The Late Maneck Golvala T10 Cricket Tournament organized by the Vice President and Cricket Secretary of Parsee Gymkhana (PG), Khodadad Yazdegardi, from 14th to 16th April, 2017, at the PG grounds, commenced with Chief Guest for the opening ceremony, ex-Indian cricketer, Aavishkar Salvi, encouraging the teams to play hard and fair while competing. The eight teams participating in the tournament were divided into two groups – ‘Group A’ consisting of Navsari ‘A’, Secunderabad, Parsee Gymkhana ‘B’ and Parsi Cyclist; and ‘Group B’ comprising teams Parsee Gymkhana ‘A’, Navsari ‘B’, Surat and Malcolm Baug.

The ICC T20 rules were followed, with the top two teams from each group having to compete with each other in the semi-finals. Played with white balls, the first 3 overs were of power play, with one bowler getting to bowl a maximum of 2 overs. In case of a tie, the super over came into play. In the first semi-final encounter, Secunderabad faced Navsari ‘B’ with the latter winning the toss and electing to bowl. Secunderabad scored 87-4 in 10 overs, as Khushal Jilla top scored with 44, while team Navsari ‘B’ finished with 87-5 in 10 overs, a nerve wrecking super over! Following a hard battle, Navsari ‘B’ outplayed their rivals and won on the super over result.

During the second semi-final, Parsi Cyclist won the toss, deciding to bat first and posting 76-4 in 10 overs, courtesy Ruzbeh Sutaria’s good knock of 26, while their Rustom Sethna was run out by Shahen Mistry after scoring 17. In reply, Parsee Gymkhana cruised to victory as openers Bhaktiyar Irani and Shahen Mistry scored a half century, winning by 10 wickets.

Parsee Gymkhana ‘A’ and Navsari ‘B’ made it to the finals. Batting first Parsee Gymkhana notched up 77-6 in 10 overs as Shahen scored 23. Firdaus Patel scalped 2-22 in his 2 overs spell. Navsari ‘B’s Aryan Irani snapped 3-10 in his 2 overs spell and scored 67-7 in 10 overs. Parsee Gymkhana ‘A’ won the finals by 10 runs to clinch the cup.

Ex-Indian cricketer and current Afghanistan National Team Coach, Lalchand Rajput, was the Chief Guest for the post-match presentation ceremony held on Sunday, along with PG President, Mehli Golvala, Vice President and Cricket Secretary, Khodadad Yazdegardi, Vice President, Feroze Katrak, Honorary Secretary, Adi Pardiwalla and Rusi Bhumgara. President of the Zoroastrian Club of Secunderabad, Minoo Siganporia, Secretary of Parsi Cyclist, Homi Mehta and Dinshaw Patel of FOZAWAC, also graced the occasion. Umpires, Rohinton Mistry, Adil Palia and Aspi Tantra were honoured along with the scorers Santosh Pednekar and Harshil Patel, physiotherapist Dr. Ruchita Kulkarni and Tournament Co-ordinator J C Umrigar. Minoo Siganporia donated awards for the Most Catches and Most Sixes. The event concluded with Khodadad Yazdegardi’s gracious vote of thanks.

Speaking to Parsi Times, Khodadad Yazdegardi said, “I am very grateful to Chairman of Spenta Group of Companies, Aspan Cooper for co-sponsoring this event. This year we conducted the tournament in the IPL style, playing with the white ball and having live commentary. With future support hopefully the next edition will be played under lights. I would also like to thank Mehli Golvala, our President and my entire cricket sub-committee for all their support.”

The Awardees Of The Late Maneck Golvala T10 Cricket Tournament

Winners- Parsee Gymkhana ‘A’

Runners up – Navsari ‘B’

Most Catches – Khushal Jilla (6 catches)

Most Sixes – Shahen Mistry (12 sixes)

Best Upcoming Player – Vaspan Patel

Best Fielder – Khushal Jilla

Best Bowler – Aryan Irani (10 wickets)

Best Batsman – Shahen Mistry (179 runs in the tournament with 98*)

Man of the Tournament – Shahen Mistry (179 runs in the tournament with 98* and 3 wickets).