‘Thunderbolts’ strike ‘Giant Killers’ to lift MCF Sr. Citizens Cricket title

‘Thunderbolts XI’ gave a big shock to favourites ‘Giant Killers’ in the finals of the MCF Club organised Senior Citizens Premier League Cricket tournament, played on Sunday afternoon, at the MCF Jogger’s Park, Borivali.

Earlier, in the morning, while playing the Qualifier –I ‘Giant Killers’ had beaten Thunderbolts team by 6 runs, with Satish Amre 18 and Mukesh Mule scoring 29 runs. Satish Amre who also took 2 wikets of Thunderbolts was declared Man of this match. Dilip Karekar had also supported him well, by taking two more wickets. For Thunderbolts, Norie D’souza scored 23 runs in 14 balls while Sunil Mayekar scored 19 in 9 balls.

Bahubali Sanjay Shukla – best batsman of the series, scored total 160 runs and hit maximum sixes

In the 2^nd match of Eliminator semi final played between ‘Dadaji Daring XI’ and ‘RG’s The Team’, Dadaji’s XI scored 86 runs with the help of Sanjay Shukla’s captivating 59 runs from 25 balls, with 5 fours and four sixes. Sanjay further went on to capture four wickets of the rival team including the hat-trick in the very first over of the innings, bowled by him. In reply, ‘RG’s The Team’ scored 84 runs , 2 runs short of their target. Satendra Waghmare with 23 and Shashank Gavkar with 21 tried their best for ‘RG’s team’.

Suresh Salvi- Man of the match in finals

In the second back to back eliminator, ‘Dadaji Daring ‘ team however lost to ‘Thunderbolts’. Subhash Patel with 16 runs from 12 balls and Skipper Uday Naik with 34 from 11 balls managed to reach the target for Thunderbolts in just 3.2 overs.

Guest of honour Bhupendra Keny presenting Man of the Series award to Uday Naik (Thunderbolts). Jigar Shah making the announcement and Jitendra Roy sitting on the left side.

In the finals,’Thunderbolts’ to avenge their previous defeat in the 1^st qualifier against Giant Killers earlier in the morning, came all prepared with their strategy. Uday Naik ( 1 for 12) and Girish Amin ( 2 for 10) restricted ‘Giant Killers’ batsmen to 61 runs in 8 overs. For Giant Killers, Naresh Netravalkar , Mukesh Mude & Satish Amre contributed in double figures. Chasing this easily manageable target, Thunderbolts’ batsmen Suresh Salvi with 26 runs with the support of Norie D’souza and Nalin Vyas , won this match and title to become richer by Rs. 30,000/-. The Runners up ‘Giant Killers’ bagged Rs.20,000/- while ‘Dadaji Daring’ XI took home Rs.10,000/- in prize, for their 3^rd place.

From L to R : Naresh Netravalkar, Girish Wagle, Mayank & Bhau Sawant.

Mr. Jitendra Roy and Mr. Jigar Shah and The MCF Cricket organising committee, which did a commendable job, thanked Mr. Rameshbhai Kapadia( Popularly known as ‘Dadaji’and Owner of ‘Dadaji’s Daring XI) for his support in making stay arragements of 25 outstation players, who had come for this tournament. They also thanked the Umpires for their briliant services and also all the senior citizen participants for their enthusiasm and commitment to this game.