Giles Shield: 17 wickets fall in a single day on fiery Wankhede surface

Al Barkaat's Javed Sharif celebrates after taking a fifer against Rizvi Springfield. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Seventeen wickets fell on the opening day of the three-day Mumbai Schools Sports Association-organised U-14 Giles Shield final between Al Barkaat MMI (Kurla) and Rizvi Springfield (Khar) at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday.

Batting first, defending champions Rizvi were bowled out for a paltry 111, thanks to a maiden five-wicket haul (5-45) from left-arm pacer Javed Sharif. In reply, Al Barkaat were struggling at 83-7, trailing Rizvi Springfield by 28 runs. At stumps, No. 4 batsman Yaseen Saudagar was unbeaten on 26.

The green Wankhede surface tested batsmen from both teams. Rizvi Springfield lost opener Krish Singh for a duck on the third ball of the day after being trapped leg before by right-arm pacer Yaseen (2-21).

Rizvi slid further with Javed claiming the wickets of opener Shlok Sawant (2) and No. 3 batsman Roshan Kanojia (2). A lot was expected from in-form batsman Owais Khan (12) and Vivan Nair (13), but the duo departed early, managing just 23 runs for the fourth wicket before the latter was bowled by Javed in the 12th over. Owais's off stump was rattled by Yaseen in the next over.

No. 9 batsman Jawwad Ali (22) and Varun Ragji (eight not out) added 29 valuable runs for the last wicket to help Rizvi cross the 100-run mark. Rizvi bowlers capitalised on the helpful conditions as right-arm pacer Ravi Gupta (3-14) dismissed the top three Al Barkaat batsmen for ducks.

Yaseen and Prem Lingre managed a patient 113-ball 39-run stand for the fourth wicket. Just when Al Barkaat's ship was steadied, off-spinner Nishit Balla (3-4) claimed the wickets of Lingre (26) and Aryan Shejule (14) to tilt the balance in Rizvi's favour.

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