BD SMASHERS OPEN WITH A WIN

Ashwin Shete took 2 for 14 & Niraj Parikh took 2 for 33 to leave a gaping hole in the JBCN United middle order, one they couldn't recover from. Among their takeaways from the contest was the performance of bowler Ashwin Shete, who ran in hard and troubled the openers during the course of an intense spell with the new ball. He finished with figures of 4-0-14-2, bowling his entire quota for the BD Smashers.

The only semblance of resistance from there on came courtesy JBCN captain Akshay Chadha, who brought out the big shots and relied on his industry strokes to pinch runs in the face of some disciplined bowling. He made an attractive 38-ball 52. With no support from the other batsmen JBCN United innings folded for 128/10.

 BD Smashers Suchit Shah started of with a flyer where he took on Vinay Chhadva in the third over and smashed 20 runs in it. Suchit made a quickfire 18 ball 36 hitting 5 boundaries and 2 sixes. With 4 wickets falling in 2 overs the scoreboard went from 78/1 to 85/5 on the completion of 10 overs. Tej Contractor made sure that BD Smashers crossed the line victorious with a 28-ball 35.

 Brief scores: JBCN United 128 in 20 overs (Akshay Chadha 52; Ashwin Chete 2-14) lost to BD Smashers 129/6 in 16.4 overs (Suchit Shah 36, Tej Contractor 35*) by four wickets.

Man of the Match: Suchit Shah

Team Player of the Match: Akshay Chadha

CLINICAL GB STRIKERS DISMANTLES MRV RISERS WITH DISDAIN.

GB Strikers completed a comfortable victory against MRV Risers at Central Railway, Parel.

 The architect of the victory was the duo of Ruchik Shah & Nishant Ranka, who finished with a match tally of 9 wickets between them to give the current champions their second consecutive victory & that too a Big one. They had run through the MRV Risers batting order with eight wickets in the powerplay including a HATTRICK in the second over. Ruchik Shah ended up with 5 wickets for 20 runs from his four overs in the match. Ruchik was well supported by Nishant Ranka, who picked up 4 for 17 from his four overs, to fashion the champions' win by 181 runs.

Ruchik's performance was one for the top drawer. He put on show a full array of skills, bamboozling the batsmen on the way to his record haul. He consistently proved that he was on the top of his game.

 MRV Risers took the aggressive approach chasing the target of 234 runs. This brought about their downfall. Bhavin Shah & Ravinder Soni were the only two batsman to reach to double figures for MRV Risers.

 But the star of the day was Nimish Vora, who lit up the Central Railways Stadium in Mumbai with a scintillating 61-ball 98, powering GBS to a thumping 181-run victory versus MRV Risers.

Nimish said that the landmark of scoring a hundred didn't cross his mind as he was focussed on getting as many runs as possible to help his side post a competitive total. "I was not looking at how many runs I was getting, I was looking at how many we needed to set a big target & win the game."

Nimish was well supported with brilliant quickfire batting cameos by Vishal Patel, Jigar Shah and Keyur Acharya.

Brief Scores: GB Strikers 233/3  beat MRV Risers 52/10 by massive 181 runs margin.

Man of the Match: Ruchik Shah

JBCN United pull off a 25 run win after HSI Lions Anant Roongta's 48 ball 84

A spectacular Anant Roongta power-hitting showcase was not enough to lift HSI Lions out of a pit of the middle-order's making, though it did fill the chase of 200 with much more explosive fun than it promised when HSI Lions were 40 for 4. Anant wallopped 7 sixes and 5 fours on his way to 84 off 48 balls. But with 40 still needed for victory, Roongta mis-hit a length ball from Kamlesh Shah, from where Parag Shah sprinted to complete an excellent catch.

In the end though, their dramatic middle-overs collapse, in which HSI Lions had lost four wickets for 10 runs, proved to be the definitive period of the game. Anant's heroics, at least, were further evidence that he is a vastly improved batsman compared to the last season. A 5^th wicket partnership of 120 runs between Rajiv Gokani and Anant Roongta kept the chase alive.

Akshay Chadha struck a 49-ball 72, putting on a 132-run stand for the first wicket with Avanish Shah 68 from 44 balls, that formed the base for JBCN United's commanding total.

 The opening partnership provided fireworks, before proving effective in the middle overs once more. And Anshuman Agarwalla was terrific on what was now a surface offering moderate turn, taking 2 for 20 from his 4 overs, having precipitated that  middle-order meltdown.

HSI Lions effected one run outs in the innings, but even that didn't quite make up for their lack of menace in the middle overs again dropping catches, misfielding and giving extras. JBCN first team to qualify for Bronze Semifinals.

Summary: JBCN United 199 for 5 (Akshay Chadha 72, Avanish Shah 68, Neesham 64) beat HSI Lions 174 for 8 (Anant Roongta 84, Rajiv Gokani 36, Kamlesh Shah 3-38) by 25 runs

TOP 5 BATSMAN

School Dads 2018 is entered the knock out phase and all top teams have begun preparing themselves for the upcoming Buddies Bash 2019 as well.

We have enjoyed many special innings from special batsmen this year and numerous records were broken.

Teams has showed how cricket has evolved into a batsman's game. There has been a lot of competition among batsmen and to stand out among the crowd requires something special.

Here are the five best batsmen in School Dads 2018:

1. 1.       ASGAR KHAN (United Gladiators) | Runs: 365 | H/S: 164*
2. 2.       CHARLES SAM (Scottish Stars) | Runs: 207 | H/S: 108
3. 3.       VIDYUT SODHA (Truly Marians) | Runs: 205 | H/S: 114
4. 4.       JAIRAJ THAKKER (Supernovas) | Runs: 199 | H/S: 74
5. 5.       SANJAY BOHRA (JB Superdads) | Runs: 183 | H/S: 68*

**Note Above Stats are dated upto 19 Jan 2019