Springfield shine on!

Devansh Rai (left) and Shubman Palai. Pic/Gordon D’Costa

Shubham Palai cracked an unbeaten 205 (169 balls, 21x4, 8x6) and skipper Devansh Rai smashed 107 (116 balls, 12x4, 1x6) to power Springfield (Khar) to an imposing 403 for 4 declared against VK Krishna Menon Academy (Borivli) in the third and final Group-B quarter-final league match of the MSSA inter-school Harris Shield boys' U-16 cricket tournament, at the Islam Gymkhana on Thursday.

In reply, Krishna Menon reached 23 for one when play ended for the day.

Also Read: Still hurts...: KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav after World Cup loss

In a tense second group match, Al-Barkaat High School (Kurla) riding on solid knocks from opening batsmen Tanveer Chauhan 98 runs (104 balls, 13x4, 1x6) and Agneya Aadi 80 (79 balls, 5x4, 4x6), declared their first innings at 362 for 6 in 73 overs against IES New English School (Bandra) at Parsee Gymkhana. Leg-spinner Akshit Tambe took 2-66.

Important match to qualify

In this match, which is crucial for both teams to qualify for semi-finals, Al-Barkaat with three points (1 win on 1st innings lead and 1 outright defeat) and IES New English four points (1 win on 1st innings lead and 1 loss on 1st innings lead) were determined to dictate terms and take the upper hand. Al-Barkaat batters showed urgency and Agneya hit some powerful strokes to accelerate their scoring before declaring with little over 20 minutes remaining for stumps.

Also Read: Axar Patel urges Team India to 'move on' after ICC World Cup 2023 final defeat

IES New English openers Gandharv Kuvlekar and Yuvraj Mali batted patiently. But with about five minutes from stumps, Yuvraj was given out ‘obstructing the field.' Al-Barkaat left-arm spinner Yuvraj Patil's delivery was played defensively by Yuvraj Mali and Om Bangar at silly point fielded the ball. With an underarm effort, Bangar attempted to hit the stumps at the striker's end. Yuvraj responded spontaneously and stopped the ball with his hand. The Al-Barkaat players appealed and the umpires upheld the appeal. They held a mid-wicket discussion and reconfirmed the decision of giving the batsman out.

Umpires under pressure

IES New English coach Abhishek was infuriated by that decision and went onto the field to question umpires Chirag Gharat and Mihir Prabhu. With so much time wasted, the umpires decided to call off play for the day.