PUNE/GOA:
After a spectacular season in 2017, Red Bull Campus Cricket returns to bowl over budding cricketers in the country. Taking the competition up one more notch, the global T20 college cricket tournament this year added two new cities (Mysore & Raipur) to its roster and witnessed the highest participation ever over 250 plus colleges across 29 cities.
The Red Bull Campus Cricket took place from March 12 to the second week of April, to decide the Red Bull Campus Cricket city qualifiers simultaneously across 29 cities – Nagpur, Indore, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Pune, Goa and Mumbai in the West. After the city rounds and the city eliminators, Mumbai, Vadodara & Indore city champions played 2 matches each at MS University-DN Ground, Vadodara on 6th & 7th May 2018 where Rizvi College, Mumbai won 2 matches and qualified for National Finals in Mohali. The other 2 city champions Pune, Nagpur & Goa colleges played 2 matches each at Vision Cricket Ground, Pune on 9th & 10th May 2018 where last year’s National Champions Marathwada Mitramandal’s College of Commerce (M.M.C.C) Pune won 2 matches and qualified for National Finals in Mohali.
Goa’s Shree Damodar College went down fighting against the defending hampions Marathwada Mitramandal’s College of Commerce (M.M.C.C) Pune. The team from Pune defeated Shree Damodar College of Commerce & Economics, Goa by 138 runs. Shree Damodar College, Goa won the toss and chose to bowl first. Match Scorecard: M.M.C.C Pune 249/2 (20 overs) * Shree Damodar College Goa– 111/10 (17.1 overs). Shubham Nagawade from M.M.C.C. Pune won the man of the match award for scoring 100 runs in 47 balls with 7 fours and 9 sixes.
In the second game in as many days Dhanwate National College Nagpur beat Shree Damodar College Goa by 4 wickets but unable to qualify for the National finals.
Marathwada Mitramandal’s College of Commerce (M.M.C.C) Pune were to strong for D NC andvbeat Dhanwate National College (D.N.C) Nagpur by 10 wickets. M.M.C.C Pune won the toss and chose to bowl first. Match Scorecard: M.M.C.C Pune 106/10 (20 overs) * D.N.C Nagpur – 110/0 (20 overs). Piyush Salvi from M.M.C.C Pune won the man of the match award for taking 3 wickets and scoring 12 runs in 4 overs.
Rizvi College, Mumbai and Marathwada Mitramandal’s College of Commerce (M.M.C.C) Pune will now compete in the National finals, where the teams will play in the knockout rounds of quarterfinals, semifinals and finals respectively. The National winner will then represent India in the Red Bull Campus Cricket World Series Championship 2018. Past winners from India that have gone on to represent the country at the World Championships are Rizvi College, Mumbai; DAV College, Chandigarh; Swami Shraddhanand College, Delhi; and MMCC, Pune.
Well-known Indian cricketers KL Rahul and Karun Nair have been associated with Red Bull Campus Cricket. Shradul Thakur, Manan Vohra, Siddhesh Lad, Himanshu Rana, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Anukul Roy, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ricky Bhui are other well-known faces who played RBCC Cricket in the past and emerging stars in the Indian Cricket scene.
In addition, running parallel to Red Bull campus Cricket, Red Bull Speedster is taking place at each regional final to find the fastest bowler in the country. Top 8 bowlers, 1 from each regional final city will be selected to compete during the national finals of Red Bull Campus Cricket. The best from the 8 bowlers will then be awarded the opportunity to train with India’s fast bowler Varun Aaron. SS Rao, former Ranji Player is the technical director of Red Bull Speedster. Anyone can register at redbull.in/speedster to participate at any of the 8 regional final cities and grab this great opportunity.
