Vengsarkar laments batting decline

MUMBAI: Lalchand Rajput XI won two matches outright. It was no surprise they won the Shalini Bhalekar memorial MCA U-22 selection tournament organised by Dadar Parsee Zoroastrian CC at Matunga.
Rajput XI won their first match with a bonus point and on Friday defeated Hemant Waingankar XI by 86 runs before lunch. The other match, between Pandit XI and Vengsarkar XI, ended in a draw.
Dilip Vengsarkar, who was the chief guest, said it was sad the youngsters didn't reward the efforts of Mangesh Bhalekar in keeping this event going for 12 long years by good performances.
He was referring to the fact that there hasn't been a century in this event for the past three years and this year was no different. "I think some teams didn't even reach three figures," Vengsarkar lamented. No wonder the batting prize was withheld for the first time.
Shiv Sena MP Mohan Rawle, who still plays in the Kanga league and is the skipper of Parliamentarians cricket side which includes ex-Test players Kirti Azad and Chetan Chauhan, said: "There was a time when my school and Dilip's, King George, had five players in one Test side - Subhash Gupte, Naren Tamhane, Ramnath Kenny, Vijay Manjrekar and Ramakant Desai. That was the talent at the Dadkar maidan. You youngsters must bring back those glory days."
Ruia College principal Dr. Suhas Pednekar was happy Vengsarkar, an alumni of Ruia's arch-rivals Podar, made a rare appearance at their college.
"I remember a game when we beat Podar and our cheerleaders rubbed the salt in by keeping the drum beating below Podar skipper Vengsarkar's house long after the game was over.
Now Ruia's cricket has gone down though the college wins the University's overall sports prize for the last seven years. I appeal to Vengsarkar and ex-student Pradeep Sunderam (Mumbai U-22 coach) to bring back Ruia's cricket glory."
MCA joint secretary Hemant Waingankar, who announced the Mumbai U-22 team, hoped Mumbai would do an encore by winning the all India U-22 trophy again.
Dhawal Parab was adjudged the man of the tournament, Ravishankar Singh the best bowler and Viral Shah was the best 'keeper. said Parab: "I sat out in the third game. But I enjoyed bowling and batting. The wickets had turn and I exploited it."
Parab who missed last year's U-22 side has got a place as second left-armer after Iqbal Abdulla. Best bowler Ravishankar Singh said he picked up 19 wickets and another 15 in the Kanga league for Worli Sports Club.
"Coach Vidya Paradkar has helped me come at this level," who earned praise from coach Sunderam for bowling his out-swingers in the right areas.
Best keeper Viral Shah said he had 17 victims in three games. "I played for Maharashtra U-19 as my parents hail from Jalna. Now I have decided to play in Mumbai. Viral opens and keeps wickets for Parkophene.
He has to wait for an U-22 spot as Omkar Gurav and Aditya Tare are the first two choices. Gurav is injured and Tare will lead the side for the opening West Zone game at Rajkot.
Brief scores:
Rajput XI: 94 (Shoaib Shaikh 42, Vivek Aarothe 5-39, Aatish Gavand 4-36) and 205 ( Akshay Jambhekar 35, Rajiv Mehra 34, Shoaib Shaikh 41, Swapnil Sule 38, Pushkaraj Chavan 6- 48) beat Waingankar XI: 109 (Shoaib Shaikh 5-20, Vishal Dabholkar 3-10) and 104 (Sushant Khaire 66, Balkrishna Shirke 6 for 28) by 86 runs
Man of the Match: Shoaib Sheikh
Pandit XI: 259-9 decl. (Rahul lad 48, Abhishek Raut 52, Tejas Kalyankar 72, Pratik Kar 3-21, Sidharth Chitnis 3-46) and 176-3 decl (Abhishek Raut 55 n.o., Tejas Kalyankar 59 n.o.) drew with Vengsarkar XI: 155 and 36 for 1.
Man of the Match: Tejas Kalyankar.
Mumbai U-22 team for first match against Saurashtra at Rajkot:
Aditya Tare (capt-wk), Siddharth Chitnis (v-capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Shridip Mangela, Anand Singh,Anup Revandkar, Sachin Wagh, Prashant Naik, Rohan Raje, Sarvesh Damle, BS Sandhu (Jr), Ravishankar Singh, Iqbal Abdulla, Dhaval Prab, Atish Gavand. Coach: Pradeep Sunderam, Trainer: Amogh Pandit, Manager: Deepak Murkar.