CONSISTENT FIELDING HIGH ON RAJIV'S AGENDA AS PREPARATIONS INTENSIFY.

"The only (area of improvement) I can think of is having a consistent effort on the field with energy and intensity, especially in high-scoring game. If we can be consistent as a fielding side, it can give us more consistency overall in our skills department as well. In the field, we can still improve a lot. "

With the likes of Rajiv Gokani, Manan Shah, Gautam Parolia, Vishal Kalantri, Anish Bhansali, Dhanesh Chheda and Mahavir Shah, HSI Lions have set themselves standards higher since 2013. 

"We have spoken to the people in the practice sessions who need to do the extra effort to sharpen their fielding, and they are putting in that extra effort", Rajiv adds. "That is the only area we feel we can get better at. Obviously, batting and bowling are big variables. Fielding is something that is controllable and you need to get that from all the 11 players in the field. I certainly feel we can improve quite a bit in that department."

QMS KINGS OUTMUSCLE AB DEVILS IN THE TOURNAMENT OPENER

AB Devils endured more heartbreak against QMS Kings in the season opener. While the teams were expecting a close contest, this Group G encounter barely even qualified as one. Sachin Brahma bowled excellently claiming 5 wickets for a mere 7 runs, as AB devils were bowled out for 103. QMS Kings then romped to the target with 63 balls and Ten wickets to spare.

The contrast in the batting approach and abilities of the two teams was showcased from the very beginning, carried on through the powerplay overs - QMS Kings's 75/0 to AB Devil's 48/2 - and achieved the target with more than 10 overs to spare, QMS Kings won by 10 wickets. A victory that confirmed whats in store for the season.

QMS Kings captain Chirag Shah's simple summary of "We did come to the party today", doesn't begin to explain the absolute devastation that the openers -  Jainam Rathod and himself - caused at the top of order. They whacked 15, 9, 17, 14, 13, 7 runs in the first six overs to put AB Devils under early pressure.The relaxation of the fielding restrictions brought slight respite, as QMS Kings scored just 29 off the next 21 deliveries. In this period, Chirag Shah brought up his T20I fifty.  

Brief scores: AB Devils 103 in 18.1 overs (Mihir Varma 33; Sachin Brahma 5-7, Harnish Kamdar 2-17) lost to QMS Kings 104/0 in 9.3 overs (Chirag Shah 61*, Jainam Rathod 32*) by ten wickets.

Man of the Match: Sachin Brahma

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

HSI LIONS vs JBCN UNITED

Despite losing the round robin matches, HSI LIONS will walk into the bronze quarter final contest believing they can turn things around. All games have followed a similar pattern where HSI  have lost the games in the death overs but individual performances got them close.

At the Central Railways ground, the task is pretty straightforward for the team. They need their batting unit to fire in unison and need to find a way to control the leaking runs at the death. Rajiv Gokani and the think-tank need to find better alternatives in the final few overs and the HSI captain could well be the answer. Despite losing his prowess with the ball, Rajiv still has the variations to keep the batsmen in check.

With the track expected to be another batting beauty, HSI Lions will be desperate for a performance from their bowlers. Individual brilliance have threatened opponents but its now entirely going to be a team effort if they need want to win.

What to expect: No weather hindrances expected in the day as the fans can expect a lot of fireworks from the batsmen at a venue with pretty short boundaries.

MHCCL 2019

This year's MHCCL will be as grand as the previous season given that teams have been allowed to retain 2 of their players but it doesn't mean, it wouldn't throw up some interesting combinations and selections.

The team to watch out the most during the tournament is RROCKETS. A new owner & a complete new team this year.

Last year's defending champions VMFighters play RRockets in the opening game on 22 Jan 2019 at the Central Railway Cricket Ground, Lower Parel.

The most expensive players in this years MHCCL are the ones to be watched out for: Krish Jogani, Rishil Shah, Rupen Jhaveri & Aadit Parikh.

Some of the top players who are featuring in the MHCCL  this year include Sohil Shah, Amit Photographer, Vishal Shah, Saurabh Jhaveri, Rishabh Shah, Manan Shah, Karan Doshi, Vineet Dujodwala, Kyan  Bharucha, Ronak Seth, The Gokani brothers - Rajiv and Vishal, Bhairav Seth and many more.

Some of the biggest names in MHCCL world cricket have changed hands for huge amounts of money during the auction as teams try and put together a winning combination of players.

MHCCL auction results: (http://auction.baysidesports.com/League/LeaguePlayers/63) . 

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