in our future games.”
Randhir Deo, captain, Star India says, “It was a well fought match by both the teams. IL&FS finished their innings on high even after losing early wickets. We didn’t lose hope and our batsmen went after their bowling from the first ball. It was a gripping final which eventually went in our favour. Taste of victory is always sweeter. The year 2015 has turned out to be a great year for us. We have played excellent cricket and won trophies and already eyeing one more to finish the season on a high.”
About the tournament: Masters Cup Series, organized by One world of Sports is the most popular corporate cricket series in the city. The company itself is a premium sports management company.
Ashutosh Goel, Director, One world of Sports says, “It has been great fun having so many teams participate in the tournament. My congratulations to both the teams to reach the finals and I hope they have enjoyed it as much as we have. We look forward to see these guys play more in the years to come.”
Report Courtesy: Ashutosh Goel, Director, One World of Sports
Match Report by:
Sumanyu Jain
Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph