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Harris Shield Final: Anjuman-I-Islam Stay Ahead As Arhaan Patel’s Grit Keeps Al Barkaat Alive

GH News December 25, 2025 03:08 PM

But Al Barkaat bowlers will have to defend a low total against the defending champions on the last day. Patel and Balerao will resume the innings on Thursday with only four overs left, and their overall lead is only 79 runs. They will want to push the target beyond a hundred to give their bowlers something to bowl at. Anjuman will have 40 overs to chase the total in the second innings.

Mumbai: Al Barkaat MMI English School, Kurla fought back valiantly on Wednesday. Still, Anjuman-I-Islam Allana English School continued to be in the driver's seat after the second day of the three-day final of the 129th Harris Shield Dream Sports MSSA U-16 Inter-School cricket tournament at Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday. Arhaan Patel scored an unbeaten 94 to add to his first innings fighting knock of 64, while Pradnyankur Bhalerao was not out on 50 as Al Barkaat reached 212 for 3 in 36 overs in their second innings at stumps on Day 2.

Resuming their first innings at 109/1 in 39 overs in chase of Al Barkaat's 135 all-out, Anjuman lost overnight not-out batters Laxmanprasad Yadav and Aarav Yadav fell early. Both added 97 runs for the second wicket. Laxmanprasad was run out while Aarav became the first victim to Abrar Shaikh, who ran through the Anjuman batting by picking 7 for 80 in his 21 overs.

Yuvraj Bhingare stood up for the defending champions with an unbeaten 73 in 106 balls and notched up crucial partnerships with Kabir Jagtap (17), Ramprasad Vishwakarma (11), and Yuvan Sharma (31) to ensure Anjuman reached 268 for 9 in the allotted 80 overs in the first innings with a lead of 133 runs.

Trailing by a big margin, Al Barkaat openers Arhaan and Aakash Mangde (32 in 21 balls) started strongly by putting 52 runs in 41 balls. Arhaan shared another 62 runs in 45 balls with Ishan Pathak (32 in 24 balls). Arhaan was going nicely with 62 runs in 42 balls.

It seemed for a while that Arhaan and Man-of-The-Match Pathak in the semifinal would repeat that performance where Pathak had scored a blazing ton to help his side chase down 290 in 40 overs. But Pathak couldn't carry on this time and just played a brief cameo. The early loss of Yuvraj Pawar, who was sent to play aggressively, changed the game.

New batter Bhalerao took his time to get in, and Arhaan also became watchful and got slower as he started approaching a well-deserved hundred. Tiredness also started to creep in as he played many dot balls to increase the anxiety in the dressing room. Bhalerao, on the other side, was trying to play big strokes, getting odd boundaries but not able to clear the fence at will. The duo has already shared 94 runs in 114 balls for the fourth wicket, but considering the situation and still seven wickets in hand, the innings needed more impetus.

"We could have scored more runs. But we still have wickets in hand and just four overs to go. We hope to score 40 more runs tomorrow, and anything can happen," said an optimistic Al Barkaat coach, Nafees Khan.

Anjuman's Yuvan (5/38) and Aaarav (4/32) had combined to take nine wickets and restrict Al Barkaat in their first innings. However, they couldn't do much in the second innings so far.

Former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar will be gracing the Post Match Presentation on Thursday as Chief Guest, and Karsan Ghavri will be Guest of Honour.

Brief Scores:

Al Barkaat MMI English School: 135 all out in 40.5 overs Arhaan Patel 61, 70 balls, 102 mins, 12x4s, Yuvan Sharma (LBG) 5/38, Aarav Yadav (OB) 4/32 & 212-3 in 36 overs Arhaan Patel 94*,108 balls,130 mins, 8x4s, 1x6s, Pradnyankur Bhalerao 50*, 51 balls, 6x4s, vs Anjuman I-Islam English School: 268-9 in 39 overs Yuvraj Bhingare 73*, 106 balls, 151 mins, 5x4s,2x6s, Laxmanprasad Vishwakarma 55, 128 balls,154 mins, 7x4s, Aarav Yadav 52, 115 balls, 150 mins, 6x4s, 1x6s, Yuvan Sharma 31, 33 balls, 4x4s, Abrar Shaikh (OB) 7/80.

U14 Giles Shield Brief Scores:

Matunga Premier School:204 all out Sachin Jangale 70, Chinmay Ansarkar 56, Advait Kachraj 6/57, Tanay Mahansaria 3/48 beat Smt Sulochanadevi Singhania School :111 all out Tanishq Bhosale 8/38 by 93 runs.

RR Education Trust: 203-7 Arnav Jagtap 67 beat Navi Mumbai Vidyalaya: 193-7 Ronit Chouhan 58, Hetav Thakkar 4/57 by 10 runs.

The BMS VK Krishna Menon Academy: 331-2 Hridaan Mestry 113,118 balls, 10x4s, 2x6s, Christiano Bathello 119, Ridit Pujari 63* beat Anjuman Khairul Islam Urdu School: 247-9 Mohammed Shaikh 109, Advik Desai 4/59 by 84 runs.

Sitaram Prakash High School: 138 all out Ishant Pawar 42, Jay Mhatre 4/18 lost to VN Sule Guruji Dadar: 139-2 Devang Koli57*, Vihaan Keni 39* by 8 wkts.

Convent of Jesus & Mery: 297-9 Viyom Wakker 121, Sarthak V 53, Soham Pawne 6/88 beat Parle Tilak Vidyalaya (ICSE) 102 all out by 195 runs.

Lakshadham High School: 112 all out Alok Yadav 57, Asad Khan 4/32 beat Al Barkaat MMI: 111 all out Vivaan Sanap 42, Mithun Raja 5/62, Alok Yadav 4/39 by 1 run.

Little Star English High School:305-8 Karan Kamble 102, Chandrakishan Bind 48, Utsav Yadav 3/84 beat RJSPM’s Public School: 54 all out Chanakya Goparapu 7/25) by 251 runs.