19 February,2014 08:02 AM IST | | Sundari Iyer
Swami Vivekanand International's (Borivli) spin duo of Rutik Rathod and Prashant Pillai together accounted for seven wickets between them against defending champions Al-Barkaat
Swami Vivekanand's Prashant Pillai (left) and Rutik Rathod (right) finished with 3-27 and 4-75 respectively on Day One of the Giles Shield final against Al-Barkaat at CCI yesterday. Pics/Shadab Khan
Mumbai: Swami Vivekanand International's (Borivli) spin duo of Rutik Rathod (off-spinner) and Prashant Pillai (left-arm) bowled in tandem accounting for seven wickets between them against defending champions Al-Barkaat MMI (Kurla) who finished Day One of the Giles Shield final at Cricket Club of India on 230-8 off 85 overs yesterday.
Swami Vivekanand's Prashant Pillai (left) and Rutik Rathod (right) finished with 3-27 and 4-75 respectively on Day One of the Giles Shield final against Al-Barkaat at CCI yesterday. Pics/Shadab Khan
Rutik finished with figures of 4 for 75 runs off 28 overs of which six were maidens, while Prashant took 3-27 with five of his 16 overs being maidens. Al-Barkaat started the day well and were 90-1 at lunch before Rutik and Prashant turned things around with their spin. Al-Barkaat's Naushad Qadree top scored with 48.
Rutik got the wickets of opener Nabijaan Ansari (29), Altamas Khan (28), Naushad (48) and Kunal Dalvi (6), while Prashant accounted for the wickets of Al-Barkaat skipper Kesar Singh Thapa (35), Rudresh Ojha (18) and Hamza Siddiqui (0).
Thirteen-year-old Rutik switched from St Xavier's High School (Virar) to Swami Vivekanand two years ago and the move seems to have worked for him. "I had all the facilities in Virar for cricket, but I never got the platform like I did in this school. We get to play in both the Giles Shield and Harris Shield tournaments besides many other inter-school events," said Rutik, who has taken 25 wickets so far in the tournament.
Prashant meanwhile, spelt out his team's strategy going into Day Two tomorrow. "We want to bowl them out as soon as possible and then not just overtake their score, but also set a lead of over 200. We've had a very good start. I hope we can maintain the momentum in the next three days," said the Mira-Road resident.
