The 2019 edition of Mumbai Polo Season is in action at the Mahalaxmi Race Course. The first tournament of the 2019 Mumbai Polo Season, Silver Stick Tournament, winded up with Carysil/Mumbai Polo lifting the cup. The second tournament of the season, The Aditya Memorial Birla Polo Cup kicked off on 11th March 2019 and witnessed an interesting battle between Carysil/Mumbai Polo and Piramal Polo.
DAY 1
Carysil/Mumbai Polo played with the likes of Abhimanyu Pathak (+5), Siddhant Sharma (+4), Shyam Mehta (0) and Chirag Parekh (-1)/ Rohan Sundesha (-1) while the Piramal Polo team stepped on the field with Dhruvpal Godara (+5), Gonzalo Yanzon (+4), Harsh Piramal (0) and Nimit Mehta (-1) on their side. The match kicked off as soon as the umpires, Jason Dixon and Simran Singh Shergill, blew the whistle for the match to start. The first chukker saw Dhruvpal Godara and Abhimanyu Pathak involved in an intense hustle which was won by Dhruvpal Godara as he scored a fantastic goal to open the scoring for the chukker. Shyam Mehta quickly responded to the threat and score the first goal for Carysil/Mumbai Polo and levelled the scores. Dhruvpal Godara, carrying forward the attack line for Piramal Polo, scored one more goal to wind up the first chukker with a lead of 2-1.
The second chukker witnessed a total of 7 goals scored. Siddhant Sharma and Abhimanyu Pathak handled the defence line of Piramal Polo quite nicely and scored a total of 3 goals in the chukker. Dhruvpal Godara scored two goals for Piramal Polo in the chukker while Gonzalo Yanzon and Nimit Mehta scored a goal each to end the chukker. Piramal Polo was leading by 6-4 after the second chukker. The match was quite intense and was a no winner throughout and the third chukker increased the intensity of the match. Dhruvpal Godara scored the only goal of Piramal Polo in the chukker while Siddhant Sharma and Abhimanyu Pathak scored a goal each for Carysil/Mumbai Polo in the chukker. The chukker winded up at 7 – 6 with Piramal Polo in the lead.
The early minutes of the last chukker saw Carysil/Mumbai Polo trying to decrease the imbalance on the scoreboard as Siddhant Sharma scored a goal for the team. Dhruvpal Godara was there to handle the attacking play for Piramal Polo as he scored two goals for the team in the last chukker. Shyam Mehta, keeping the intensity of the match intact, scored a goal for Carysil/Mumbai Polo. Team Carysil/Mumbai Polo lost the match as Gonzalo Yanzon scored a goal to end the match at 10-8 in favor of Piramal Polo.
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The third-day proceedings began with the strong team of Cavalry/ Krishna Polo taking on the Strikers, who had a 2.5 point handicap advantage. With India’s most elite polo duo, Col Ravi Rathore and Lt Col Vishal Chauhan, on their side Cavalry/ Krishna Polo kicked off the match up with Rathore blazing off a trio of goals in quick succession. Strikers’ Lt Col A Samantray retaliated with a single goal of his own to conclude the chukker at 3-1. However, Strikers’ offense was completely shut down in the successive round by a stellar defensive display by their opponents who extended their lead by 2 more goals. Ravi Rathore, scoring 5 times in the first half, was on an absolute tear in the second half. He ended up scoring thrice in the third chukker while Maj RK Gautam was also able to register his match’s first goal in the chukker. Cavalry/Krishna Polo, leading with 8-2 going into the final chukker, had a firm grasp over the game at this point and only got progressively better as an offensive unit in the concluding 7 minutes of the game. Rathore scored his 9th while Dfr Iliyash Ali also managed to chip in two goals. Col JS Shekhwat scored once but in vain as Cavalry/Krishna Polo already had a firm grip over a commanding lead and they were able to close the show at 11-5.5.
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In what appeared to be an evenly contested match at least on paper, the game quickly turned into a one-sided, dominant outing for Bake House Cafe. Suppressing the offense generated by Sharma and Godara, Basheer Ali and Gaurav Sehgal blasted off one goal each in the opening chukker of the game to gain a 2-0 lead going into the second chukker. Dhruvpal Godara retaliated with 1 goal in the second chukker to chip Bake House Cafe’s 2-goal lead to a single 2-1 lead.
The latter half of the game saw Basheer and Sehgal kicking it up a notch. Keeping Piramal quiet in the 3rd chukker, Gaurav Sehgal was able to score 3 goals to extend his team’s lead 5-1. The concluding chukker saw Sehgal scoring once more while his teammate Basheer Ali was successful in registering 2 goals. Harsh Piramal and Godara both scored once but only to reduce the deficit as the victory was already sealed by the combined efforts of Ali and Sharma. Bake House Cafe commanded the lead throughout the encounter and won the 8-3 encounter in a spectacular fashion.
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Bake House Cafe lifted the cup by defeating Cavalry/Krishna Polo 6-5.
The combined might of Basheer Ali and Gaurav Sehgal ultimately overwhelmed Col. Ravi Rathore’s spectacular 4 goal performance. Both of them ended up scoring thrice and Bake House Cafe’s 6 goals were just a little out of reach for Rathore’s Cavalry/Krishna Polo. Outside of Rathore, Ashwini Sharma was also able to turn in a single goal for his team but it wasn’t enough.
