PJ Hindu Gymkhana regain Kanga title

PJ Hindu Gymkhana inscribed their name on the Dr HD Kanga Cricket League A list of champions after long 38 years yesterday Their last triumph came in 1981 when they had stalwarts like Ashok Mankad and Eknath Solkar playing for themThe Marine Drive gymkhana emerged top of the table with 15 points in seven games while Payyade Sports Club and New Hind Sporting Club ended up with 13 and 12 respectivelyLowscoring affairIn a lowscoring game hosts PJ Hindu were bowled out for 107 with Vishal Bhilare and skipper Anup Revandkar scoring 25 and 16 respectivelyThe hosts also enjoyed a benefit of 18 runs which came as a result of Sinds slow overrate Pacers Nitesh Salekar 633 and Vikaschandra Singh 327 were the chief wickettakers for Sind before the visitors were bundled out for 90Mohit Avasthi 540 the leagues top wickettaker with 20 scalps and leftarm spinner Salil Agharkar 333 did the job for PJ Hindu Agharkar has been in fine form and ended the tournament with 18 wicketsCaptain Revandkar who represented India U19 in 2007 attributed the triumph to total teamwork I feel proud to lead PJ Hindu a team which were led by great cricketers like Ashok Mankad sir and Eknath Solkar sir This achievement was made possible by every team member said Revandkar who felt the turning point for his side was when they beat defending champions MIG Cricket Club by dismissing them for 60The 1981 PJ Hindu Gymkhana team which emerged Kanga League champions Ravi Thakkar left Eknath Solkar Santosh Walawalkar partly hidden Ashok Mankad Milind Gunjal Rohan Shah Jignesh Sanghani in front of Shah Nakul Rege and Amol Shejale Pic courtesyNakul RegeThe captain revealed that his side was motivated by leftarm spinner Harshal Merchant who is also a part of IPL team Rajasthan Royals support staff Harshal was very instrumental in our triumph by conducting training camps His disciplined approach and motivation played a vital role in building our team over the last few years Latecomers for practice sessions were fined R100 it was his idea which worked very well he addedIn 1981 the Ashok Mankadled team beat Cricket Club of India CCI on the first innings at the Brabourne StadiumFormer Railways allrounder and Eknaths brother Anant Solkar recalled how he contributed to teams first title win nearly four decades ago We played our last match against CCI and won on first innings lead I scored 81 and Eknath claimed four or five wickets in that matchSuperb achievementExspinner and Mumbai selector Ravi Thakkar another member of PJs class of 1981 remarked Its a superb achievement I represented the Gymkhana for 19 years and I am very happy for them I really enjoyed playing with Ashok Mankad sir Solkar brothers Pandurang Salgaonkar and others Offspinner Dilip Jadhav who was also part of the 1981 titlewinning side was at the ground yesterday to witness his gymkhanas second Kanga triumph Though it has come after 38 years its a great achievement The boys played well and they deserved this title said JadhavCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereAlso download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates