Rudransh Shah stands tall in ACS(I)’s C Division cricket win

SINGAPORE – Standing at 1.82m, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) student Rudransh Shah was a towering figure at the National School Games C Division cricket final on July 26.

With his starring performance, the Secondary 2 student stood head and shoulders above the rest too, as his school clinched their seventh straight C Division title.

Smashing 35 of his team’s 93 runs in 10 overs, the batter helped ACS(I) defeat Raffles Institution (RI) by 32 runs at the Singapore Cricket Club’s Dempsey Field.

ACS(I) had won the toss and elected to bat first, conceding four wickets to RI.

In the second innings, RI fell way short of their opponents’ tally, recording 61 runs in 10 overs and losing three wickets.

Rudransh said: “I think this was pretty much expected. We all played extremely well. Of course, we put in a lot of effort. There’s been at least six months of hard work from everyone.”

The 14-year-old was introduced to the sport when he was only four to five years old, as his father felt that cricket would suit his physique, with his height giving him an advantage in terms of pace and strength.

Rudransh, who was also part of the ACS(I) team who won in 2023, said: “It feels amazing. Most of my friends from last year are still playing this year. I think it’s really fun, really amazing.”

ACS(I) captain Dhavesh Raj Dinesh Kumar, 14, said Rudransh had played well throughout the tournament.

The Sec 2 student, who scored 16 runs himself, said: “All the boys worked hard for this, they put in a lot of effort during training sessions and all, we all tried our best to give our best in front of everybody.”

With the win, ACS(I) clinched their fourth clean sweep of all three divisions, with the first coming in 2016.

Together with his teammates who are moving to the B Division next season, they have set their sights on retaining the title that their seniors regained on April 25, having lost to RI in 2023.

That defeat did not affect coach Sarika Siva Prasad, who is in charge of all three ACS(I) cricket teams.

The 65-year-old, who started coaching the school’s teams in 1998, said: “Our focus and mindset is tuned to only the present, we cannot rely on or get upset about the past.”

There was also a fresh challenge this season, with the C Division switching to the shorter T10 format, which has a maximum of 10 overs in each innings, down from the previous 20 overs.

Prasad said: “We didn’t know whether to just go at it or just play down a bit and then start attacking. But in training we developed such a nucleus of a team that we could start playing positively right from the beginning.”

Despite the defeat, RI team captain Yuvraj Arora, 14, remained proud of his side.

The Sec 2 student said: “Although we lost, I’m very happy with how the boys played. I think we fought very well with the batting. There were a few mistakes we made in the first innings, but we will work on them and come back stronger next year.”