Santhome Higher Secondary School emerged as the inaugural Junior Super Kings after they beat archrivals St Bede’s AIHSS by 42 runs in the final. M Shahrukh Khan of St Bede's, who went on to represent Tamil Nadu in limited-overs cricket, was adjudged Player of the Tournament.
Chennai Super Kings introduced a T20 championship for Chennai city schools to provide a platform for young talent to showcase and improve their skills in the game’s newest format, and as expected, the tournament was a big success.
Conducted under the aegis of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, the inaugural JSK saw 32 schools take part and a total of 31 matches held over two weeks. The semifinals and final were played in coloured clothing and with white ball.
“Junior Super Kings brings a great opportunity for the youngsters and we are confident that this tournament will prove to be an excellent platform for them,” then TNCA secretary KS Viswanathan had said in a media release.
Gulf Oil Corporation Limited was the title sponsor.
“Being associated with Chennai Super Kings as partners for the past two years we are glad to be associated with Junior Super Kings as a natural extension. The Gulf brand stands for the values of youth,” Alok Mahajan, Chief Marketing Officer, Gulf Oil, had said.
In the semifinals, Santhome beat Don Bosco (Egmore) while St Bede’s put it across St Patrick’s AIHSS. Suresh Lokeshwar was consistent with the bat for St Bede’s throughout the tournament and was adjudged Best Batsman. The promising ’keeper-batsman went on to represent India Under-19 and Karaikudi Kaalai in the Tamil Nadu Premier League T20.
CSK coach Stephen Fleming inaugurated the tournament while former India captain Kris Srikkanth was the chief guest at the prize distribution ceremony.
A total of 21 players from the participating schools were selected for a coaching camp under former first class cricketers. Seven of the schoolboys were given opportunities with TNCA second and third division league teams.
Special awards: Player of the Tournament: M Shahrukh Khan (St Bede's). Best Batsman: S Lokeshwar (St Bede's). Best Bowler: K Vishal Vaidya (Santhome). Best Fielder: Joy Kenny (Don Bosco, Egmore).
Brief scores (Quarterfinals onwards):
Final: Santhome 134/7 in 20 overs (ST Natarajan 40, R Kamalakannan 30 n.o., M Affan Khader 2/25) bt St Bede's 92/9 in 20 overs (M Shahrukh Khan 27, MS Sanjay 3/7, K Vishal Vaidya 3/19). MoM: MS Sanjay.
Semifinals:
Santhome 106/9 in 20 overs (Aditya Barooah 33, L Kiran Akash 2/13) bt Don Bosco (Egmore) 96 all out in 19.2 overs (Ratheesh Manikandan 30, K Vishal Vaidya 3/14, R Kamalakannan 2/16, MS Sanjay 2/24). MoM: Aditya Barooah.
St Bede’s 140/5 in 20 overs (Aravind Raj 25, R Rahul 36, S Lokeshwar 45) bt St Patrick’s 91/9 in 20 overs (Abhinav Sundar 2/19, M Shahrukh Khan 3/5). MoM: S Lokeshwar.
Quarterfinals:
Vidya Mandir (Mylapore) 105/8 in 20 overs (R Niklesh 39, SR Harikrish 3/22) lost to St Bede's 106/4 in 18 overs (M Shahrukh Khan 40, S Lokeshwar 43 n.o.). MoM: S Lokeshwar.
MCC HSS 53 all out in 18.1 overs (Aditya Barooah 3/9, K Vishal Vaidya 3/0) lost to Santhome 57/1 in 9.4 overs (Kaushik U Ram 30). MoM: Aditya Barooah.
Don Bosco 186/5 in 20 overs (L Kiran Akash 55, Daryl S Ferrario 54 n.o.) bt Govt HSS (Ashok Nagar) 128/9 in 20 overs (J Regin Jose 27, Vigneshwar 3/24, B Surya 3/8). MoM: L Kiran Akash.
Nellai Nadar MHSS 117/7 in 20 overs (P Praveen Kumar 51 n.o.) lost to St Patrick's 118/2 in 17 overs (GV Vignesh 60 n.o., Maan K Bafna 25). MoM: GV Vignesh.