The opening day of the third edition of the Mumbai Indians Junior Inter-School Cricket Tournament saw enthralling action with Vibgyor High School, IES VN Sule, Sharadashram Vidyamandir and others registering victories in their respective league matches in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur on Wednesday.

The tournament -- MI Junior -- which is being held in association with Mumbai Cricket Association, Vidarbha Cricket Association and Maharashtra Cricket Association, will comprise of U-14 boys, U-16 boys and U-15 girls' categories and more than 2500 children from over 200 schools have signed up for the tournament across the three cities.

In an domination display of spin bowling, off-spinner Eshaan Sanghai shocked Saraswati Rabodi with a stunning 8-wicket haul to hand Vibgyor High School (Goregaon) a thumping seven-wicket victory in a Mumbai Indians Junior (Boys Under 14) league match at the Cross Maidan.

Eshaan’s 8 for 9 bundled out Saraswati for a measly 86 in 23 overs. In reply, Samarth Saraf (34 not out) led the chase for Vibgyor High in 12 overs, losing just three wickets in the process.

Elsewhere, Anirudh Nair’s unbeaten century (105 not out) guided IES VN Sule (Dadar) to a mammoth total of 403/7 in 34 overs against Chatrabhuj Narsee Memorial School (Vile Parle) in the Boys' U-16 category. Anshul Morje then starred with the ball, taking 4 wickets to restrict CNMS to a meagre 84 runs for a huge 319 win for IES VN Sule.

In a Girls' U-15 category match, Mugdha Ghodke (3/10) and Sarrathi Bhakare (4/5) took three and four wickets respectively against SVKM JV Parekh International School (36 all out in 13 overs), to give Sharadashram Vidyamandir a comfortable 10-wicket victory.

Utkarsh Singh's fifty ( 56) went in vain as All Saints High School (Bhiwandi, who were bowled out for 155 in 31.3 overs lost to Bombay Scottish (Mahim) 156/3 in 26.1 overs by 7 wickets in a Boy's U-14 match. Aarav Thaker (43), Athang Khanolkar (40) made vital runs for Bombay Scottish. 

Meanwhile, in a Boys Under-16 match, a brilliant fifty by Aarav Joshi (61 not out) led VK Krishna Menon Academy (Borivali) 102/3 in 19.3 overs to seven wicket win over Parag English School (Bhandup) 101 all out in 28.1 overs.

In a one-sided affair, Chatrabhuj Narsee Memorial School 66/9 (Advaita Torsakar 2-4, Sparkle Lopes 2-7, Maithilee Sakpal 2-11)  suffered a crushing 10-wicket loss against Columba School 67/0 in 6.1 overs (Nirmiti Yadav 30 not out, Aarya Wajge 23 not out) in a Girls U-15 match.

On the other hand, the U14 Boys league match saw Bombay Scottish (Mahim) 156/3 in 26.1 overs (Aarav Thaker 43, Athang Khanolkar 40*; Jay Wamane 2-41) beat All Saints High School (Bhiwandi) 155 all out in 31.3 overs (Utkarsh Singh 56; Vihaan Sheth 3-25) by 7 wickets.

Elsewhere, Navbharat English Medium High School (Bhiwandi) 73 all out in 29.1 overs lost to The Scholars English High School (Bhiwandi) 74/3 in 17.1 overs by seven wickets in an U-16 Boy's match.

In another Boys U-14 match, an impactful performance by Aarav Bhatia (52*) , Vyom Punjabi (27) led Chatrabhuj Narsee School (Kandivali) 147/2 in 23.1 overs to 8-wicket win over Amichand International School (Matunga) 146 all out in 38 overs (Dhruv Rajawat 43, Mannat Joshi 34; Rajeev Dubey 5-28).

Despite the handy contributions from Karan Singh (25), Aditya Mistry (22) ; Shlok Vichare (4-25),Utkarsh Zore (3-18), St. Xaviers High School (Mira Road) couldn't avoid defeat against Oxford Public School (Kandivali), who chase the target of 110/0 quite comfortably in 7 overs with Kesar Upadhyay (51), Bhavishya Gaikwad (44) playing crucial knocks in an U-16 boys match.

In a low scoring Boys' U-14 match, riding on crucial knocks from Rajvardhan Jadhav 34 not out and Aryan Jadhav (28) IES High School (Navi Mumbai) chased the target comfortably, scoring 87/2 to beat B.A.K. Swadhay Bhavan (Matunga) by 8 wickets. 

An U-16 Boy' match also witnessed low-scoring affair as Arjun Jaiswal (37), Aryan Sethi (30*) helped St. Stanislaus High School (Bandra) chased down the target (92/1 in 6.5 overs) easily against SIWS High School (Wadala).