Mumbai cricket has unearthed perhaps the best batsmen the country has seen. It’s leagues are know to be highly competitive and followers have always maintained that they bring the best out of a budding batsman. As is the case with their school cricket culture. Ever since Vinod Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar did what they did as school boys and more recently Pranav Dhanawade, the spotlight has constantly been on scorecards emanating from the several playgrounds in and around the city.
And two such scorecards caught the attention again. The first one revealed a serious batting display. Parle Tilak English Medium School were playing Cambridge ICSE Kandivili at the iconic Shivaji Park yesterday in the second round of the famous Harris Shield tournament. Shreyan Pai and Aryan More opened the innings for Parle Tilak English Medium School and did the unimaginable. They put on 425 unbeaten runs for the first wicket in 45 overs. Aryan More was not-out on 161 from 120 with 17 hits to the fence. Shreyan Pai meanwhile, remained unbeaten on 215 from 150 balls with 22 boundaries and one six.
Scores:
Parle Tilak Eng Med School 425/0 in 45 overs (Shreyan Pai 215 no, Aryan More 161 no) beat Cambridge ICSE Kandivili 123/9 in 45 overs (Sanyam Jain 37, Yuvraj Bhati 5/6) by 302 runs.
In another game at the Oval Maidan, a 15-year-old right-arm off-break bowler did the seeming unthinkable to join an elite club with names such as Jim Laker and Anil Kumble in it. Dev Patel, playing for N Jamnabai Narsee High School, picked up all the 10 wickets as his side got the better of Rajhans Vidyalaya by 83 runs. Earlier, he had shone with the bat as well while top-scoring for his side with a 35 to help them post 112.
Scores:
TN Jamnabai Narsee High School 112 in 36.1 overs (Dev Patel 35; Sanmeet Singh Anand 4/31, Vinayak Sarkhot 3/24) beat Rajhans Vidyalay 29 in 11.5 overs (Dev Patel 10/9) by 83 runs.
Records galore in Mumbai schools cricket
The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), established in 1930 runs several leagues in Mumbai and in surrounding regions such as Thane and Navi Mumbai. Prominent amongst these are Dr H D Kanga League, Police Shield, Purshottam Shield, Cosmopolitan Shield, Summer Vacation Shield, Harris shield, and Gile shield.
In 2009, 12-year-old Sarfaraz Khan scored a mammoth 439 for Rizvi Springfield against Indian Education Society (Kandivli). He struck 56 boundaries and 12 sixes en route to his 421-ball essay to break the then record set by R Nagdev. Nagdev previous held the record for his 427 not out in 1963-64.
A year later Armaan Jaffer hammered a 498 in Giles Shield game and then a 473 in Harris Shield match. Since his record-breaking exploits in 2009, Sarfaraz Khan has gone on to play for India U-19 and for Royal Chargers Bangalore in the IPL.
In 2013, Prithvi Shaw of Rizvi Springfield school scored a mammoth 546 in the Elite Division of the Harris Shield cricket at Azad Maidan. It was the first time the city's premier U-16 tournament had witnessed an individual score of over 500
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