Mumbai, April 22: Mumbai Ranji Trophy cricketers Siddhesh Lad, Shardul Thakur, and Shams Mulani shined in the MCA Awards function at St. Regis Hotel here on Wednesday.
Top honours for Lad, Thakur, Mulani
Lad won awards for the most number of runs in the Ranji Trophy 2025-26, and he also received the Best Senior Cricketer of the 2025-26 season. Lad had scored 774 runs in eight matches and hit a record five centuries. Akash Anand won the award for the fastest century for Mumbai in the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season.
Shardul Thakur was feted for his excellence in the 2024-25 season with the Best Cricketer award. Mulani won awards for taking the highest number of wickets in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 and also the fastest century in the same season.
Felicitations for World Cup winners
MCA felicitated skipper Ayush Mhatre and Abhigyan Kundu for being part of the Under-19 Men’s World Cup-winning team. India T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube from the Men’s T20 World Cup-winning side were also felicitated. Jemimah Rodrigues, Amol Muzumdar, and Aavishkar Salvi from the Women’s World Cup-winning contingent, and Sanika Chalke from the Under-19 Women’s World Cup-winning squad were also recognised.
Sharad Pawar scholarships
Naman Pushpak, Neeraj Dhumal, Shaurya Rai, Sanmaya Upadhyay, Ira Jadhav, and Yayati Gawad received the Sharad Pawar Scholarship 2024-25. For the 2025-26 scholarships — Shreyas Khilare, Rajveer Lad, Vedant Gore, Vansh Chumbale, Siddhi Kamte, Ritika Yadav, Unnati Patil, and Mudra Khedekar were the recipients.
Deepesh Nirupam received an award for valuable contribution towards the upgradation of maidan facilities.
Awards across categories
Ira Jadhav also won the award for Best Junior Cricketer in the women’s category. Shane Raza emerged Best Under-14 cricketer. Advait and Tanish Shetty won U-16 awards for the season 2024-25. Hrishikesh Gore won the U-19 award. Naman Pushpak also won awards, and Kundu was declared Best Junior Cricketer 2024-25. The Best Senior Women Cricketer award went to Vrushali Bhagat. Ayush Vartak won the U-23 award.
For the season 2025-26, Samaya Upadhyay won Best Junior Women Cricketer. Shreyas Khilare (U-14), Ayush Shete, and Karthik Kumar (twice) also won U-16 awards. The Best U-19 fast bowlers were Vedant Bane and Sarthak Bhide. Harsh Aghav emerged Best Cricketer in U-19 boys. Best Senior Woman Cricketer 2025-26 went to Sayali Satghare. Suryansh Shedge won U-23 Cricketer of the Season.
Veterans laud MCA efforts
Former India cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar credited MCA for receiving the 'Best Cricket Association' award from BCCI for the last three years.
"Mumbai has a rich history and produced many international cricketers. MCA is building on the legacy and the future is bright. Harris Shield and Giles Shield are structured school tournaments and a similar structure is possible in inter-collegiate cricket," he said.
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Former India skipper and legendary Test cricketer Sunil Gavaskar was also felicitated on the occasion. Diana Edulji, Ashish Shelar, and Aditi Tatkare, along with MCA President Ajinkya Naik and other officials, were also present.
Rajeev Kulkarni, former India player and Guest of Honour at the MCA awards, praised the current officials for the initiative. "Felicitating former players and MCA officials is a great initiative," Kulkarni said.
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