SBBA 207/10 in 20 overs (Vivek Sharma 76, Munna 56, Tarun 3/29) defeated Mapley Cricket Academy 111/10 in 15.1 overs (Ritik 37, Yuvraj 27, Vivek 5/10) by 96 runs
Three weeks full of entertainment and thrills came to an end at the Bhuteshwar Ground, Saharanpur as SBBA defeated Mapley Cricket Academy by 96 runs in the finals of the District Saharanpur Premier League. An annual tournament, the DSPL saw 16 teams participate from across India in a league cum knockout format where the teams were split across four groups.
After three weeks of tussle we finally had the two teams waiting for one final battle before they could celebrate the sweet taste of all the hard work out there in the heat. The SBBA fielded three teams in the tournament and two of their teams disappointed heavily as they lost all their games to finish in the bottom. Their main team however played like champions from the beginning and made it to the finals without much trouble. The Mapley Cricket Academy who secured the second rank in the D group were up against the SBBA for the final battle.
The SSBA won the toss and they elected to bat first. The tournament regularly witnessed teams that bat first, came out on top after piling on some huge runs and that must have been the plan of the SSBA dugout. Very often the A plans fail in the finals and for a moment, the situation looked same for the SSBA. They lost half of their side in the eighth over for 58.
In desperate need of a partnership, the SSBA got two new heroes in the form of Vivek Sharma and Munna. Both the middle order batsmen, who had minimum opportunities so far in the tournament, got the opportunity when it matters the most and they seized the opportunity with both hands. Sharma targeted the leg side, especially the area between deep fine leg and deep midwicket as 46 off his 76 runs came in the region. Munna (56 off 34) on the other end made sure that the flow of runs won’t be bogged down and together the pair added 124 runs off just 59 balls. Some late blows from Sonu took the SSBA past 200.
When you are chasing a target over 200, you need to go out there all guns blazing. After losing the openers early, Yuvraj and Ritik stitched down a quick partnership of 47 off just 22 balls but that was it. As soon as Ritik got out, none of the other batsmen could handle the pressure and it was just the matter of time for the MCA. Vivek Sharma came back in the second inning to haunt them again and he cleaned the middle and lower order for fun as MCA lost their final 7 wickets for just 38 runs and after getting a decent start, they failed to replicate the middle over heroics of their opposition. Vivek finished with the figures of 5/10 in 3.5 overs.
