IES VN Sule Guruji (Dadar) reduced Rizvi Springfield (Bandra) to 229-9 on Day Three of the four-day Giles Shield final to come within sniffing distance of their sixth title at the Cricket Club of India yesterday. The Dadar team's left-arm-spinner Dhruva Vedak's four for 82 proved crucial as Rizvi's chances of a comeback look bleak considering there's just a day left in the encounter.


Gotcha! Rizvi Springfield's (Bandra) Sidak Singh is run out on Day
Three of the inter-school Giles Shield final against IES VN Sule Guruji
(Dadar) at CCI yesterday. Pic/Suresh kk

The result looks set to be decided by virtue of the first innings lead. Rizvi will begin Day Four today with a deficit of 70 runs and just one wicket in hand. The fifth-wicket partnership of 69 runs (162 balls) between skipper Sidak Singh and Satyalaksh Jain was the only positive for the Bandra side that keptu00a0 losing wickets at regular intervals and were 84-4 at lunch yesterday. However, the game turned around as soon as the in-form Sidak (58) was run out by Atharva Chavan in the 73rd over.

Dhruva accounted for Rizvi opener Navneet Singh (29), Abrail Sayyed (10), Dipesh Melwani (1) and Piyush Dinanath (14). He was glad he could contribute to his team's plan of taking four Rizvi wickets before lunch.
"When our school team lifted the Giles Shield in 2008, I was not in the team.

But our coach Gopal (Koli) sir told us that we can repeat that feat here and I'm glad to see us do just that. Also, we lost to Rizvi in the Harris final, so what better revenge could we have than beating them here," said 12-year-old Dhruva, who is the highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 48 scalps to his name.

However, he warned:u00a0 "This match can still turn either ways though. We will wait for the final confirmation before celebrating." Rizvi skipper Sidak on the other hand, blamed his team's poor show on their casual attitude. "After we resumed play today at 37-0, everyone was overconfident that we will win this easily, and that eventually cost us the game. My wicket turned the match in their favor," said Sidak. This match too looks set for a classic finale, just like the recent Harrisu00a0 Shield final between the two schools that was decided in Rizvi's favour by virtue of a better quotient.