Automotive Cricket Club emerged champions as they managed to pull off a 28-run victory against Greater Mumbai Police in the Elite Division final of the 13th Insurance Shield T20 Inter-Office Cricket Tournament 2024, organised by Oriental Insurance Company under the aegis of MCA (Mumbai Cricket Association) and played at Cross Maidan on Tuesday evening.
Deciding to bat first, Automotive CC batters struggled to stay long in the middle and could only post a modest total of 123 for the loss of five wickets from their quota of 20 overs. Opening batsman Jiniv top-scored with a 39-ball 43 runs, lower order batters Jagdish Jadvav and Darsh Murkute contributed 26 runs and 19 runs respectively, which helped lift the innings. The remaining batters failed to get going and lost their wickets cheaply.
Later, the Automotive bowling attack spearheaded by Visheshwar Singh did most of the damage by claiming five wickets for 20 runs, while teammates Jagdish Jadhav two wickets for 13 runs and Jayshal Wadival two wickets for 17 runs picked up the other wickets to restrict Mumbai Police 95 all out in 19 overs.
Automotive CC’s bowler Vishveshwar was the obvious choice for the ‘Player of the Final’ award. Swapnil Kulaye of Greater Mumbai Police bagged the ‘Player of the Series’ award.
Brief scores – Elite Div (Final): Automotive CC 123 for 5, 20 overs (Jiniv Joshi 43, Jagdish Jadhav 26*, Darsh Murkute 19; Hashim Sayyed 2/19) beat Greater Mumbai Police SC 95 all out, 19 overs (Sachin Rao 30, Chintamani Kamble 27; Vishweshwar Singh 5/20, Jagdish Jadhav 2/13, Jayshal Wadival 2/17).
Individual awards – Player of the final: Vishveshwar Singh (Automotive CC).
Best fielder: Raunaq Sharma (Automotive CC).
Best bowler: Vishveshwar Singh (Automotive CC).
Best batsman: Sachin Rao (Gr. Mumbai Police).
Player of the series: Swapnil Kulaye (Gr. Mumbai Police).