Shaikh bowls Al Barkaat into Giles Shield final
The defending champs take on Swami Vivekanand team on Jan 21 for title
BRIEF SCORES: (SEMIFINALS)
Al Barkaat:168/10 (Laksh Shinde 52*, Sunny Singh 48; Rehan Hoble 5/51) bt Swami Vivekanand school: 127/10 (Aayush Mhatre 45; Yaseen Shaikh 6/24, Kavya Gori 4/35) Anjuman Islam Allana: 225 (A Deshmukh 85, P Gowari 38, A Vaity 5-39) lost to Swami Vivekananad: 232-6 (P Kapadia 128 n.o, Krish Kanawde 75)
Middle-order batsman Yaseen Shaikh is usually known for his performances with the bat. But on Wednesday, the Al Barkaat (Kurla) mainstay produced some brilliant leg-spinners to bamboozle VN Sule Guruji English High School to take his team into the finals of of the inter-school Giles Shield cricket at Elf Vengsarkar Oval Maidan.
The all-rounder took six for 24 in his quota of 20 overs as his team bundled out rivals for 127 in first innings.
Yaseen was ably backed by Kavya Gori, who also picked four wickets, as VN Sule batsmen faltered on Day 2 of the semi-final clash.
Batting first, the defending champions Al Barkaat put on 168 and qualified for the finals – courtesy of their crucial 41-run lead.
"Let's go Yaseen, common Yaseen," were the cheering chants yelled by Al Barkaat boys and their assistant coach Sayed Alamdar credited his bowlers after the match as he missed some of the key batsmen in the playing XI due to injuries.
"It is completely surprising to see us through victory-line after three batsmen were injured which weakened our batting side leaving it inexperience, but credit goes to the bowlers for lifting team's morale up," said Sayed talking to Free Press Journal.
Al Barkaat Malik Mohd English School take on Swami Vivekananad International H.S from Borivali who got the better of Anjuman Islam Allana English High School in the other semifinal.