Unwelcome Rest

The two finalists of the Kohinoor Karandak Tourney- JN Petit and SSPMS will in all probability play the final match after a break of more than a month since they last figured in the semifinals

Suhrid Barua, Pune Mirror, April 6, 2009

Have you seen a tournament be it cricket, football or for that matter any sport, run over close to two months with the break between the semifinals and the final being nearly a month? There are chances that you might have not. But the second edition of the Kohinoor Karandak Inter-School Under-14 Cricket Tournament, organised by the Pune District Cricket Association (PDCA), is an exception.The ‘premier’ under-14 tourney got underway at various venues on February 17 and till the filing of this report, the dates for the final match are yet to be confirmed.

Twelve teams took part in the long-drawn tournament where fifteen matches were held. Remember: the first semifinal tie between SSPMS and Angels School was held on March 10-11 while the second semifinal match between JN Petit and Dyanganga School was staged on March 16-17. It’s been more than three weeks of not-so ‘welcome rest’ for the two finalists - JN Petit and SSPMS. In such a scenario, the slackening of momentum for the two finalists can be a spoiler for both teams as and when they played the title clash.
Ask JN Petit coach Vijay Dalvi and he is supremely confident that the long break between the semis and the final won’t be impediment in their way to clinching the crown. "We’ve proved with our performance that we are the most accomplished team in this tournament. More than three weeks of break between the semifinal and final can be a factor in derailing the momentum, the kind of confidence my boys are enjoying, we are going to wipe our opponents to the floor, mark my words," he remarked.
SSPMS coach Prakash (Anna) Nevrekar says the ‘competitive juice’ can dip if there is such a long break between the semifinals and final. "Definitely, the rhythm of our team will get affected but we can’t do anything about it. Our school are having exams till mid-April while JN Petit are having their exams till April 13. We need to get at least ten days of practice once the exams are over so that we can slip into the competitive mode before the summit clash," he said.

The Pune District Cricket Association conceded that it’s for the first time I their organisational history that the tournament has run for such a long period."It’s hasn’t happened before. We planned to wrap up this event by March 15 but we were forced to run a tourney for more than two months. The main hassle is that too many private tourneys were happening during the course of this tourney and availability of grounds became a problem. Also, schools were having exams which didn’t make our job easy, we are now hoping to have the final in the last week of April at the Vengsarkar Cricket Academy in Thergaon," said PDCA official Yashwant Bhujbal.