Another Convincing Victory
After the gut wrenching loss to StarsCC a couple of weeks ago, a lot of soul searching was done that week. The entire team was disappointed with that performance. The result was a record attendance of 14 people for the next practice session, on a Long Weekend no less. The practice session was quite intensive as there seemed an added edge to every body's efforts that day. This boded well for our Final Match of the First Round.
SatCC was facing Bay Tigers, the team that handed them an embarassing defeat in the Finals of the TCA Open tournament last week. Although the defeat still rankles, that was then... this is now.
Our team has changed quite a bit from then. A lot of our stalwarts from past seasons have moved on and we have had to add quite a few new faces this year. This team is still getting to know each other better, but the new guys have quickly started to gel in and also impress all with their performances. So this game was really not about revenge, it was about us trying to beat a good team and gain some momentum for the next rounds.
SatCC won the toss and elected to field. Abhay and Shantanu started the proceedings and were bang on from the second ball on (the first was a No Ball). Both of them bowled a tight line and tied up the batsmen. The infield was alert and runs were dried up. The result was a wild heave from the opening batsman and an easy catch for Viral of Abhay's bowling. By the time Shantanu finished his spell, Bay Tigers had managed only 18 in 8 overs. Even their best batsmen, Avinash was not able to move the score card fast enough. The good work done by these 2 was more than ably supported by the rest of the bowlers.At the break the score was 20 for 1.
Hardik and Mayank tightened the noose further after the break and the opposition batsmen tried to hit their way out of trouble, but to no avail. Wickets kept tumbling and soon the Bay Tigers innings had folded for 42. Shantanu effected a couple of run outs to help the team cause.
Hardik was the most impressive bowler and ended up with 3 wickets. Mayank and Madan also bowled useful spells. The two deliveries of the innings were 2 Yorkers that rattled the timber. One was bowled by Hardik, the other by Abhay.
43 was always going to be an easy target and SatCC eased to victory in 13 overs. Viral looked in wonderful touch and ended up scoring 20. Some of his pulls and flicks were real beauties. He has shown good form this tournament and we need him to keep up the good work at the top of the order.
The victory was tempered a bit by an unfortunate incident during the game and there was not much celebrating. Sanjeev Kumar Das, one of the Bay Tigers team member, suffered from chest pains during our innings and had to be rushed to the hospital. Some of our team members rushed Sanjeev to the hospital (Kedar B, Karthik and Vishal) even as the game was progressing. It was learnt later that this was just in the nick of time. Sanjeev did suffer from a heart attack but we have been informed by Bay Tigers that he is out of danger right now and doing well. All of us here wish him a very speedy recovery and return to good health very soon. And Kudos to our own 911 team (Kedar B, Karthik and Vishal). Awesome Guys!!! You make us proud.
Some words about the opposition team. Bay Tigers is comprised of very good cricketers who have proved themselves by winning the Open tournament last year. But their whole demeanour, the way they carry themselves, their friendly attitude with the opposition team is quite exemplary. The fact that their minds must have been on their ailing teammate during the game will most surely have affected their concentration and performance, but there was no mention of that as an excuse, and they were very gracious in defeat.
Avinash (their captain) send a Thanks to our team members who were very supportive of Sanjeev and also congratulations on our win. Quite the champion, I dare say.
And so we move on to the next round. And here's hoping our performance yesterday is a sign of things to come.
Cheers
Madan
SatCC was facing Bay Tigers, the team that handed them an embarassing defeat in the Finals of the TCA Open tournament last week. Although the defeat still rankles, that was then... this is now.
Our team has changed quite a bit from then. A lot of our stalwarts from past seasons have moved on and we have had to add quite a few new faces this year. This team is still getting to know each other better, but the new guys have quickly started to gel in and also impress all with their performances. So this game was really not about revenge, it was about us trying to beat a good team and gain some momentum for the next rounds.
SatCC won the toss and elected to field. Abhay and Shantanu started the proceedings and were bang on from the second ball on (the first was a No Ball). Both of them bowled a tight line and tied up the batsmen. The infield was alert and runs were dried up. The result was a wild heave from the opening batsman and an easy catch for Viral of Abhay's bowling. By the time Shantanu finished his spell, Bay Tigers had managed only 18 in 8 overs. Even their best batsmen, Avinash was not able to move the score card fast enough. The good work done by these 2 was more than ably supported by the rest of the bowlers.At the break the score was 20 for 1.
Hardik and Mayank tightened the noose further after the break and the opposition batsmen tried to hit their way out of trouble, but to no avail. Wickets kept tumbling and soon the Bay Tigers innings had folded for 42. Shantanu effected a couple of run outs to help the team cause.
Hardik was the most impressive bowler and ended up with 3 wickets. Mayank and Madan also bowled useful spells. The two deliveries of the innings were 2 Yorkers that rattled the timber. One was bowled by Hardik, the other by Abhay.
43 was always going to be an easy target and SatCC eased to victory in 13 overs. Viral looked in wonderful touch and ended up scoring 20. Some of his pulls and flicks were real beauties. He has shown good form this tournament and we need him to keep up the good work at the top of the order.
The victory was tempered a bit by an unfortunate incident during the game and there was not much celebrating. Sanjeev Kumar Das, one of the Bay Tigers team member, suffered from chest pains during our innings and had to be rushed to the hospital. Some of our team members rushed Sanjeev to the hospital (Kedar B, Karthik and Vishal) even as the game was progressing. It was learnt later that this was just in the nick of time. Sanjeev did suffer from a heart attack but we have been informed by Bay Tigers that he is out of danger right now and doing well. All of us here wish him a very speedy recovery and return to good health very soon. And Kudos to our own 911 team (Kedar B, Karthik and Vishal). Awesome Guys!!! You make us proud.
Some words about the opposition team. Bay Tigers is comprised of very good cricketers who have proved themselves by winning the Open tournament last year. But their whole demeanour, the way they carry themselves, their friendly attitude with the opposition team is quite exemplary. The fact that their minds must have been on their ailing teammate during the game will most surely have affected their concentration and performance, but there was no mention of that as an excuse, and they were very gracious in defeat.
Avinash (their captain) send a Thanks to our team members who were very supportive of Sanjeev and also congratulations on our win. Quite the champion, I dare say.
And so we move on to the next round. And here's hoping our performance yesterday is a sign of things to come.
Cheers
Madan
posted by Anonymous at
8:21 AM
1 Comments:
No mention of the beauty bowled by Madan to get rid of Avinash. Length ball that cut in to bowl Avinash who clearly was their best batsman.
Sanjeev's ailment does put things in perspective. Hopefully, he recovers well and is as good as new.
Bay Tigers is definitely a team that did not show any hubris when they were winning last year. And they were more than graceful losers this time.
Finally, Madan, very nice report. Lets keep this even keeled approach and take every game as it comes.
By
Abhay Kulkarni, at 9:33 AM
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