The CouchExpert

IDM Cricketers’ openers Swayam and Melvin began solidly in pursuit of 142. Vikas generated good lift with the new ball, but the batsmen were content to see him through with minimal risks taken against him. They seemed to have a game plan to not lose wickets up early so as to launch an attack later. The openers found easy runs against Aniket and therefore were content to keeping things simple against the more consistent Vikas and left-arm spin of Aseem.

Full scorecard of the match can be found hereFull match report along with individual reports can be downloaded from here
Performer of the Match: Melvin – MVP points 24.68 (Batting: 13.18 Fielding: 2 Bowling: 9.5)Post-match presentation:

 

Full scorecard of the match can be found here

Full match report along with individual reports can be downloaded from here

Performer of the Match: Rajnikanth – MVP points 33.45 (Batting: 18.45 Fielding: 15)

Post-match presentation:

The post match ceremony video is inverted. You can watch it here.

Match 18: CECC vs ACT

11^th August 2013 (11 am – 2 pm)

CECC won the toss and elected to bat

In the closer of the two groups, Group B, both CECC and ACT came into this game with a realistic chance of being the group toppers at the end of the league phase. In that context, this would be a crucial game for both teams to win.

CECC got off to a rousing start with the openers Harsha and Goutham getting stuck into ACT’s new ball bowling. Both of them found it easy against Bhavesh and Benjamin, both of whom were slightly erratic with lengths, lines and extras. The openers ticked off the loose stuff and seemed content otherwise to keep the good ones out. With more loose stuff on offer than good ones, fifty was raised within the first 5 overs.

Sharath then changed the gameplan by taking the pace off the ball completely as he brought in the off-spin of Ajay at one end and Rohit at the other. Harsha who was in prime touch was castled by Ajay in the 6^th over and it set about a sequence of events that was dramatic to detail.

Batsman after batsman tried to bat at the same tempo of the powerplay and were done in by the simple plan executed by Ajay to great effect: keeping the ball outside off. Soon he had batsmen groping for timing and had batsmen caught everytime they looked to go after him. He was even cunning to turn some and skid some, a sequence of two balls that accounted for Gautam Rajagopalan, his fourth scalp and third in the eighth over of the innings. With that the innings was clearly detailed and CECC was now a train without its engine heading for definite crash,

Ajay came back to take out the other opener Goutham in the 10^th over of the innings followed by Gokul to pick up his fifth and sixth innings just to make sure that his signature would be written all over this innings. CECC’s innings came to a crashing halt in 14 overs as they lost all 10 wickets across a span of 26 runs in just under 9 overs.

Having reduced CECC to a paltry 80, ACT came out swinging in a bid to enhance its NRR. CECC went on the offensive with aggressive field placement in an effort to induce some chaos – their only chance of winning the game – and for a bit, it seemed to work as Vinay holed out to mid-off and Sharath to short cover.

Bharath stepped in to play a capital innings, a flurry of boundaries off his blade scorched the uneven patches of green on the CECG outfield, but he made sure he sent any close-in fielders scurrying for cover. The flurry turned to a torrent as he drowned CECC quickly in his majestic onside play. The death came quickly for CECC in just the 9^th over of the innings as Bharath ended the game with a six over long on.

Brief Scores: CECC 80 all out in 14 overs (Harsha 29 (20b, 5X4), Goutham (20 (22b, 2X4), Ajay N 6/13, Shithu 2/1) to ACT 86/2 in 8.4 overs (Bharath 49 not out (28b, 10X4, 1X6), Deepak 25 not out (17b, 6X4), Goutham 1/18, Gaurav 1/19) by 9 wickets

Full scorecard of the match can be found here

Full match report along with individual reports can be downloaded from here

Performer of the Match: Ajay N – MVP Points – 37.68 points

Post-match presentation:

Match 19: CECC vs NSN

CECC were playing back-to-back games and coming off the resounding defeat against ACT, they needed a win against table toppers NSN to stand a chance of topping the table. Again, CECC on winning the toss chose to bat first.

Like in the earlier game, the openers Goutham and Harsha started brightly against Lalmani and captain Ganga, both of whom were guilty of pitching it too full and offering runs square of the wicket on either side. Harsha feasted on such offerings being very severe on Lalmani in particular in the powerplay as his 2 overs went for 30. Ganga settled on a line outside off stump with gentle outswingers only to lose the plot in his second over drifting to the legs of the CECC openers who didn’t need a second invitation to cash in on them.

Fifty was raised in the fourth over this time and by the end of the powerplay NSN were taken for 71. The openers slowed down a little to consolidate as they milked the NSN bowling over the next 4 overs as they brought up a hundred partnership in 10 overs and stepped on the gas again.

The introduction of Avinash in the 12^th over proved to be a double-edged sword as he was taken for 17 runs but also accounted for the wicket of Goutham who hit a short ball straight to the hands of the waiting point fielder.

And unlike the earlier game, there was no collapse as the middle order capitalized on the start to keep going at 10 an over as Harsha orchestrated a tremendous innings which was cut short on the stroke of the 15^th over with Harsha primed for hundred of his own.

The skies opened at the beginning of the 18^th over to cut short a blazing little partnership between Jobin and Gautam R. What looked like a passing shower turned to sharp shower stopping the game for a good hour.

The shower resulted in NSN being set a target of 131 in 11 overs as per the Duckworth/Lewis rule. NSN took 10 off the first over before rain intervened again. When the game resumed, NSN were now set a revised target of 108 in 9 overs. They lost Prakhar looking to get after the bowling as he skied a high catch that when it came down to Sameer’s hands seemed to bring rain also with it.

Soon the rains returned in the 4^th over never to abate in time to finish the game and both teams were awarded a point each.

Brief Scores: CECC 174/3 in 17.1 overs (Harsha 78 (44b, 14X4), Goutham 44 (33b, 5X4), Avinash 1/16) vs NSN 24/1 in 3.1 overs chasing 108 in 9 overs (Ankit 10 not out (8b, 1X4), Goutham 1/5). Match abandoned.

Full scorecard of the match can be found here

Full match report along with individual reports can be downloaded from here

Performer of the Match: Harsha (MVP points – 20.28)

Post-match presentation:

Match 20: ACT vs THBS

15^th August 2013 (7:30 am – 10:30 am)

With CECC splitting points with NSN, ACT’s chances of finishing on top now lay in the permutation of winning their remaining games and hoping that NSN would lose their last league game. ACT won the toss and elected to bat against THBS who were coming off a resounding win themselves.

Vinay and Sharath were cautious in their approach as they avoided taking any untoward risk initially as THBS kept it tight as they have been through the tournament. Slowly, Sharath branched out to play some strokes as the score went past 50 and but the run rate still hovering just under run a ball.

THBS struck with the wickets of the openers within 13 runs of each other and Bharath chimed in to take control of the center stage. As has been the case the previous two games, he restored pace into the innings with his belligerent strokeplay. He flicked sixes with ease and swatted flicks to the legside boundary with disdain.

He controlled the pace of the innings and scored runs aplenty in the back end of the innings as ACT rattled over 80 runs in the last 9 overs of the innings. Bharath finished with a rapid unbeaten 52 as he ACT to 142.

THBS’s batting had been suspect, more precisely their middle order in the first two games, but with them having put 173 in the last game over the weekend, the chase promised plenty of action,

As has been the norm with Lalit and Arun, both came out swinging. The powerplay seemed promising as the first 4 overs resulted in 33 runs but also accounted for both the openers.

Sharath soon resorted to spin and they responded in kind by first drying the boundaries and then even regular singles. At the half-way stage, THBS managed to stay in the contest by not losing any further wickets and their captain Chandan had played himself in along with Shreas and a charge to finish seemed the plot with 8 wickets still in hand.

Rohit struck to push THBS back by having Chandan caught and bowled. Shithu entered the fray and his quickish leg-breaks were too accurate for THBS to put away. He choked the runs out of batsmen and the suffocating batsmen holed out trying to hit out as the innings began to fall apart.

In the end, fittingly Bharath got to roll his arm over for two wickets as THBS were bowled out for 111.

Brief Scores: ACT 142/3 (Bharath 52 not out (41b, 3X4, 2X6), Sharath 33 (38b, 5X4), Madhusudhan 1/23, Arun 1/24) beat THBS 111 all out (Shreyas 18 (28b, 1X4), Shithu 3/13, Bharath 2/12) by 31 runs

Full scorecard of the match can be found here

Full match report along with individual reports can be downloaded from here

Performer of the Match: Bharath – MVP Points 23.26

Post-match presentation: