Club cricket is lifeblood of the sport: Gavaskar
MUMBAI: Skipper and leg-break bowler Pradeep Sahu once again produced a fine performance with the ball picking up another five-wicket haul to finish with a match-haul of 10 wickets. The captain’s efforts helped Parkhophene Cricketers defeat Payyade Cricket Club by 96 runs on the third day of their three-day final of the Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd sponsored 71st Police Invitation Shield Cricket Tournament 2018, and played at the Mumbai Police Gymkhana ground, Marine Drive on Monday. To make the match memorable, legendary Indian cricketer, Sunil Gavaskar, presided over the prize distribution function. The former India captain spoke about how the Police Shield, alongwith Purshottam Shield and Talim Shield, were three most important tournaments during his time for the players to impress the Mumbai Ranji team selectors.
“Club cricket is the lifeblood of the sport,” said Gavaskar. “In Mumbai, the cricket culture, the approach to the game and the attitude is different from other places. That’s why players from other places come to Mumbai to develop their game,” he added, while lauding the welcoming culture of the city.
“Mumbai cricket has a unique culture, of never giving up, of never being satisfied,” said the former India captain.
The victorious Parkhophene Cricketers received the glittering Police Shield Trophy and a cash prize of ~1 lakh from chief guest Gavaskar.
Prasad Pawar of Parkhophene Cricketers was adjudged as the Man of the Tournament. BRIEF SCORES
Parkhophene Cricketers 371 all out in 83.5 overs and 247 for 6 in 40 overs (Suved Parkar 83, Sagar Mishra 44, Prasad Pawar 40, Adeeb Usmani 32; Badre Alam Khan 3/50) bt Payyade Sports Club 241 all out in 57 overs and 281 all out in 33.5 overs (Vikrant Auti
88, Akhil Herwadkar 42, Shubham Ranjane 38; Pradeep Sahu 5/94, Sagar Mishra 2/46, Royston Dias 2/71). Result: Parkhophene Cricketers won by 96 runs. HD Kanga League C Division
BRIEF SCORES
Gaud Saraswat 168 (Abhinav Singh 83; Virendra Yadav 6/25, Omkar Ghule 3/28) lost to John Bright 192/4D (Prateek Patle 43) on first innings lead. Koli Combined 219/4D (Samrat Nakhwa 102, Shreyas Tandel 42; Nikhil Nakhre 4/60) & 60/0D (Aditya Koli
33*) bt Jolly Cricketers 147 (Abhay Patil 4/48) on first innings lead.
Rajasthan SC 138 (Salman Khan 4/24, Hitesh Kadam 4/76) lost to Islam Gymkhana 201/4D (Aryan Bangar 58). Shivaji Park Youngsters 69 (Harshit Jain 5/15, Rahul Mishra 4/19) & 139/7D (Rahul Mishra 3/36, Santosh Singh 3/34) lost to United Friends 109 (Nitin Surve 5/51, Rahul Ratnaparkhi 3/34) on first innings lead.
Ghatkopar Jolly Gymkhana 219/8 drew with Maskati CC 8/1.