CR bags Super League crown
Central Railway put up an impressive display and emerged champions by defeating Mumbai Customs by a tennis score 6-3 in the Super Division final of the MHAL League 20172018, at the Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate, on Monday evening.
Mohd. Nizamuddin, the spearhead in Central’s attack, was the hero of their victory as he notched up a fine hattrick in the second-half.
The Central Railway outfit took-off on the right track and were dominant through. They started in whirlwind fashion and were all over the Customs territory and enjoyed a 2-1 half time lead. They picked up steam in the second period scoring four times and could have won by a much bigger margin but were denied by Customs substitute goalkeeper Avtar Divedi who made some superb saves.
The railway outfit drew first blood in the fourth minute with Rajendra Pawar scoring in the 4th minute and Reuben Kedari getting the second in the 32ndminute, after Customs had equalised through Jayesh Jadhav in the 19th minute.
But after changing ends, Nizamuddin struck three quick goals in a span of eight minutes to virtually kill the contest. He scored with an angular drive in the 40thminute and four minutes later sounded the boards with a firm drive from the left side of the striking circle.
He completed his hat-trick with a peach of an effort by controlling the ball on his stick before smashing it past a hapless Divedi in the 48th minute.
Customs gave glimpses of a fight back with full back Abhishek Singh converting a penalty stroke in the 57th minute and nine minutes later scoring with firm flick from their second penalty corner in the 68th minute to cut the deficit to 3-5.
However, in the very next minute, Brijendra Singh scored the sixth to complete the big win.
The champions Central Railway received the Super League trophy and a cheque of Rs one lakh ten thousand while Mumbai Customs had to be content with the runners-up trophy and a cash award of Rs 70,000. Central Railway’s ace forward
Nizamuddin was later declared as the ‘Player of the final’ and he received a cash prize of Rs 3,000.
Results: Central Railway 6 (Rajendra Pawar 4th, Reuben Kedari 32nd, Mohd. Nizamuddin 40th, 44th, 48th, Brijendra Singh 69th) beat Mumbai Customs 3 (Jayesh Jadhav 19th, Abhishek Singh 57th, 68th).
Player of the final: Mohd. Nizamuddin (Central Railway).