Tags:
Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, OCT 13: Vijay Manjrekar XI are all set to claim the 13th Sportstar Trophy if the penultimate day’s proceedings of the Mumbai Cricket Association’s under-19 selection tournament is any indication. After posting a decent score of 286-7 declared in the first essay, Manjrekar XI were eyeing an innings victory over Khandu Rangnekar XI when stumps were drawn at the Elf-Vengsarkar Academy, Oval on Wednesday.
After being dismissed for 131, Rangnekar XI were reeling at 58-7 at close on the second day of the three-day encounter.
Should Manjrekar XI register an outright victory, which would be their second of the round-robin league, their points tally would swell to 19, good enough for the title. The other contender for the crown, Vijay Merchant XI have a difficult task at hand at the Brabourne Stadium. For, Merchant XI with 10 points so far, were struggling at 160-7 in reply to Dattu Phadkar XI’s first innings score of 234.
Resuming at the overnight score of 213-5, Manjrekar XI added 73 runs beforedeclaring the innings. Indrajit Kanulkar, who was batting on 60, was the principal scorer posting the first century of the event. Kanulkar notched 102 runs off 158 balls and was inclusive of nine boundaries and a sixer.
The left and right medium-pace combination of Uday Karkera (3-53) and Aniruddha Dichwalkar (2-14) then complimented Kanulkar’s efforts by skittling the opposition for a meagre total. Rangnekar’s Prasad Patil (61) was the only batsman to defy the opposition.
Following-on, Rangnekar XI did no better and were 97 runs in arrears and only three wickets in hand to make Manjrekar XI bat again. Spinner Alaap Ghag (2-16) and Sameer Bandarkar (2-8) did most of the damage.
At Brabourne Stadium, Phadkar XI rode on Siddarth Bhatkar’s 29 to add 38 runs to their overnight score of 196-8. However, Phadkar XI bowlers undid the good work of their batsman by giving away 43 extras.
Despite Phadkar XI bowlers’ largesse, Merchant XI batsmen could only muster 160-7 with Abhijit Shetye (32) being thetopscorer.
The tournament concludes tomorrow. Ex-Test stumper Chandrakant Pandit will be the chief guest at the prize distribution function at Brabourne Stadium.
Brief Scores: Vijay Manjrekar XI 286-7 decl in 84.2 overs (Sushant Manjrekar 42, Sammy Salaria 78, Indrajit Kanulkar 102; Gaurang Joglekar 4-101) vs Khandu Rangnekar XI 131 in 38.5 overs (Prasad Patil 61; Uday Karkera 3-53, Aniruddha Dichwalkar 2-14) & 58-7 (Alaap Ghag 2-16, Sameer Bandarkar 2-8).
Dattu Phadkar XI 234 in 106.3 overs (Vijay Singh 39, Wilkin Mota 49, Prathamesh Athawale 42, Siddarth Bhatkar 29; Surendra Yadav 3-60, Shakti Prasad 5-59) vs Vijay Merchant XI 160-7 in 66 overs (Abhijit Shetye 32, Omkar Khanvilkar 26; P Athawale 2-45, Rohan Ganpule 2-33, W Mota 2-26).
