Al Barkat's left-arm spinner scalps five to dismiss Bandra outfit for 210 on Day One of Harris Shield final
The Sassanian Cricket Club wicket in Azad Maidan looked tailor made for a high scoring total on Tuesday. But instead of batsmen, it was spinner Rajesh Sardar who stole the show for Al Barkat on the first day of the MSSA Harris Shield Final against Rizvi Springfield (Bandra).
He took a five wicket haul to give the defending champions the upper hand at the end of the day in the four-day final.
The Bandra side at 138/3 in 52 overs looked well in control to post a good total. But Sardar, a part of Mumbai's U-16 side, had other plans. By the time the over mark hit 60th, Rizvi were in a spot of bother when Sardar dismissed four batmen in quick succession to bring them down to 177/7. Wickets fell at regular intervals which resulted in Rizvi being dismissed for a total of 210.
"The wicket was a bad one to bowl on. The first wicket did come very early for us but then it was a fight against their batsman. Plus the heat didn't make things any easier for us," said the left-arm Sardar wiping the sweat of his forehead at the end of the innings. "When things weren't going according to plan, I tried bowling faster than my normal pace. That didn't work so I decided to slow things down and wait for these guys to make mistakes. We stuck to our fielding positions knowing that the wickets will fall," adds the Mumbai U-16 player when asked what finally worked in the favour of the defending champions.
With Al Barkat ending the day at 28/1 in reply to Rizvi's total, Sardar knows how tough it will be to get past the 200-mark. "We do have the edge going into Wednesday, but our first goal would be to get past their total and then build from there. Garmi mein thanda dimaag rakhna hoga (We need to keep out cool in the heat). Like them, we won't do that and lose wickets cheaply," says Sardar after sipping a glass of water.
Brief scores Final (Day 1): Rizvi Springfield (Bandra) 210 all out in 72.1 overs (S Varma 33, H Tripathi 32, Y Jaiswal 32; R Sardar 5/68) vs Al Barkat (Kurla) 28/1 in 10 overs
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