The CouchExpert Staff
11th May, 2013
Match: CECC vs GE
Venue: CECG, Bangalore
Toss: CECC won the toss and elected to bat.
Team Photo (match day):
Standing (L to R): Muthu (WK), Bhargav, Ashish, Sameer, Karteek, Gokul
Squatting (L to R): Goutham, Kaustubh (C), Jobin, Gaurav, Shoukath, Gautam, Chanakya
On a humid afternoon Kaustubh won the toss and elected to bat first. Goutham got CECC off to another quick start scoring 26 off the first 3 overs before falling in the 4th over. Jobin and Kaustubh looked to stabilize the innings before both perished to leading edges.
Bhargav continued his good form with the bat from the last game as he got stuck into GE’s bowling. Shoukath provided tremendous support as both scrambled quick singles and twos on a hot afternoon. Bhargav was adventurous in his strokeplay, often exposing his stumps and going over the off-side and repeated walking across his stumps to slam the ball to the on.
Shoukath, on the other hand, played a measured innings sticking to his powerful drives and ticking the runs with quick ones and twos. The pair put on an entertaining 4th wicket partnership before Vinod trapped Bhargav for 30.
GE pulled it back well with tight bowling and tremendous ground fielding as CECC looked to capitalize on Bhargav and Shoukath’s partnership. Shoukath fell for a very well made 48 as the scramble continued for quick runs as Ashish, Gautam, Gaurav, Sameer and Chanakya kept at it. A total of 167/9 in 25 overs was always going to be challenging even considering the firepower GE carried at the top of their order.
GE started fortuitously as Bhargav missed running out Manjunath in the first over that went for 5 overthrows. But GE would be rocked badly as their star batsman and captain Rajnikanth fell for a duck 3 balls later. Like in their previous game against HSBC, Gaurav kept a tight leash at the other end with his clever changes in pace and flight. The pressure told at the other end with wickets falling to Goutham.
Gaurav continued to haunt GE with his ground fielding as he accounted for GE’s opener Manju as his throw found the stumps at the non-striker’s end. It brought a very scratchy innings of 5 to an end that seemed to throw up a run out opportunity every second ball. The cat had run out of its lives the moment it found the dead-eyed Guarav.
Like in the last game, Gautam R and Bhargav backed up the opening pair with tremendous swing bowling. Bhargav generated pace and bounce along with the movement to mesmerize the GE batsmen. Even as he often struggled to control the prodigious swing, Muthu had a great game behind the stumps putting up a masterclass in wicket-keeping.
Muthu’s standing-up-to-the-stumps wicket-keeping to the medium-pacers has been an important factor in CECC’s success of late. Especially in the powerplay overs preventing batsmen from leaving the crease. His soft hands and tremendous footwork allow him to stay low and move up and side-ways simultaneously with the ball. His tremendous balance allows him to reach the ball with quick and short side-steps so that he never really has to dive much even for wide deliveries. His tremendous ground coverage ensures that his team rarely suffers wided boundaries or, more importantly, missed chances behind the stumps.
His two catches standing up to the stumps off the bowling of Goutham and Gauram R being the standout performance of this game even as GE’s chase continued to go off rails under the pressure put by CECC’s bowling and fielding.
The chase folded meekly in the 20th over when the last 3 wickets fell to some poor running between the wickets.
Brief Scores:
CECC 167/9 in 25 overs (Shoukath 48 (43b, 4X4), Bhargav 30 (23b, 4X4)) defeated GE 126 all out in 19.3 overs (Naresh 21, Guru 26, Goutham 2/20, Gautam R 2/21, Bhargav 2/25) by 41 runs
Performer of the Match (POTM): Muthukumar Ramamoorthy
Match Result: CECC beat GE by 41 runs
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