Seventh Day School 158 (Arya Patel 43, Kush Patel 4/52, Rohan Shah 3/18) and 44/2 (Deep 22*, Harsh Chandresh Thakkar 20*, Kush Patel 1/20) defeated HB Kapadia New High School 79 (Vishesh Dave 19, Prem Pornikar 3/7, Harsh Sheth 3/18) and 122 (Sahil Patel 33, Harsh Seth 7/48, Prem Pornikar 2/19) defeated by 8 wickets.
In a final which was low scoring, Seventh Day School needed just 44 runs in the fourth innings and they achieved it with 8 wickets remaining in their bag. Harsh Sheth was the star performer, went on to take a 10-wicket haul with Pornikar also taking five wickets in the match. Neither of the teams was even able to reach 200 mark in either of their innings which resulted an early finish.
Though Arya Patel lost his wicket on the very first delivery, but SDS were able to achieve the target in the 11th over. Having lost the toss and invited to bat first, HB Kapadia High School were bowled out for 79 in the first innings. Their batsmen did showed some resistance but in the end it's the matter of runs and no one was able to take the responsibility of scoring runs. Vishrut Patel took 98 balls for his 14, Purv Patel played 36 deliveries and got out and similarly other batsmen had their eye in but were just not able to make it. The bowling of the SDS was very fine as Harsh Chandresh, Harsh Sheth and Pornikar scalped three wickets each.
SDS's outset was steady but later on Arya Patel and Harsh Chandresh started scoring after reading the pitch, they added 67 for the second wicket. As soon as Chandresh got out, there we saw batting collapse from the SDS side. The score which was going smooth at a moment earlier, now seemed to have lost his way and eventually SDS took the lead of 79 runs as they were bowled out for 158. Kush Patel and Rohan Dave were the main wicket-takers from the bowling side, they shared seven scalps among them.
Now HBK High School had to accomplish two tasks, first they needed to compensate the lead of 79 runs, then set a suitable target for their opponents. But they did not change their approach in the second innings as well. Eight of their batsmen were not even to make it to the double-figures, Vishrut Patel again played as many as 80 deliveries for his two runs. From the bowling side, Harsh Sheth earned seven wickets to his tally and made a 10-fer in the match. Accurate and disciplined bowling from the SDS made the batsmen commit mistakes and HBK High School were bowled out for 122 in their second innings setting the target of 44.
Seventh Day School chased down the target with ease and have their name on the trophy for the third consecutive time in the mentorship of ROYAL CRICKET ACADEMY.
I really don't know why ICC is pushing test cricket to four days, the tournaments like Reliance Foundation Inter School really lift the game. The young lads from various schools have really showed their temperament, skills and certainly what it takes to play the longest format. We had both low scoring and high scoring games this season but I can assure with every passing season, quality of cricket has been improving and will keep improving as we witness our promising stars shaping up their way to the big arena.
