It was an enthralling first week of action for the #JuniorKnights at the 2018-19 Mayor's Cup U-15 Cricket tournament in Kolkata, being staged in association Kolkata Knight Riders, the Cricket Association of Bengal and Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

With an opportunity to earn the bragging rights for their schools, Under-15 #JuniorKnights from around Kolkata took part in 10 games in the first seven days of the tournament, with 19 of the 48 participating schools playing their first matches in this period.


 

The opening day of the competition saw #JuniorKnights from Nava Nalanda High School, the defending champions, take on St Thomas Khidderpore at Eden Gardens on December 2. Nava Nalanda won the game by 59 runs, with their opening batsman Dibya Kishore Chatterjee hitting a half century to take them to 214/6. In response, St Thomas' opener Sk Samik hit 71, but his effort went in vain as his team was bundled out for 155. Aniket Biswas picked 3/27 to top Nava Nalanda's bowling charts.

 



Following the opening game, nine other matches were played across four venues - Pailan World School Ground, DPS Joka, DPS Howrah and AIS Alampur - around Kolkata.

The match between South Point High School and Pailan World School witnessed an exceptional spell from Pratyush Singh, the legspinner, who bagged sensational figures of 7 for 4 in 2.5 overs to help South Point cripple Pailan World School, bowling them out for just 38 runs.



DPS Joka, the only school to play two games this week, won both its encounters - against Tirthapati Institution and Apeejay School with a splendid all-round performance. DPS Joka's Awais Khan scored 97 off 64 balls (11x4, 6x6) in their second game to register the best batting performance of the week.

St John's Public School, who beat GB Memorial Institution, rode on their wicketkeeper-batsman Sushant Singh's knock of 93, which was studded with 10 boundaries and two sixes, to get their campaign off to a good start.



The Begs School ICSE, St Lawrence High School, DPS Ruby Park, Aditya Academy, and National Gems HS School were the other teams who enjoyed victory in their opening games.

Tirthapati Institution, Sri Ram Narayan Singh Memorial, Don Bosco Liluah, DPS Howrah, Don Bosco (Park Circus), Silver Point School and DPS New Town are yet to bag any points in the competition.

With all the matches of #JuniorKnights - Mayor's Cup being telecast live on CAB's Official Youtube Page in association with Pitch Vision, and live scores being provided on the website, the level of interest is sky-high among the schools in Kolkata this year. Stay tuned for more updates, as we go into the second week of action, beginning with three matches on Sunday (December 9) - Sudhir Memorial Institute v St Thomas Boys School Khidderpore; South City International School v Sri Ram Narayan Singh Memorial, Jadavpur Vidyapith v Asian International School.