Colatta Chocolates emerge Plate champions of the 28th edition of the Bukhatir League powered by Fancode through left-arm spinner Krishan Paul’s deadly four-wicket spell

By K.R. Nayar

Colatta Chocolates won the Plate champions title of the 28th edition of the Bukhatir League defeating Rajkot Thunders by 60 runs. Their left-arm spinner Krishan Paul destroyed Rajkot’s batting with a spell of 4 for 21 after his team had posted a huge total of 219 in 20 overs.

Colatta Chocolate - Plate champions 

Rajkot were restricted to 159 for 9 despite Ayesh Shaikh Lucky’s fighting unbeaten knock of 76. Ayesh Shaikh went on to win the Hemani Fragrances Game – Changer/Best batter award for his knock that went in vain.

Rajkot Thunders  - Plate runners-up

Colatta Chocolate won the toss and elected to bat. Skipper Renjith Mani and Manpreet Singh put on 21 runs by the fourth ball of the second over. Mani, who made majority of the runs, got out stumped by wicketkeeper Waqas Ilyas off Banty Nandy for 18. Nikhil Srinivasan, fresh from his match winning half century from his last match, began to strike well, and together with Manpreet Singh, they took the score to 87 by the eighth over before Srinivasan fell to Hardik Patel for 31.  His knock off 17 balls had five boundaries and a six. At the same score, Manpreet Singh too fell to Banty Nandy for 35 runs made off 26 balls with four boundaries and a six.

Krishan Paul receives the PSM Player of the Match award from Mazhar Khan

Janakar Chaturanga and Taimoor Ali then took the score past the 100 run mark before Janakar Chaturanga got trapped leg before by Rohit Karanjkar for 10. This was followed by a fighting partnership between Taimoor Ali and Sapandeep Singh. They put on a 61 runs partnership for the fifth wicket before Taimoor Ali got bowled to Banty Nandy for 32. Banty Nandy went on to pick his fourth wicket having Shyam Ramesh caught and bowled for 4.

Ayesh Shaikh Lucky receives the Hemani Fragrances Game – Changer/Best batter award of the match from Tehseen Javed 

Sapandeep Singh who top scored with 41 runs off 24 balls with three boundaries and two sixes got caught behind by wicketkeeper Waqas Ilyas off Hardik Patel. Mohammed Rizwan Sabir got run out but Hari Prasanth kept scoring at a brisk pace and hit 34 runs before falling to Dipesh Rajgor. Krishan Paul too got bowled by Dipesh Rajgor for a duck but by then Colatta Chocolates posted a total of 219 runs.

Krishan Paul receives the Hemani Fragrances Game – Changer/Best bowler  of the match award from yours truly 

Chasing the huge target, Rajkot Thunders lost their hero of their many recent victories, Banty Nandy, caught behind by wicketkeeper Hari Prasanth off Shyam Ramesh for 12. Another heavy scorer also followed when Hamza Sheraz got out to Mohammad Rizwan Sabir for 2. When Krishan Paul struck twice, removing Nasir brilliantly stumped by wicketkeeper Hari Prasanth for 5 and then also having Rohit Karanjkar stumped too for a duck, they lost four wickets for just 49 in six overs.  Krishan Paul made Rajkot Thunders slip to five for 53 by removing Dipesh Rajgor quickly for 1. Opener Ameya Soman who fought a lonely battle to score 37 runs got clean bowled by Krishan Paul for his fourth wicket. He bagged the PSM Player of the Match award and Hemani Fragrances Game – Changer/Best bowler award. 

Mohammad Rizwan Sabir speeded the end of Rajkot Thunders when he clean bowled Waqas Ilyas for 2 and then trapped Mitesh Thanki leg before for 1. Ayesh Shaikh Lucky held on to play a classy unbeaten knock of 76 off 47 balls with 11 boundaries and three sixes despite wickets falling at the other end.  In the end Rajkot Thunders could muster only 159 for 9 in 20 overs.

Colatta Chocolates skipper Renjith Mani receives the plate trophy from Mazhar Khan

Renjith Mani, who received the winners’ trophy from Mazhar Khan, General Manager of the Sharjah Cricket Council, said: “It is indeed special to win this trophy. Our batsmen batted with a lot of responsibility. Nikhil, Hari, Sapandeep and Manpreet batted well. It was a full team effort.” The colourful prize giving ceremony was also attended by match referee Tehseen Javed and yours truly.

Rajkot Thunders’ skipper Pritessh Anadkat receives the runners up trophy from Mazhar Khan

Rajkot Thunders’ skipper Pritessh Anadkat, who received the runners-up trophy, said: “In this tournament our performance has been excellent and going forward we want to continue to perform well in all tournaments. What makes us so happy is that we performed well in a tournament held at a historic ground like Sharjah Cricket Stadium which has the world record for hosting the highest number of One Day Internationals. It was a great platform for us.”

Brief scores:

Plate final:
Colatta Chocolates bt Rajkot Thunders by 60 runs. Colatta Chocolates 219 in 20 overs (Manpreet Singh 35, Nikhil Srinivasan 31, Taimoor Ali 32, Sapandeep Singh 41, Hari Prasanth 34, Dipesh Rajgor 2 for 36, Banty Nandy 4 for 33, Hardik Patel 2 for 38)  Rajkot Thunders 159 for 9 in 20 overs (Ameya Soman 37, Ayesh Shaikh Lucky 76n.o, Shyam Ramesh 2 for 14, Mohammad Rizwan Sabit 3 for 28, Krishan Paul 4 for 21)
PSM Player of the Match: Krishan Paul
Hemani Fragrances Game – Changer/Best batter award: Ayesh Shaikh Lucky
Hemani Fragrances Game – Changer/Best bowler award: Krishan Paul