Singapore, 14 February 2020—The lawyers won the Duane Morris & Selvam Capital Markets Cup in a last ball thriller in this year’s charity cricket match held on 25 January 2020 at the Somaiya Cricket Ground, Mumbai.

This year’s match saw representatives from Edelweiss, ICICI Securities, IIFLCAP, Morgan Stanley, SBI Capital Markets and Yes Securities take on lawyers from Duane Morris & Selvam, Crawford Bayley, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Desai & Diwanji, Economic Laws Practice, IndusLaw, J. Sagar & Associates, Khaitan & Co. and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas.

Jamie Benson (Duane Morris & Selvam) won the toss and elected to bat. Harshit Talesara (IIFLCAP) and Arjun Mehrotra (ICICI Securities) opened the bowling and Ankit Paleja (Crawford Bayley) and Abhimanyu Pal (Khaitan & Co.) opened the batting. The lawyers got off to a very good start and were 29 runs for the loss of no wicket off three overs. In the fourth over, Paleja chased a wide ball from Mehrotra and got an edge that was well caught by the keeper, Satyam Singhal (Morgan Stanley). Next in was Vijay Parthasarathi (Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas), who has been consistently excellent in these matches. Pal and Parthasarathi pushed the scoring along and the lawyers were 71 runs for the loss of one wicket after nine overs. Gaurav Sood (ICICI Securities) was brought on to bowl the 10th over and he took the wicket of Parthasarathi, having him stumped by Singhal for 32 runs off 20 balls. After a great start by Sood, things did not go all his way in his second over, with Pal launching a six over mid-off and out of the ground. Pal continued his onslaught in the next over hitting Sachin Wagle (Morgan Stanley) out of the ground over mid-off for a six. Pal compulsorily retired soon thereafter after bringing up his 50 off 42 balls. Sood took the next two wickets to fall, having Bishen Jeswant (Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas) sensationally stumped by Singhal for 15 runs and Rabindra Jhunjhunwala (Khaitan & Co.) caught by Sundareswaran S. (Morgan Stanley) for one run. Amit Manubarwala (Economic Laws Practice) was next in and he batted very well to push the run rate up, including a six over mid-wicket off the last ball of Sood’s spell. Sood finished with the impressive figures of three wickets for 35 runs off five overs. Manubarwala continued to punish the bowling, hitting Talesara for a six over mid-off despite Javeed Siddiqui’s (ICICI Securities) valiant effort to throw the ball back inside the rope after catching it just inside the rope. Shadab Jain (Crawford Bayley) was out for 18 after he was caught by Singhal off the bowling of Mehrotra. Next ball, Mehrotra clean bowled Anand Verma (IndusLaw), which put him on a hat-trick. Mehrotra did not get a hat-trick after he pushed the ball down the leg side for a wide. Mehrotra was unlucky to see the last ball of his spell dropped at deep mid-wicket and then go for four runs. He ended up with three wickets for 43 runs off four overs. Siddiqui continued his accurate bowling in the last over and ended up with no wickets for 25 runs off five overs. Benson was run out on the last ball of theb innings and the lawyers finished on 186 runs for seven wickets off 22 overs. Manubarwala was unbeaten on 31 runs off only 17 balls.

The bankers got off to a slow start, with only six runs off the first two overs. The bankers started to accelerate in the third over, with Himanshu Aggarwal (Edelweiss) hitting a cover drive for six runs off Jhunjhunwala. Jain was running in hard and bowling with real pace and his efforts were rewarded when he found a way through Ronak Shah’s (Yes Securities) defences, clean bowling him in the fourth over. This brought Wagle to the crease. Aggarwal continued to bat aggressively, hitting another six on his way to 31 runs before he was somewhat unluckily bowled after a short ball from Jain hit his body before ricocheting on to his stumps.

The big hitting Siddiqui was next man in and his arrival saw the run rate increase dramatically. He hit three sixes in his first nine balls, including two in over off the bowling of Parthasarathi. Wagle had missed the last few games but he showed what the bankers had been missing, hitting some well-timed cut shots and an effortless six over backward square leg. Wagle and Siddiqui threatened to take the game away from the lawyers, taking the score to 119 runs before Sanjay Israni (Desai & Diwanji) got a ball on target and bowled Wagle for 31 runs. Mehrotra was next in and he sensibly took the singles to give Siddiqui as much as the strike as possible. Siddiqui looked unstoppable, at one stage hitting three balls in a row for four runs, and the lawyers were relieved to see him compulsorily retire on 50 runs off only 23 balls. His retirement brought Satyam Singhal (Morgan Stanley) to the crease. Some good accurate bowling from Jeswant (four overs for 21) and Benson (two overs for 14) brought the bankers run rate down. However, with four overs to go, the game looked as good as lost for the lawyers, with the bankers needing 23 runs to win with five wickets in hand. Two tight overs for the loss of no wickets meant that the bankers needed 15 runs to win off two overs.

The introduction of Manubarwala in the second last over was the key moment in the contest. After conceding four runs off his first ball, Manubarwala’s next five balls produced three wickets, all bowled, and only one run! This left the bankers needing 10 runs to win off the last over with two wickets in hand.

Pal, having bowled his first two over for 12 runs and taking a wicket, was entrusted with bowling the last over. A four down to third man by Talesara off the first ball swung the match back in favour of the bankers. Talesara scored a single off the second ball, bringing Sood on strike. Sood missed the third ball outside of off stump but the batsman scampered through for one bye after Jhunjhunwala narrowly missed the run out attempt. Off the fourth ball, Jhunjhunwala caught Talesara off a top edge. The batsmen crossed, putting Sood on strike and the in-form Siddiqui at the other end, having come back in at the fall of ninth wicket. Sood missed the fifth ball but Jhunjhunwala fumbled the ball, which allowed Siddiqui to run a bye and get to face the last ball. The match came down to the last ball, with the bankers needing three runs to win. The man of the match award also came down to the last ball – if Pal could contain Siddiqui to one run he would surely win the award and if Siddiqui hit the winning runs he would surely win it. Pal bowled a very low full toss on off stump and Siddiqui only managed to hit a single, giving the lawyers an exciting win!

Pal was named man of the match for his 50 runs retired and his two wickets for 18 runs off three overs.

The lawyers have now won six matches compared to three wins for the bankers.

The match raised more than Rs. 325,000 for Bal Asha Trust, a charitable organization that helps abandoned and marginalized children in Mumbai. Duane Morris & Selvam donated Rs. 110,000, Crawford Bayley donated Rs. 100,000, Khaitan & Co donated Rs. 75,000 and numerous players made generous donations, including Rs. 25,000 from Sachin Wagle of Morgan Stanley.

The match was the initiative of Jamie Benson of Duane Morris & Selvam. Benson is based in Singapore and is head of Duane Morris & Selvam’s India practice and U.S. capital markets practice. Commenting on the match, Benson, who captained the lawyers’ team, said:

“That was the most exciting cricket match I have played in in a very long time. We looked down and out with four overs to go but we hung in there and ended up winning. Commiserations to the bankers as they played very well. I am already looking forward to next year’s match.” 

Lawyers: 186 runs for 7 off 22 overs (Pal 51 retired, Parthasarathi 32, Manubarwala 31 not out; Sood 3 wickets for 35 runs off 5 overs, Mehrotra 3 wickets for 43 runs off 4 overs, Siddiqui no wicket for 25 runs off 5 overs) beat Bankers: 185 runs for 9 off 22 overs (Siddiqui 50 not out, Aggarwal 31, Wagle 31; Manubarwala 3 wickets for 5 runs off 1 over, Pal 2 wickets for 18 runs off 3 overs, Jain 2 wickets for 39 runs off 4 overs, Israni 1 wicket for 29 runs off 2 overs).

Bankers’ team (not in order): Javeed Siddiqui (c) (ICICI Securities); Sachin Wagle (Morgan Stanley); Satyam Singhal (Morgan Stanley); Ronak Shah (Yes Securities); Himanshu Aggarwal (Edelweiss); Gaurav Sood (ICICI Securities); Sundareswaran S. (Morgan Stanley); Harshit Talesara (IIFLCAP); Kanush Agrawal (Morgan Stanley); Karan Savardekar (SBI Capital Markets); and Aditya Agarwal (IIFLCAP).

Lawyers’ team (not in order): Jamie Benson (c) (Duane Morris & Selvam); Rabindra Jhunjhunwala (Khaitan & Co.); Narayan Kedia (Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas); Anand Verma (IndusLaw); Sanjay Israni (Desai Diwanji); Siddhartha Desai (J. Sagar & Associates); Ankit Paleja (Crawford Bayley); Shadab Jain (Crawford Bayley); Amit Manubarwala (Economic Laws Practice); Vijay Parthasarathi (Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas); Bishen Jeswant (Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas); and Abhimanyu Pal (Khaitan & Co.)

For more details, please contact Jamie Benson at jbenson@duanemorrisselvam.com or +65 6311 3660.

About Duane Morris & Selvam LLP

Duane Morris & Selvam LLP is the joint law venture consisting of international law firm Duane Morris LLP and Singapore-based Selvam LLC, with headquarters in Singapore. It serves clients throughout Asia, as well as companies based in the Americas and Europe that are conducting business in Asia and Asian entities and individuals doing business in the Americas and the United Kingdom.