Manjrekar XI win Sportstar Trophy

Vijay Manjrekar XI completed a hat-trick of victories in the silver jubilee year of the Sportstar Trophy on Thursday. The winning side were presented the trophy by chief guest and former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar at the Cricket Club of India.

After completing the three league games, both Vijay Manjrekar XI and Dattu Phadkar XI were tied on ten points. The winner was picked on the basis of who had won the tie when the two sides had met.

Vengsarkar said, “It’s an important event in Mumbai and an excellent platform for young players. Sachin Tendulkar who was the man of the tournament in the first edition in 1987 played at the age of 12. It shows the vision and guts that they had even then to play a 12-year-old in an udner-19 tournament.”

Shashank Singh was the top scorer of the tournament with 247 runs and Mehraj Khan was the most successful bowler with 17 wickets to his name. Neelkanth Parab was the man of the tournament for his 226 runs scored and six-wicket haul.

Mehraj, a right arm off-spinner from Bhayander, plays for Dattu Phadkar XI and won three awards (best spin bowler, best bowler and man of the match) said, “I was surprised to have taken so many wickets but this has been a good tournament for me two years in a row. I have now started getting recognition as a good off-spinner on the circuit.”