Be it early mornings or late afternoon - at times even under floodlights - whenever you cross a vacant plot in the suburbs or the famed maidans in south Mumbai, one would come across scores of kids in whites trying to perfect their batting and bowling skills. Mumbai has always been India's cricket nursery, especially for producing top-class batsmen.



The two inter-school cricket tournaments - Harris Shield and Giles Shield - have for long served as a platform for young promising batsmen. Be it a Gavaskar or a Vengsarkar or a Tendulkar or a Rahane or a Rohit, all these greats got noticed for their exploits in inter-school cricket. But in the last few years, school cricket in the city has taken a blow — resulting in matches being lop-sided contests after the early rounds of both the prestigious tournaments.

Swami Vivekanand International School rode on Meet Mayekar's 338 to put up a massive 761 runs on the board. - Special Arrangement

One such match of the Harris Shield (under-16) was played out at the New Era Cricket Club plot, Azad Maidan on Wednesday. Swami Vivekanand International School (SVIS), Borivali versus Children’s Academy, Andheri. Batting first, SVIS - the alma mater of Rohit Sharma - plundered 761 for four in its allotted 45 overs, with Meet Mayekar hitting boundaries at will for his 338 off 134 balls, which was studded with 56 fours and 7 sixes.

None of the Children’s Academy players managed to get off the mark as the team was bowled out for seven runs - all of which came off extras. - Special Arrangement

If the first innings wasn’t an aberration to book cricket, the chase turned out to be even more disastrous as the Children’s Academy was bundled out for 7 runs off just six overs. The seven runs came off the extras, with all the batsmen getting out for ducks.



This not being the only match as it has turned out that majority of matches in the first round being no-contests. Not long ago, Pranav Dhanavade, who scored 1,000 runs in an innings against a team full of kids, could never replicate the same performance in matches thereafter.