IES VN Sule Guruji’s (Dadar) Ayush Mhatre, 14, registered his third double century in inter-school cricket with a 131-ball 213 (24×4,9×6) against VK Krishna Menon School (Borivli) in a Pool D league match of the MSSA Harris Shield tournament at the Islam Gymkhana ground on Wednesday.
Batting first, the Dadar school amassed a massive 380 for 2 from the stipulated 45 overs and later dismissed the opposition for a mere 88 in 41.1 overs to register a comprehensive 292-run win.
Dashing opener Ayush, who has the hunger for big scores, scored two unbeaten double hundreds (202 and 207) in the Giles Shield competition in 2019. He also scored a double century playing for Real Cricket Academy, Dombivli, in a private tournament at Lonavala last year.
Having elected to bat, Ayush dominated the bowling with some exquisite cover drives and well-timed pull shots as he built his marathon innings. He came close to carrying his bat through, but was dismissed while attempting a tired-looking shot off the second-last ball of the innings. He was caught at long-on by Kinshuk Bharti off Ashaz Shah.
Abhinav assists with 127
Ayush along with No.3 batter Abhinab Saha, who was unbeaten on 127 (112 balls, 19×4), added 331 runs for the second wicket. “I owe it to my parents [mum Jagruti and dad Yogesh] and my grandfather [Laxmikant Naik] who have regularly accompanied me from our residence in Virar to grounds in Bandra and Matunga for my matches,” a smiling Ayush told mid-day. Interestingly, Ayush has changed quite a few schools to pursue his cricket dream.
“I was earlier studying at St Joseph’s (Virar) after which I joined Don Bosco [Matunga] where I studied till Class V. But since I had to attend daily classes there, I moved to Rizvi Springfield (Bandra), who permitted home schooling. But my studies suffered, so my parents shifted me to IES VN Sule Guruji because they have a good cricket team too and their coach Gopal Koli offered me admission. I’m now happy to be in a school which is good in sports as well as academics,” added Ayush.
Elsewhere, defending champs Al-Barkaat English School fought back to beat Anjuman Islam Alana School (CSTM) by 10 runs to record their second win in Group A at the MCA-BKC ground.
Prathamesh scores 146*
In another match of the same group, Prathamesh Kadam scored an unbeaten 146 off 96 balls to steer St Stanislaus (Bandra) to a 102-run win over Saraswati Mandir High School at National CC, Cross Maidan.
Meanwhile, in a low-scoring Group C match that finished quickly, Swami Vivekanand International (Borivli) defeated VPMS Vidyamandir (Dahisar) by eight wickets at the Police Gymkhana. Pacer Ayush Vaity stole the show with his 5-23 for SVIS. Thursday is a rest day and the final round of matches will be played on Friday.
