Battling the sweltering heat…The sun on your face…. all the teams had just one goal in mind….Lifting the much coveted “Saraswat Cup 2009”…

This year the Annual Saraswat Cup Knock Out Cricket Tournament was played in Mumbai at The Parsee Gymkhana, Marine Drive on 17th May, 2009. Eight Saraswat teams from all over Mumbai participated in this tournament namely KSA XI, Santacruz XI, SVC XI, Bandra XI, Khar Danda XI, Kurla XI, GSB Wadala XI and Borivali XI. Each innings was limited to 8 overs. All the matches were fun to watch as some looked like a Super Fours and Sixes tournament, the others were all nail biting finishes.

After the initial 4 matches the semi finals were played between KSA XI vs GSB Wadala XI & Santacruz XI vs SVC XI.

Brief Scores of Semi Finals

Match 1

Santacruz XI beat SVC XI by 7 wickets
SVC XI - 35/8 in 8 overs
Santacruz XI - 40/3 in 5.1 overs

Match 2

KSA XI beat GSB Wadala XI by 11 runs
KSA XI – 58/5 in 8 overs
GSB Wadala XI 47/5 in 8 overs

Santacruz XI and KSA XI were declared finalists. The match leading to the two familiar teams coming face to face once again. The toss was won by KSA XI & they elected to bat.

It was yet another match where the teams left the audiences at the edge of their seat. The match started with a great innings from openers Navin Bijur & Pankaj Murdeshwar scoring 23 & 22 runs respectively. This partnership helped KSA XI make a commendable score of 68 in their allotted 8 overs. When it was Santacruz XI’s turn to bat, veteran batsman Anand Vithalkar who has won his team many matches in the past came to their rescue again scoring a fluent 30 runs which included 4 blistering boundaries & took his team to a well deserved victory. The team won by 8 wickets in hand and three balls to spare. The Santacruz XI dedicated their win to Shri Sachin Ullal, who sadly passed away the same morning of the tournament, a man who encouraged the Santacruz colony boys to play and enjoy the gentleman’s game.

Brief Scores of Final

Santacruz XI beat KSA XI by 8 wickets
KSA XI - 68/2 in 8 overs
Santacruz XI - 71/2 in 7.3 overs

To honour our young players, we had invited Shri Bharat Nadkarni, a former opening batsman for the Mumbai Ranji Team and the captain of the Mumbai University Under-22 team. Shri Bharat Nadkarni spoke about the superstitions that are followed by cricketers even to this day like not getting out of the team gear if the team is playing well. He also entertained the crowds with interesting stories of cricketing greats such as Sunil Gavaskar. Sharing the dais with Shri Bharat Nadkarni were KSA Vice President Shri Uday Mankikar & members of the KSA committee, Shri Shivshankar Murdeshwar, Shri Raja Pandit and Shri Dilip Sashital.

Apart from the Winner and Runners Up trophies, also handed were some individual awards

Man of the Series: Navin A. Bijur (KSA XI)
Best Batsman: Navin A. Bijur (KSA XI)
Best Bowler: Nakul Sanadi (Santacruz XI)

Apart from the teams and their loyal fans, there were other people who added that extra something to the tournament with their enthusiasm and we would like to thank them for their participation and support.

Commentators: Pettya Maam and Raunak Kalyanpur.
Cheer Leaders: Dhanashree Mallapur, Vaishnavi Balwally, Devika, Tejas Balwally.

Other scores

1st Match
Gsb Wadala XI beat Borivali XI by 4 wickets
Borivali XI won the toss & decided to bat
Borivali XI - 51/2 in 8 overs
GSB Wadala XI – 52/6 in 8 overs

2nd Match
Santacruz XI beat Khar Danda XI
Khar Danda XI won the toss & decided to bat
Khar Danda XI - 32/7 in 8 overs
Santacruz XI – 33/2 in 5.3 overs

3rd Match
KSA XI beat Bandra XI
KSA XI won the toss & elected to bat
KSA XI - 77/2 in 8 overs
Bandra XI 77/5 in 8 overs
(As scores were tied KSA XI beat Bandra XI in super over after chasing 13 runs in the allotted 1 over)

4th Match
SVC XI beat Kurla Balaji XI by 4 wickets
SVC XI won the toss & elected to bat
SVC XI – 66/7 in 8 overs
Kurla Balaji XI – 55/6 in 8 overs

Written by Amol Pandit & Gauri Shirur