Jamnabai's Ruchit stars with nine-wicket haul

Jamnabai Narsee (Juhu) off spinner Ruchit Shah stole the show with nine wickets in his team's 10-wicket win over HM Nanavati (Vile Parle) in the Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA)-Mumbai Indians (MI) Harris Shield Plate Division first round match at Azad Maidan yesterday

The Vile Parle school won the toss and elected to bat. After Jamnabai pacers Krish Shah and Adeshva Doshi were unable to get wickets, it was Ruchit who drew first blood in the form of Nanavati opener Hardik Patel. He followed that up with another eight scalps as HM Nanavati folded for just 70 runs.

Jash Kishnadwala accounted for the only other wicket.

Ruchit Shah

The Santacruz resident is glad to have helped his team clinch their first win in the inter-school U-16 tournament. Ruchit eventually finished with stunning figures of 11-3-16-9.

Jamnabai openers Yuvraj Nagi (31) and Krish Shah (24) needed just 8.5 overs to reach their target.

Ruchit said he never expected to bowl as well as he did on the day.

"It wasn't that Nanavati team are a weak side. I feel I bowled really well today. After taking five wickets, I felt that I should better my performance of six wickets that I had taken in the Giles Shield in 2010," Ruchit told MiD DAY yesterday.

On the thought of bowling out the enture team, Ruchit said: "That did occur to me but I missed out on âperfect 10'. But I am happy nevertheless. This is by far my best performance ever, and I hope I am able to continue taking wickets in the coming matches," the 13-year-old signed off. u00a0