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Rizvi springs back in style

Bandra school avenge last year's loss in the final to Al Barkaat with 17-run victory* Win is their 12th MSSA Harris Shield triumph in 16 years

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Rizvi Springfield players dance to DJ Bravo’s ‘Champion’ after winning the Harris Shield at Azad Maidan on Friday
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The match was evenly poised at the end of Day 3. Defending champions Al Barkaat (Kurla) needed 38 runs while Rivzi Springfield (Bandra) needed a wicket on the final day of play to win this year's Harris Shield final being played at the Sassanian Cricket Club pitch at Azad Maidan.

But it was Rizvi who held their nerve, to dismiss Barkaat's last batsman, Rajesh Sardar for 13 and regain the title they lost to the same team last season. And it took them just 29 balls on Friday to get the all-important wicket. In the end, Al Barkaat fell 17 runs short of the target, scoring 189 runs, chasing a target of 207.

The Kurla school started on a positive with Sardar and Satyandra Yadav having a go at the Rizvi bowlers —Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyansh Bogar. One would expect them to thread with caution considering they couldn't afford to get out, but they did otherwise.

Sardar hit two fours and Yadav, who was unbeaten at 11, scored a single four. They were going quite comfortably, when leggie Jaiswal stepped up to bowl the sixth over with Sardar on strike.

After not giving away any runs in the first four balls, he bowled the fifth one slightly wide on the off. Sardar went to hit it down to third man, but it knicked the top-edge of his bat, went straight to slip with Aakash Yadav making no mistake in holding on to the ball.

Jaiswal basked in his glory as his teammates jumped in a hurdle around him. They did the now-famous 'Champion' dance, and just ran around the pitch exulting with joy. It was only after five minutes of screaming and dancing, that they decided to go wish the losing team.

As they danced away in glory, their team captain Shoaib Siddiqui, walked slowly towards his coach Raju Pathak, grinning from cheek to cheek. Three months ago, Siddiqui was just another player in the Rizvi line-up, but circumstances meant that he was chosen to lead the side.

After Rizvi's final league match in January against Swami Vivekanand School, four players — Vaibhav Kalmalkar, Sagar Chabria, Anchal Mishra and Abhishek Yadav were found to be overage and thus banned from taking further part in the MSSA tournament. With the quartet for Rizvi absent, it was down to Siddiqui to take up the captain's armband.

And just like how edgy Rizvi were at the start of day's play on Friday, so was their situation when they realised they will have to do without these four players. To make matters worse, they were made to wait for three months to play the semifinal last week, which they beat Don Bosco High School (Matunga). But then, as they showed on Friday, they do well under pressure.

So how did the players cope with being without key players?

“I told the boys who took replaced the four we had that it was their time to shine,” said coach Pathak on how he motivated his boys. “When you are going through a difficult time, it is the coach's job to teach the team to be fearless. I told the team to prove to everyone that we can win despite not being allowed to field our best squad. And that's what motivated the boys to perform. But I feel, that if we had our full strength, it would've been a onesided final.”

Siddiqui said it didn't count for much that the quartet weren't able to play the semifinal and final. “We did well without them, didn't we?” he said with a smile. “Everyone in the team knew that we were capable of winning the title come what may. Not for once this was in doubt. It is because of this spirit that we are champions and will continue being champions,” he said.

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