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U-12 cricket: Desai’s captain’s knock gives Varroc A-team winning platform
Young guns get going with fiery performances at Vengsarkar academy ground
A half century from captain Aseem Desai and a four-wicket burst from Armaan Borkar helped Varroc-Vengsarkar Cricket Academy A team beat Mahendra Gokhale Sports Academy by 90 runs in the under-12 Varroc cup at the Varroc-Vengsarkar Cricket academy grounds on Tuesday.
For Varroc Academy things did not start off well as they were on the back foot, four down and 37 on board in 7.3 overs.
Desai, along with Anshul Hampaya, started building the innings with rotating strikes and timely boundaries. The duo added 42 runs for the fifth wicket before Hampaya was run out for 21, which included four boundaries.
The onus of putting a competitive score on board was on Desai, as the other batsmen were finding it hard to score quick runs. Desai kept playing calmly, while at the other end wickets kept falling as Arnesh Patil was run out on two, while Kartik Shewale added 12 runs in nine balls.
“The ball was not coming easily on to the bat so I was just telling my teammates to rotate the strike and wait for the loose balls. Once the bowler gets tired we will target bad balls to score boundaries. Anshul provided good support,” added Aseem Desai.
Desai completed his half century, but hardly bothered to celebrate.
“I was not told by teammates that I completed a half century. I only came to know after I was out,” said Desai, who also like to open the batting for his team.
Desai got run out on in 22nd over with score 137 for 9. The last pair added 20 runs as Varroc Academy A team ended their innings with a score of 152.
Coming to bat Mahendra Gokhale Sports Academy never looked comfortable as most of their batsmen gave away their wickets with mistimed shots. Captain Aroosh Bansal was the only batsman who managed to spend time in the middle, while the rest of the batsmen fall like nine pins.
Apart from Bansal’s 22, there was no notable performance as the team was bowled out for 62 runs in 17.4 overs.
“We have started playing a year ago. So boys will improve once they play more matches. Batting takes time to improve, we are working on it and we will improve soon,” explained Siddharth Inmake, coach of Mahendra Gokhale Sports Academy.
For Varroc, Armaan Borkar was the star bowler as he just conceded eight runs in 4.4 overs and took four wickets.
“I was just trying to place the ball in the right areas. I also bowled a few full tosses, but my good balls gave me wickets,” added Borkar, who bowls right-arm off spin.
Bhushan Suryavanshi, coach of Varroc added, “Team has a strong bowling line up and spin is the lethal weapon so I was confident of defending the total.”
In the other match, Sports Park Academy scored 161 runs victory over Varroc-Vengsarkar Cricket Academy B.
Ritvik Rade’s 112 runs in 63 balls helped Sports Park Academy set a target of 202 runs in 25 overs.
In reply, Varroc B team was bowled out for 41 runs.
