KIDS’ FINAL

The Kids’ final on January 31 turned out to be quite a humdinger with the Shooting Stars facing off against Destroyers. And after 10 overs, both were tied at 120. The match had to go into a Super Over, with Shooting Stars pipping Destroyers to the post.

The toss was won by Siddhant Pal of Shooting Stars who elected to bat. As per the rules, the first five overs had the under-12 players batting and bowling. Both the captain and Kamish Rao, the sponsor, had a special word for opener Ishaan Bose but he did not last long. The very next ball after he got out in the fourth over, Aryan Bhaduri got out hit wicket. Parth Ranjan of Destroyers was on a roll, having effected all three dismissals. But Aryan Mohan kept the scoreboard ticking, clearing the ropes at regular intervals.

As the sixth over starts, the junior batsmen retire and the two captains face each other, with Siddhant taking guard against 13-year-old Jayatra Chaudhuri who brings himself on. At the fall of the fourth wicket, Aryan Mohan who had retired undefeated, gets to return to the crease.

Siddhant Pal, captain Shooting Stars Rose Vaishnavi

With Siddhant going great guns at the other end, the commentator Rohit Kolte wondered on the mic: “Kya 100 ka ankra chhu payenge Shooting Stars?" Shriya Pandey, a reserve player of the team who was helping out the scorers, retorted: “Koi shaq nahin!”

By the time the innings ended, a small bonfire had been lit on the sidelines around which some spectators had formed a huddle to keep off the cold. The match too was heating up with Vatsal Nimodia getting run out off a sharp return from Siddhant in the third over.

Yug Kaul and Ujan Ghosh of Destroyers confer during their partnership. Rose Vaishnavi

But Kanishk Khadgawat, the other opener, found an able partner in Ujan Ghosh. Thanks to Kanishk (42 off 25), the Destroyers scored over 60 in the first five overs, creasing brows in the Shooting Stars camp. Yug Kaul played a cameo at the end to level the scores.

The Super Over had Destroyers batting first and scoring 11, including a six. But Siddhant and Sayan managed to chase it down with a ball to spare.

Siddhant, who was also named the Player of the Tournament, won hearts by giving away his Player of the Match trophy to Aryan Mohan. “Had he not batted so well, we would not have had the runs on the board,” said the victorious captain, who plays in the under-15 tournament of the Cricket Association of Bengal, along with his friend Dheer Jain, who cheered him in the finals despite his own team My Team Mavericks losing in the semi-final.

A pizza party took place at Dominoes in the Rosedale Garden complex across the road. “The sponsor has promised another party,” Siddhant grinned.

Sudeshna Banerjee

Men’s final

Sidhartha Agarwal in action. Basudeb Behera

When D11 and Warriors had faced off in the group stage, D11 had come up trumps. Since then, both teams had grown in experience and confidence throughout the tournament.

At the finals on Sunday, D11 won the toss and elected to bat but lost five quick wickets with none of the batsmen reaching double digits, thanks to a fiery spell by Subodh Chandra from Warriors, who scalped four of the top five.

Nonetheless there was remarkable rearguard action with Rajiv Patnaik scoring a blistering 59 runs in 20 balls with 10 hits to the ropes. Vishal Sarda, Salil Yagnick and Riyaz Ahmed too contributed cameos and the team put up a fighting 156 for eight at the end of 12 overs.

D11 on the victory podium Aniket Sil

Warriors lost a wicket in the first over but averted a collapse like their opponents. The DD11 bowlers, however, maintained a decent economy rate, with Patnaik leading the pack, allowing only 14 in his three overs. With the fielding too being tight, the Warriors found it tough to score.

The number of dot balls by D11 bowlers started increasing and the Warriors started slipping on run rate. The mounting pressure forced the batsmen to come down the pitch and take the risky aerial route. A few strokes did cross the boundary but miscued shots led to catches along with two stumpings as well.

The fact that there were no extras was proof of the discipline of the D11 bowlers. The team that debuted in the UPL this year ended up winning the final by a massive 68 runs.

“We are a bunch of friends who hang out together and thought of forming a team,” said captain Sidhartha Agarwal. “It is our team spirit that led us to victory.”

Agarwal said he had a hunch that the pitch would react differently because of the early morning rain and his decision to bat first paid off.

Baljeet Singh, captain of Warriors, was a true sport. “We had been chasing targets and winning matches all through the tournament and today’s score was achievable too. The last five overs proved too expensive for us. Still, we enjoyed immensely,” he said.

Salil Yagnick of D11 was named the Man of the Match for taking three wickets.

Aniket Sil

Women’s final

Meera Joseph in full flow Basudeb Behera

The women’s final was down to Mystic Maya versus Minions. It was a 10-over match consisting of 10 on-field players and two substitutes.

Mystic Maya won the toss and decided to bat, sending out Riya Khan to take strike and Krupa Javalgi at the other end. Poonam Yadav, the captain of Minions, opened the bowling.

The first delivery was a no-ball which led to a run and a free hit. But Poonam compensated by getting Riya caught behind in the very next ball.

Still the Mystic Mayans scored briskly, thanks to a superb 42-run partnership between captain Mamtaa Baid and Sowmya Sengupta.

The crowd cheered when Sowmya struck the first six of the evening and their partnership ended only in the last ball when she got run out.

Minions had been set a steep target of 97 runs but they had an excellent strike rate thanks to Poonam’s boundaries. Her consecutive sixes not only helped her score a half-century — she stayed unbeaten at 67 —but also made the spectators applaud.

The victorious Mystic Maya team exults with the trophy. Basudeb Behera

Mystic Maya turned the game around when the Minions needed to score 30 runs in four overs. A maiden over by Riya increased the pressure on Minions and 12 runs were required in the last over.

But a canny change in the field placement and bowling plan by Mamtaa ensured that the Mayans won the game by six runs.

“It was an achievable target for the Minions but our strategy was to either get wickets or restrict the runs. Since we could only take one wicket, we had to got for defensive field placing to prevent the boundaries,” said Mamtaa.

The captains shared the honours with Mamtaa being named the Player of the Match and Poonam the Best Bowler as well as Player of the Series.

Aniket Sil