Red Bull Cricket Campus National Finals 2021: Mumbai wins the inaugural women's edition while Pune win their fourth men's title

The Red Bull Campus Cricket celebrated its 10th edition of conducting one of its kind university-level tournaments in India. From just 4 cities and 32 teams in 2012, the men’s tournament has grown in stature and size, with the latest edition witnessing a total of 450 teams from 32 cities participating. 

The tournament also saw its first-ever women’s edition, in which top colleges teams from four cities competed to make it to the final. Rizvi College of Mumbai and Gargi College of Delhi played the first-ever women’s national final at the IS Bindra PCA Stadium in Mohali, Chandigarh. 

In the men’s tournament, MMCC College Pune and New LJ College Ahmedabad met in the final at the same venue and on the same day. However, the men’s final was played under floodlights. Pune and Ahmedabad entered the final being unbeaten during the national finals in Chandigarh which had started on October 18, 2021. Here is the report for the women’s and men’s final: 

Women’s final: Rizvi College Mumbai vs Gargi College Delhi

Rizvi College Mumbai won the toss and elected field first. The decision paid off quite early with Gargi College Delhi losing their top three cheaply. Wicketkeeper and skipper Tanya Vajpayee settled the nerves slightly with her 27-ball 16 and she got some good support from Roopshikha Chaudhary who added 18 runs from 31 balls. Anchal Rai top-scored for Delhi with her run-a-ball 22. These contributions helped them finish on 81 for 7 in their allotted 20 overs. 

With the ball for Mumbai, Nirmal starred with a wonderful spell of four overs in which she gave only six runs picking up three wickets. Apart from her, Kavita and Samiksha also picked up a wicket each. After being excellent with the ball, the Mumbai team was quite good with the bat, when it came to keeping the run rate much higher than what Delhi had. Openers Dhanshree and Sadhvi Sanjay started well scoring 11 and 14 runs respectively. 

However, Delhi managed to get some in-roads with Megha getting three wickets while Aarti Gupta, Anchal Rai, and Sanskriti also picked up one scalp each. But, in the end, the target set by their batters turned out to be a bit low, as Mumbai managed to get the total in just 12.5 overs with three wickets to spare. As a result of this, Rizvi College Mumbai has been crowned the inaugural champions of the RBCC Women’s tournament. 

Brief scores: Mumbai 82 for 7 (Sadhvi Sanjay 14, Nirmal 3 for 6) beat Delhi 81 for 7 (Anchal Rai 22 & 1 for 8, Megha 3 for 15) by three wickets. 

Player of the match: Nirmal for her spell of 4-1-6-3

Men’s final: MMCC Pune vs New LJ College Ahmedabad

Much like some of their previous encounters, Pune won the toss and elected to field first. Sachin Bhosale worked his magic in the powerplay getting rid of Vimal Kumar and Sushant Abhang. However, Dhairav Oza formed a partnership of 68 runs with the stand-in skipper Rahul Ahuja which made Ahmedabad believe that there could be a big score coming. However, Ahuja got run-out for 36 from a brilliant throw of Sanket Pharate which started a collapse of sorts. 

The ball started to come slightly slowly from the surface as it got older as batters were seen struggling to find the timing. Atul Vitkar got two wickets in the 14th over to push Ahmedabad to 101 for 5. Aditya Sheth managed to get some vital runs at the death, but there was also some commendable bowling display from the Pune bowlers. Sanket Pharate too got two wickets, one of which was of danger man Dhairav Oza, who was dismissed for 50 runs from 39 balls. Ahmedabad eventually ended with a score of 140 for 7. 

What should have been a walk in the park for Pune turned out to be quite a difficult task in the end. Ahmedabad bowlers made sure they made a game out of a small score with some tight fielding and impressive bowling. Opener Siddhant Doshi was dismissed quite early in the innings but Omkar Khatpe and Yash Kshirsagar got a 38-run partnership to keep things going on. Left-arm spinners Smit Patel and Yash Doshi bowled superbly once again. Patel picked up one wicket while Doshi picked up three, two of which came in one over at one point. Apart from them, Deepansh Chauhan picked up two while Aarya Patel picked up one scalp. 

Pune failed to build partnerships and that led to the pressure falling upon as the required rate kept increasing considerably. At 48 for 4, Pune managed to get back into the game for a while with a 39 runs partnership between Atul Vitkar and Sachin Bhosale, who made a quick 23 runs from 18 balls. Once Bhosale was dismissed, Vitkar held one end and watched a few wickets tumble on the other end. At 90 for 7 in the 16th over, it seemed Pune had lost the plot. 

However, Vitkar along with Sanket Chavan kept playing with the field, putting up quite a magnificent partnership. In 21 balls, the duo managed to score 45 runs, with a lot of singles and doubles. Vitkar was dismissed for 42 runs from 32 balls, finally on the last ball of the penultimate over. However, Pune just needed six runs. Chavan stayed unbeaten on 22 runs from 10 balls, guiding his team to their fourth title with just three balls and two wickets to spare. Without any doubt, it was a contest, quite fitting for a final. 

Brief scores: Pune 141 for 8 (Atul Vitkar 42 and 2 for 25, Sachin Bhosale 2 for 30 and 23) beat Ahmedabad 140 for 7 (Dhairav Oza 50, Yash Doshi 3 for 15) by two wickets. 

Player of the match: Atul Vitkar for his 42 and 2 for 25 (Pune)

Player of the tournament: Sachin Bhosale (Pune)

Best batter in the tournament: Dhairav Oza (Ahmedabad)

Best bowler in the tournament: Smit Patel (Ahmedabad)