G Force lifts Maxtalent Summer Cup for their third triumph in Under-10 tournaments this season

By K.R. Nayar

The six-week long Maxtalent Summer Cup Under-10 tournament concluded with G Force Cricket Academy Under-10 emerging supreme. This tournament witnessed performances from both boys and girls, who played together in the matches. Nysha Tiwari of Maxtalent went on to bag the Best batter award. Consistent performer Fathhur Rahman, through his whirlwind batting, won the Player of the Tournament award, while Sarthak Nathu from Maxtalent was adjudged the Best bowler.

Winners of the Maxtalent Summer Cup - G Force Cricket Academy Under-10 team 

G Force Cricket Academy Under- 10, through a disciplined allround performance, stopped Maxtalent Red Under-10 team in the final of the Maxtalent Summer Cup Under-10 2021 tournament held at Kent College on Saturday, July 17, 2021.

This Under-10 tournament, like all the other finals in this season for this age category, turned out to be an exciting battle. The victory margin of just 21 runs reveals the intensity of the contest with every budding cricketer putting their full effort on the field. Over the years, Maxtalent Global Sports, which organised this tournament, has been responsible for creating many tournaments for the Under-10 age group. This Summer Cup was the third edition of the event.

Runners-up of the Maxtalent Summer Cup - Maxtalent Red Under-10 team 

G Force has proved that they are a force to reckon with in the Under-10 category and has become the team that everyone hopes to subdue. This is their third title this season after having emerged champions of the Vision Cricket Academy Under- 10 tournament and the Little Champs Under-10 tournaments.

G Force Academy Under-10 captain Jaimeek Shah receives the winner's trophy from chief guest Sid Lahiri, Head of Academy Cricket Development for Rajasthan Royals 

The exciting aspect of this tournament was that many talented girls played alongside the boys, and Nysha Tiwari even went on to bag the top award of the best batter. It was a colourful beginning to the final with the youngest trainees of the Maxtalent Academy holding balloons and walking into the middle, leading both the captains, their teams, and the umpires for the toss.

Raghav Nayak, HR Manager Solas Marine Engineering presents the runners-up trophy to Maxtalent Red Under-10 team skipper Sahil Kulkarni 

In the final that followed, G Force, after winning the toss, elected to bat first and posted a challenging 161 for 6 in 20 overs.  Opener Fathhur Rahman who bagged the player of the tournament hit a quick 20 runs with three boundaries and a six before falling to Sahil Kulkarni, caught by Dhruv Iyer.  G Force’s consistent opener Shariq Lakdawala and one drop batsman along with wicketkeeper Kyron Wilhelm Hubert took the score past the 50-run mark.

Fathhur Rahman receives the Player of the tournament award from Sudhakar Shetty, Head Coach of Maxtalent and chief organiser of the Maxtalent Summer Cup

Sarthak Natu had Shariq Lakdawala caught behind by wicketkeeper Samarth Jaswani for 18.  Neil Siddharth joined Kyron, who was stroking brilliantly. At the score of 85, Sarthak struck again and had Neil caught by Dhruv for 15. Skipper Jaimeek Shah got trapped leg before by Sahil Kulkarni for 11 after he along with Kyron took the total to 121 in 15.4 overs. Shamiksha Dhamani dismissed Kyron who top scored with 36 runs from 29 balls with four boundaries by having him caught by Jashn Kiswani.

Nysha Tiwari  of Maxtalent receives the Best batter award 

After Shreyas Sethurathnam got run out off a throw from Shelina Laxmidas for 3, Devam Parth Desai and Arjun Rattan, with unbeaten knocks of seven and six runs respectively, ensured the respectable total.

Maxtalent opener Nysha Tiwari, who hogged the limelight to prove that she can be the best despite playing with the boys to bag the best batter award, opened the innings and hit a run-a-ball 28 runs. She lost her partner Dhruv Iyer to a run out executed by Devam Parth Desai and wicketkeeper Kyron for 6.

Sarthak Nathu of Maxtalent receives the Best bowler award from G Force Head coach Gopal Jasapara 

In walked the diminutive Hayyan Palekar, who played some exquisite shots. Together with Nysha, Hayyan took the score to 45 in 8.1 overs. Eisa Shariq Divker provided the breakthrough by having Naysha caught by Jugal Parikh.  Shelina Laxmidas hit 19 runs off 17 balls before G Force skipper Jaimeek Shah had Shelina caught by Shreyas Sethurathnam.  When Jaimeek Shah also removed Maxtalent skipper Sahil Kulkarni, caught behind by Kyron for 1, the run flow snapped. To make matters worse for Maxtalent, Daksh Gajaria had wicketkeeper Samarth Jaswani caught and bowled for 2.  

Hayyan Palekar, who top scored with 38 runs, got caught by Neil Siddharth off Daksh Gajaria for 38. His knock off 33 balls had two sixes and one boundary. Sparsh Patil lit up hopes for Maxtalent through a breezy unbeaten 22 off just 12 balls with two boundaries and two sixes, but ultimately they could muster only 140 for 7 in the allotted 20 overs.

All cricketers from both teams produced excellent cricket and picked up valuable lessons. What worked as the deciding factor in this match was the extras. While Maxtalent gave away 45 extras, G Force yielded only 21.

Sid Lahiri, Head of Academy Cricket Development for Rajasthan Royals, was the chief guest and gave away the prizes along with Raghav Nayak, HR Manager Solas Marine Engineering, Sagar Kulkarni, Managing Director Consistent Consultants and Ramesh Gowde Finance Manager Blue Waves Resources FZC.  

Speaking at the presentation Sid Lahiri, addressing the youngsters said “I was delighted to see you all taking the word fear out of your lives. That is the most important factor as a cricketer. When you bat, you go out there to score runs. When we were all playing cricket at your age, we went out to bat to save the wicket.  Now we see that you all go out to score runs, hit sixes and boundaries. That is the way cricket has changed. Same is the case with bowling, I saw couple of guys bowling off the wrong foot. Five to ten years ago we would have been forced to change it. That is not the case anymore because the more different you are the more successful you can be.”

Speaking to krbuzz.blogspot.com after the final, Gopal Jasapara, Head Coach of  G Force Cricket Academy, revealed the reason behind their team’s consistent victories in domestic cricket tournaments. “We take every match as a learning curve and learn from our mistakes. We played this tournament with a mix of good players and emerging players. We also have a couple of players who actually train in different academies but play with our boys.  This helps our boys to play with them and also learn from them.”

Sudhakar Shetty, Head Coach and Chief Organiser of this tournament, and who has been for years giving a platform to youngsters through his junior cricket tournaments, said: “I am delighted that we have been able to conduct an inter academy tournament for such a young age in a professional manner. Over the years we have conducted Pan UAE Inter School tournaments called the MGC Vision Cup and the Pan UAE Inter University tournament called the MGS Pride Cup. We are also the proud owners of the world copyrights for visual cricket and fitness that is legally recognized in 173 countries. In this Summer Cup, we had 15 league matches and three knock-out matches played over a period of six weeks with seven teams vying for the top honours.”

The top performer of the tournament was Nysha Tiwari who emerged as the symbol of girl power bagging the Best batter award. In one of the matches, Nysha Tiwari along with Shelina Laxmidas cracked centuries and put on a 208 runs opening partnership.

Speaking about Fathhur Rahman of G Force, who bagged the Player of the Tournament award, Sudhakar Shetty said: “This boy is a special talent. He hit two centuries and both were whirlwind knocks. When he bats, one gets the feeling as if the boundaries have become smaller. He rains sixes and boundaries. He Fathurised every team with his run storm.” Fathhur has piled up over 5000 runs this season.

Dhruv Iyer of Maxtalent and Nirmay Puthenveettil of Simply Cricket Academy were lauded for their consistent allround show. Sarthak Nathu of Maxtalent bagged  the Best bowler award.

Brief scores:
G Force Cricket Academy Under 10 bt Maxtalent Red Under 10 by 21 runs
G Force CA Under 10 161 for 6 in 20 overs (Fathhur Rahman  20, Kyron Wilhelm Hubert 36, Sahil Kulkarni 2 for 32, Sarthak Natu 2 for 28)
Maxtalent Red Under 10 140 for 7 in 20 overs (Nysha Tiwari 28, Hayyan Palekar 38, Sparsh Patil 22n.o, Daksh Gajaria 2 for 18, Jaimeek Shah 2 for 18)
Player of the tournament: Fathhur Rahman of G Force
Best Batter: Nysha Tiwari  of Maxtalent
Best Bowler: Sarthak Nathu of Maxtalent