Samarth Seth zips to Zelio electric scooter with century as Collage lift title

Samarth Seth was part of the Delhi Premier League champions East Delhi Riders last year but could not make an impact in the inaugural edition. Perhaps, the East Delhi Riders batting line-up was already full of in-form match-winners and Seth had to bide his time on the bench or batting late in the order.

But Seth has shown unflinching resolve, racking up runs in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) League and following it up with great performance in the 50th Goswami Ganesh Dutt Memorial Cricket Tournament that concluded at the St Stephen's College Ground on Sunday. Seth helped Collage clinch the title. The club last won the title in 2023 and in 2018 before that.

The left-handed opener emerged as the Player of the Tournament with 355 runs in six games at an average of 71 with a hundred and three half centuries, including a match-winning one in the final against Madras Cricket Club. Seth scored 82 off 49 balls (11x4s, 3x6s) as he helped Collage achieve the 187-run target with six wickets and 10 balls to spare.

His performance in the league was very good. He hammered 734 runs in 11 innings at an average of 73.4 with three centuries and three fifties to be among the top run-getters.

Collage skipper Pardeep Parashar (second from right) with the tophy as Harsh Malhotra and Tournament organising secretary Vikas Katyal looks on 

"I am pretty happy with the season that has gone by. I had one poor tournament, Lala Raghubir Memorial Cricket Tournament, but apart from that everything has been fine. I am among the top three run-getters in DDCA League and am also the leading run-getter here in this tournament," said Seth as he climbed on to the Zelio electric scooter that he won for being the Player of the Tournament.

The final began late as overnight rain had rendered the bowlers' run-up and the outfield unplayable.

The final, scheduled to start at 7.30 am, began at 9.30 am. The pitch wasn't dry yet and remained a bit sticky. Sarthak Ranjan, who scored a match-winning fifty in the semifinal and got off to a blazing start in the final reaching 24 off 12 balls, soon fell to the tackiness of the pitch.

"I wanted to maximise the powerplay, so I went for the shot," said Ranjan, who had raced to 24 off 12 balls (3x4s, 1x6) before a delivery held up and lobbed off his bat to mid-wicket.

Prior to Ranjan's wicket, Keshav R Singh (formerly Keshav Dalal) was caught behind off skipper Pardeep Parashar 'Pedro' for 12 to a decision he was unhappy with.

A flurry of wickets then pushed Madras CC back, reducing them to 64/4 in the 10th over.

It was then left to left-handed all-rounder Pranshu Vijayran to resist. Vijayran, a Delhi Ranji Trophy player scored 59 off 33 balls with five fours and four sixes to provide respectability to the team total. Anmol Sharma scored 38 off 28 balls (2x4s, 3x6s). With both of them at the crease, it looked like Madras CC were on road to recovery.

Anmol was batting well. After having bided his time, he began unleashing his shots but just as he was about to raise the run rate, a sweep shot was caught brilliantly by a diving Arun Chaprana at fine leg.

Left-handed Prikshit Jangra, who is only 15 years of age, provided some late impetus with 18 off five balls with two sixes and a four.

Vijayran, however, was the one who batted till the end, falling only when there were 14 balls left. He hit 59 off 33 balls (5x4s, 4x6s).

Samarth Seth scored 355 runs in six games in GG Dutt Tournament 

Madras CC made 186/8 in 20 overs. The chase wasn't expected to be testing since the pitch had eased out a bit.

Vaibhav Kandpal, who was the regular captain sitting out due to a finger injury, had advised the team to test Ayush Badoni with short balls.

"Let us not feed balls up to him," said Kandpal nursing his finger. The left-handed Kandpal, who led North Delhi Strikers in last season's Delhi Premier League (DPL), is out for two weeks due to the injury he sustained in the semifinals.

Badoni was, however, up to it. He hooked a bouncer over fine leg for six, his body pirouetting like a ballerina's and the meat of the bat helping the ball sail over. The bowler Shubham Dubey then compensated with a full length ball that Badoni drove down to extra cover fence. The next ball was a short bouncer on the off-stump which Badoni allowed to pass. Another similar one, though not bouncing as much was sent to deep point fence, and the chase was away.

Badoni played a switch hit, something that he has perfected. But the bowler Tejas Baroka remained unnerved. He made the next one bounce a bit more and Badoni's switch hit caught the top edge of the bat and the ball ballooned to point.

Badoni scored 26 off 12 with five fours and a six and when he fell the score was 45 in the fourth over. The brisk start, to which Seth also contributed through boundaries, set Collage on path to victory.

"We stopped them at 186, which was good at this ground. The ground is small and we thought that we did well. We wanted to restrict them to 180. We knew that if we play the circle well, we will do well," said Samarth Seth.

"The toss mattered a lot. But it is not that things got easy in the second innings. The ball was stopping before reaching the batsman. We wanted to score maximum runs in the first six overs without losing a wicket. Ayush has just returned from playing IPL, so he has that experience. But he was dismissed [inside the powerplay]. Even after that I hit 4-5 fours after that. We had the momentum and kept with it. I just wanted to take the game deep and win the match," said Samarth.

Seth maneuvred the ball well. He had a close call early on when Tejas Baroka thought he was out leg-before the wicket after being struck on the back leg.

That and caught behind appeal that was turned down off Vijayran were the only moments when Seth looked threatened. Beyond that, the innings was smooth.

He reached his half-century in 28 balls with a boundary. He added 89 for the second wicket with Rohan Rathi (31 off 26 balls) and that partnership sealed the match.

Seth was dismissed by Tejas Baroka when only eight runs were required. Baroka impressed with 3/21 in four overs but there wasn't much support from the other end.

Minister of State Harsh Malhotra was the Chief Guest.

Awards and Honours:

Man of the Tournament: Samarth Seth

Player of the Match: Samarth Seth

Fighter of the Match: Tejas Baroka

Best All-rounder: Arun Chaprana

Emerging Player of the Tournament: Rupank Aggarwal

Best Batsman of the Tournament: Anmol Sharma

Best Bowler of the Tournament: Tejas Baroka

Tags : Ayush Badoni, Samarth Seth, DDCA, Delhi, Cricket, St Stephen's College, DPL