The Men In Blue won the inaugural JCL T10 tournament beating the Tokyo Rangers in the final. After previously claiming the JCL Division Two and Three titles, this was Men in Blue’s biggest trophy yet.

The JCL T10 tournament featured eight teams who played each other once in a Round-Robin format. Following the completion of the group stage, six teams; Men in Blue, Tokyo Rangers, Tokyo Falcons, Kawasaki Knight Riders, Tokyo Titans, and the Tigers competed on finals day with the opportunity to win it all. 

Kawasaki Knight Riders and Tokyo Falcons finished 1st and 2nd respectively,so had the automatic qualification to the semi-finals, whereas teams three to six had to compete in a Quarter-Final stage.

In the Semi-Finals, the Men in Blue put on a big first innings target of 146 to beat the Tokyo Falcons. Men in Blue’s Ankit Panwar scored a not-out 87* off 29 balls as they defended their total in the second innings winning by 33 runs. 

In the other game, the number six-seeded team Tokyo Rangers overcame the front-runners Kawasaki Knight Riders in a tight battle. Tokyo Rangers won marginally by five runs after batting first and defending 109.

It was a tough blow for the Knight Riders, who had started the tournament so well with Shubham Shukla smashing a 30-ball century in the very first match, while Vinay Iyer had also excelled to finish as second highest run-scorer and wicket-taker.

The Rangers had got the better of Men In Blue in the group stage, but it was a different narrative in the Final. With the Men in Blue batting first, Semi-Final Star Ankit Panwar fired things off with 24 off just seven balls, to finish as the leading run-scorer for the competition. He was followed by Abhipray Dewan who also smacked the ball around the ground to score a quickfire 39 to get his team to 113 for six after 10.

In the second innings, Rangers’ Md Ibrahim Bakul Robin got his side off to a great start scoring 29 off 12, but the Men in Blue bowling proved too good for the rest of his side.

All six bowlers claimed a wicket in the defence, but it was Vishal Patel who stood out, taking three for eight of his two overs. Patel’s performance claimed the game’s MVP, took him to the top of the tournament wicket-takers list, but most importantly, helped the Men In Blue win the inaugural JCL T10 by 32 runs, sparking huge celebrations.