The CouchExpert Staff
30th March, 2013
Match: CECC vs Alliance Cricket Team (ACT)
Venue: CECG, Bangalore
Toss: ACT won the toss and elected to field.
CECC Team Picture (Match Day):
Standing (L to R): Shiv, Vicky, Gaurav, Goutham, Shoukath, Gautam R, Gokul, Badri
Squatting (L to R): Jobin (VC), Sumit, Kaustubh (C), Yugank (WK), Ashish
In a match that swung back-and-forth with one team threatening to run away with the game only to be chased down and tackled immediately by the other, a crucial run-out in the 22nd over of ACT’s chase ended up being the difference. As ACT’s captain Sharath said in the post-match discussion, “Yes, it was a chasable target. We had a good partnership going and had few wickets in hand. That run-out (of Deepak) changed the game. It was the turning point. “
The game as such started with a good passage of play between bat and ball after ACT opted to field under cloudy skies. The decision seemed prudent as the tall Unni charged in and generated considerable movement and bounce off the deck. CECC’s opener Jobin was sent back by Padmanabhan in the 2nd over as his sharp inswinger found Jobin’s off-stump.
CECC recovered steadily through a 65 run partnership between Goutham and Shoukath for the 2nd wicket. Unni bowled out his quota of 5 overs up front troubling the CECC pair considerably, but the pair managed to hold fort and score off the other end.
Shoukath en route to an entertaining 50
Shoukath continued to hold the middle order as wickets fell around him after Goutham’s departure and brought up his 5th half-century for the club. His running-between-the wickets being the standout feature of his innings. The relative quick fall of three wickets came as a result of some constant and inspired changes in bowling by the ACT skipper and the possibility of a 190 plus score at the end of 15 overs seemed now a distant dream for CECC.
CECC’s in-form middle-order batsmen Gokul and Gaurav strung together a hard-working 73 runs partnership for the 5th wicket with Gokul producing his stylish languid drives and Gaurav being more adventurous with dilscoops and inside-out drives. The pair pushed the ACT boundary riders with aggressive intent and managed to steal runs of misfields and pressurize them at times into giving away overthrows.
A target of 176 seemed a good recovery after losing 3 quick wickets midway into their innings. Their captain summed up the stutter in the innings as an issue of ball becoming soft and the batsmen having to run a lot of 2s and 3s (CECC’s innings contained 6 threes and 20 twos) and therefore the issues of fatigue and fitness. But he did say he was pleased with the overall effort.
ACT’s chase began disastrously losing opener Vinay and captain Sharath to the off-spin of Gaurav in the second over. Soon things got worse with the other opener Thomas being bowled by Goutham in the next over. The pair of Deepak and Rohit went about repairing the innings with caution first against the opening bowlers and saw off the new ball pair with no more wickets down.
With the field spread and some indifferent bowling in the middle overs allowed Rohit to open out and play some aggressive drives. It seemed a conscious effort to increase the run rate that was hovering below 5 at the end of powerplay (38/3 in 8 overs). The pair soon found boundaries and increased the run rate quite well in the latter-half their 4th wicket partnership of 72 (91 balls) runs for 4th wicket.
The fall of Deepak in the 15th over brought Padmanabhan to the wicket. With close to 9 runs needed every over in the last 10 overs of the game, a mixture of lusty hitting and swift running across the next 6 overs substantially swung the moment of the game to ACT before Rohit attempted a poor single to the wicket-keeper Yugank cost him his wicket. The pair had put on 56 runs in 40 balls and with 35 needed in the last 4 overs the game seemed theirs to lose.
CECC capitalized on the lucky break and soon had the dangerous Padmanabhan sky a mistimed drive to Kaustubh at covers. They then defended well with Gautam and Shoukath bowling straight which was brilliantly supported in the outfield by Ashsih, Sumit, Jobin and Gaurav. Eventually the mounting run-rate was too much for ACT to surmount. CECC won the game with 11 runs to spare to give them their 5th straight win on their home ground.
A happy and relieved CECC captain said, “It is good that we have won 5 in a row. Hopefully we will continue the winning streak in the coming games.”
Performer of the Match: Syed Shoukath
Full match report with individual performance carts for players can be found here.
Post match discussion with the captains
Full Scorecard:
1st Inning Batting: CECC, CECC
R B 4's 6's SR
Goutham Chakravarthi c Vinay b Thomas 27 30 1 0 90.0
JV Varghese b Paddy 0 5 0 0 0.0
SS Shoukath c Shitu b Shitu 50 46 5 0 108.7
KP Pimputkar b Shitu 5 9 1 0 55.56
Gokul GS run out (Thomas) 28 23 2 0 121.74
Gaurav Rajagopalan not out 39 36 2 0 108.33
YB Bhagod not out 3 2 0 0 150.0
Extras(w 19, nb 1, b 1, lb 2) 23
Total (5 wickets; 25.0 overs) 175 7.00 RPO
Did Not Bat:
Badri Vengavasi, A Joshi, Gautam Rajagopalan, S Rawal
Fall of Wicket: 3-1 ( JV Varghese 1.2 ov ), 68-2 ( Goutham Chakravarthi 10.5 ov ),
83-3 ( KP Pimputkar 13.4 ov ), 96-4 ( SS Shoukath 15.1 ov ), 172-5 ( Gokul GS 24.4 ov )
1st Inning Bowling: ACT
O M R W EC AV EX
Unni 5.0 0 25 0 5.00 - (w 3)
Paddy 4.0 0 31 1 7.75 31.00 (w 6, nb 1)
Anoop 2.0 0 14 0 7.00 -
Sharat 1.0 0 11 0 11.00 - (w 1)
Thomas 5.0 0 34 1 6.80 34.00 (w 3)
Shitu 5.0 0 31 2 6.20 15.50 (w 2)
Rohit 3.0 0 26 0 8.67 - (w 2)
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2nd Inning Batting: ACT
R B 4's 6's SR
Vinay lbw b Gaurav Rajagopalan 4 8 1 0 50.0
Thomas b Goutham Chakravarthi 5 4 1 0 125.0
Sharat c Gautam Rajagopalan b Gaurav Rajagopalan 0 1 0 0 0.0
Deepak c A Joshi b Gautam Rajagopalan 39 49 6 0 79.59
Rohit run out (Gautam Rajagopalan) 38 49 4 0 77.55
Paddy c KP Pimputkar b SS Shoukath 36 27 3 1 133.33
Shitu c Gautam Rajagopalan b SS Shoukath 0 2 0 0 0.0
Anoop c & b Gaurav Rajagopalan 2 3 0 0 66.67
P Mathur not out 7 6 0 0 116.67
Tiru not out 10 5 1 0 200.0
Extras(w 19, nb 3, lb 1) 23
Total (8 wickets; 25.0 overs) 164 6.56 RPO
Did Not Bat:
Unni
Fall of Wicket: 8-1 ( Vinay 1.4 ov ), 8-2 ( Sharat 1.5 ov ), 12-3 ( Thomas 2.2 ov ),
84-4 ( Deepak 15.4 ov ), 140-5 ( Rohit 21.4 ov ), 145-6 ( Paddy 22.3 ov ),
145-7 ( Shitu 22.4 ov ), 149-8 ( Anoop 23.3 ov )
2nd Inning Bowling: CECC, CECC
O M R W EC AV EX
Gaurav Rajagopalan 5.0 0 31 1 6.20 31.00 (w 3)
Goutham Chakravarthi 5 0 0 22 1 4.40 20.00 (w 2, nb 1)
Gautam Rajagopalan 5.0 0 33 3 6.60 15.00 (w 4)
JV Varghese 2.0 0 13 0 6.50 -
SS Shoukath 5.0 0 34 2 6.80 17.00 (w 2)
Badri Vengavasi 2.0 0 24 0 12.00 - (w 3, nb 2)
S Rawal 1.0 0 11 0 11.00 -
Match Result: CECC beat ACT by 11 runs.
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