Though you have heard of many tournaments like , the global -ICC world T20, in which all the nations over the world compete with each other . And when we go on country level, we will find many leauges like , Indian premier league, Bangladesh premier league, Pakistan super league, Big bash league of Australia, NatWest T20 blast of England, super smash t20 of new Zealand,etc. And many more. But this league system is not confined to this level only!

There are leagues at the state level too! Like in India we can find TNPL or Tamil Nadu premier league, KPL or Karnataka premier league, Mumbai T20 where the different regions in Mumbai form teams and compete with each other. And one of this kind is the Saurashtra premiere leauge.

But, you must be wondering that there is no kind of state named Saurashtra! Yes , Saurashtra isn’t a state but a region , covering half of the area of Gujarat, mainly located in the southern Gujarat. And since this region has its own cricket association, SCA and team in Ranji, so it formed a league from this region too, in 2019 and named it as The Saurashtra premiere leauge, which was played in a 20 over format, from 14-22nd may, 2019 .

•What is Saurashtra premiere leauge?

In this league there are five teams from all over Saurashtra, which will compete with each other in a round Robin format and the top two teams in the points table will compete in the final last match to win the trophy. There are a total 10 matches, and each team will play four matches against the every opponent team and will try to come in the first two, to play the final match, the rest three teams will be eliminated.

• Teams in this league :-

– (Gohilwad gladiators), which was representing the Gohilwad region. It’s captain was Kamlesh makvana. It’s coach was Amit Shukla and its owner was Deepak Nakrani .

– (Kutch warriors), which represented the kutch region of Gujarat. It’s captain was jayedev unadkat. It’s coach was Hitesh Goswami and its owner was nilkanth steel.

-(Halar heroes), which represented the halar region of Gujarat. It’s captain was Arpit vasavada. It’s coach was Neeraj Odedra and its owner was former Indian player Ajay Jadeja.

-(Zalawad Royals), which was representing the Zalawad region. It’s captain was Cheteshwar pujara. It’s coach was Shitanshu kotak and its owner was GSH sports Global LLP.

-(Sorath lions) , which represented the Sorath region of Gujarat. It’s captain was sagar jogiyani and it’s coach was Rajendrasinh Jadeja. It had not a known owner.

• Venue:-

There was only one venue, where all the matches were played and it was the Saurashtra cricket association stadium at Rajkot.

Matches And Standings:-

Match 1: (Halar heroes vs kutch warriors). In this match halar heroes batted first and scored 147/7(20). And defeated kutch warriors by 24 runs, as they scored only 123/7(20). Arpit vasavada was MOM for his knock of 44(38) and bowling 15-3(4).

Match 2:(Zalawad Royals vs Sorath lions). In this match Zalawad Royals managed only 116/8 in 20 overs by batting first. And Sorath lions chased it easily with 8 wickets in hand. They scored 122/2 in 16.3 overs and chetan sakariya was MOM for his bowling i.e, 16-4(4) . Himalaya barad top scored 50*(46) for lions.

Match 3:(Halar heroes vs Gohilwad gladiators). In this match Halar batted first and scored 153/6(20), with Azeaz kothariya top scoring 72(56). And when gladiators came to bat,in the second half, they were bundled for just 134 in 18.5 overs. Parth Chauhan from halar bowled amazingly well,i.e 21-3(3.5). Azeaz kothariya was MOM for his 72 run knock.

Match 4:(Zalawad Royals vs Gohilwad gladiators). In this match Zalawad Royals batted first and scored 167/5(20), with Sheldon Jackson scoring 58(46) . Hardik Rathod from Gohilwad gladiators, did the best bowling, i.e, 18-2(4). But Gohilwad gladiators failed to chase the target in the second innings as they fell short by only 11 runs, by getting only 156/6(20). Prerak Mankad of Zalawad Royals was MOM for his 24-2(4) and 28(17).

Match 5:(Halar heroes vs Zalawad Royals). In this match Halar heroes batted first but managed only 130/7(20). Devang karamta got 31-3(4), to restrict Halar to a small total. And while batting second, Zalawad didn’t lose any wicket and won by 10 wickets, with pujara getting 64(46) and Sheldon Jackson also 64(54). Jackson was MOM for his knock of 64.

Match 6:( Sorath lions vs kutch warriors). In this match Sorath batted first but was bowled out for a mere total of 105 in 19.2 overs, with chirag jani top scoring 41(37). And Sorath chased it easily and won the match by 7 wickets, by getting 106/3 (13.5). Parth bhut from kutch was MOM for his 24-3(4).

Match 7:(Gohilwad gladiators vs kutch warriors). In this match Gohilwad gladiators batted first and scored a challenging total of 158/7(20). But kutch’s openers made the mockery of the chase and chased it without losing any wicket. They scored 161/0(15.1). Unadkat from kutch took 2 wickets and gave only 19 runs in 4 overs. And Rajdeep Darbar was MOM for his staggering 94*(50).

Match 8:( Sorath lions vs Halar heroes). In this match Halar batted first, and scored 161/6(20). With Arpit vasavada getting 58(44) for his team. Chetan sakariya took 3-38(4). While chasing, Sorath lost 8 wickets but won in the end , with two balls left. Sorath made 162/8(19.4) , with the help of Dharmendrasinh jadeja, who scored match winning 30(15).

Match 9:( Gohilwad gladiators vs Sorath lions). In this match Gohilwad batted first but managed only a mere 120/5(20), which is just 6 runs per over. Krishnakant Pathak top scored with 43(33) for his team. While chasing , Sorath went slowly but also kept losing wickets. Difficult bowling of parshwaraj Rana, who took 2 wickets and gave only 21 runs in 4 overs, had stopped Sorath for a while, but chirag jani remained unbeaten at 26 and took his team over the line. Sorath won by 6 wickets, by scoring 121/4(18.3). MOM was chirag jani, for his amazing Fielding, wicket of kishan Parmar and his unbeaten 26.

Match 10:( kutch warriors vs Zalawad Royals). In this match kutch batted first and scored at a trotting pace and that’s why they managed only 129/7(20). But Zalawad Royals too struggled a bit while chasing, but in the end with one ball to spare, Zalawad took the match by 5 wickets. They made 130/5(19.5), with Sheldon Jackson top scored 42(35) for Royals. MOM was jay chauhan, who took 2-18(4) against Kutch.

Now, since in the points table , Sorath lions and Zalawad Royals were the top two teams, so they had to compete in the final.

Final:( Sorath lions vs Zalawad Royals). In this match, Sorath batting first scored a good total of 158/8(20) with Himalaya barad top scoring 83(59). Devang karamta got 28-3(4) for his team , royals. When Zalawad came to bat, the top order scored well, with Jackson getting 47, pujara 30 and samarth vyas scoring a brilliant 51(33). But much amazing bowling from chetan sakariya stopped them from chasing the target and Zalawad managed 153/8(20), by giving the victory to Sorath lions by just 5 runs. Chetan sakariya got 27-3(4) for Sorath and MOM was Himalaya barad for his 83 against Zalawad.

Sorath won the league and lifted the trophy. Himalaya barad scored most runs ,216(6 matches) and chetan sakariya took most wickets, 12(6 matches). Man of the series was Chetan sakariya too, who bowled amazingly well for his team Sorath lions and helped it to lift up the trophy!…….