Brainy World win the inaugural CSL title after a pulsating final win

by Kaushal Shukla June 13, 2015

Brainy World were crowned the first ever Champions of Colaba after they edged out Kalakaar Indians 4-3 on penalties following on after goalless seventy minutes of play at a packed Cooperage Stadium on Friday, 12th June 2015.

The players received the perfect boost before kick-off when they were greeted by the legendary Ratan Tata who graced the event by his presence.

The game got off to a slow start with both teams trying their best to adapt to the Cooperage pitch, but the game jolted into action in the 7th minute when Brainy World struck the upright.

Despite Brainy World, getting close to finding the opener, they couldn’t build on the momentum and struggled to maintain any kind of pressure on the Kalakaar Indians backline.

But the best chance of the half fell to Brainy World’s Praful Bhoir who failed to make the most of it after he blasted his effort over the crossbar having received a perfect lay-off from Hemant Meher who did brilliantly to cut in on his right foot and create the opening.

The final was deadlocked at 0-0 at the interval with both teams unable to get into their regular rhythm.

The second half was a similar story to that of the first half, with neither team able to break the deadlock or get a foothold in the game.

As the game neared the full time whistle, the tension grew among the packed house of Cooperage. The anxiety was transferred to the players and the game got highly physical towards the end.

But the referee Rahul Gupta did a brilliant job in controlling the game and made sure the heated atmosphere did not spoil the occasion.

Rahul Gupta blew the full time whistle and send the game into a thrilling penalty shootout. Kalkaar Indians got off to the worst possible start when the missed the very first kick.

Brainy World, on the other hand had no problems dispatching their spot kicks which piled more pressure on Kalakaar Indians could only convert one of their first three kicks.

Brainy World were denied the win when the Kalakaar Indians goalkeeper Sagar Mistry made a brilliant save to keep Kalakaar Indians alive in the shootout.

But Brainy World kept their cool and scored their last kick to clinch the inaugural Colaba Super League title in breathtaking fashion.

After seven weeks of grueling football Brainy World prevailed to bask in glory. The men in yellow were the team to beat right throughout the tournament and were worthy winners and the rightful Champions of Colaba.

Naaz United’s deadly striker Karim Shaikh won the award for the Best Goal of the Tournament for his strike against Brainy World and was also adjudged the Player of the Tournament.

Other Major Award Winners are as follows
1. Laura (Hiraai Suns) – Best Women’s Player
2. Akash Rathod (Brainy World) – Most Promising Player
3. Tejas Rawat (Yash Warriors) – Top Goal Scorer
4. Prashant Pise (Kalakaar Indians) – U-19 Top Scorer
5. Hasmukh Baria (Kalakaar Indians) – Best Coach
6. Manish Bhoir (Brainy World) – Best Goalkeeper
7. Tejas Raut (Yash Warriors) – Best Defender
8. Valentine Pereira (Hiraai Suns) – Best Midfielder
9. Roger Sam (Kalakaar Indians) – Best Forward