Following the exciting super play finish in the earlier finals, THBS and Unisys stepped on to the field in the hope to take the winners trophy home in this finals.
THBS won the toss and elected to bat. And given that it is their bowling which has been their stronger suit it seemed a sound choice going into the big game,
Vishal opened with Arun as THBS continued to stretch their top order a bit for the second game running by batting Lalit down the order and for once it seemed to pay dividends. The openers got through the powerplay overs without any wickets though Unisys kept a tight check on the flow of runs. Murthy struck in the 7th over when he sent Vishal back.
Then Kaushik sent back THBS’s player of the tournament Arun in the next over. The onus fell on the skipper Chandan to steer his shop off troubled waters and he set about doing just that in a sensible partnerhip with Dheeraj. Runs came quickly in the next 5 overs as boundaries were both conceded with daft bowling and some good strokeplay.
Dheeraj’s wicket in the 13th over set things back for THBS again as Mallikarjun weaved his magic flicking his carrom ball deliveries with remarkable accuracy. He accounted for Shreyas the next ball and forced THBS to take a cautious approach to avoid a collapse.
It ended up being a game of cat and mouse between Mallkarjun’s 4 overs in the end and Chandan trying to marshal his troops to a decent total. Chandan held firm even as the rest struggled against the guile of Mallijarjun. Chandan tried his best to make runs at the other end and pushed his team to a total closer to 130. And given their bowling form through the tournament, it was a challenging total on the board.
Vaibhav struck in his first over and the second of the innings to put Unisys under early pressure. But Harish was in good form continuing his run from the last game as he found boundaries. But THBS kept at the Unisys batsmen in check as the combination of Vaibhav, Dheeraj and Arun chipped away at the wickets and had knocked 3 of the wickets before the powerplay ended.
Harish and Vikram mended the innings with a little partnership that put the innings back on track and with Harish looking good to anchor the chase to a win but fell in the 10th over as THBS kept Unisys under 6 an over. Abid joined Vikram and the pair put on another crucial partnership over the next 5 overs to set up the chase beautifully.
The bowling hero Mallikarjun joined Abid with roughly 8 and over needed in the last 5. Abid maneuvered the bowing well and Mallikarjun played the aggressor as the pair chiseled away at the THBS score.
Vaibhav returned to bowl an inspiring spell sending back a well set Abid followed by the wicket of Prashanth to make the game more interesting. With 20 needed off 16 balls at the stage, THBS realistically needed to get Mallikarjun’s wicket to remain in the hunt.
As it turned out, Mallikarjun soaked the moment and the pressure well as he took his team to a memorable victory in the last over.
Brief scores: THBS 128/8 in 20 overs (Chandan 48 not out (41b, 4X4), Dheeraj 25 (18 b, 3X4, Mallikarjun 4/16) lost to Unisys 132/7 in 19.4 overs (Mallikarjun 24 not out (17 b, 3X4), Harish 23 (22b, 3X4), Vaibhav 3/22) in super over
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Performer of the Match: Mallikarjun – MVP points 24.82
In what turned out to be a a low scoring thriller with a lot of needle between the sides, another poor batting display by THBS is what cost them in the end.
Opting to bat first, THBS put Siddharth up the order in a bit to change things up a bit and it lasted all of one ball as Goutham sent him back for a first ball duck. The old and trusted pairing of Lalit and Arun were left to take on the new ball from the second ball on the innings.
Arun continued his very fine tournament with the ball (also with the ball and also behind the wickets) by taking the new ball bowlers on. While he looked his confident fluent self, Lalit struggled against Goutham and Goutham soon sent him back for a duck as well.
Goutham’s first spell would prove to be a decisive factor in this game as his miserly overs and two strikes at the top also accounted for captain Chandan and the other form batsman Shreyas too to leave THBS tottering. With Arun holding fort with Vishal for a bit, a recovery of sorts looked promising, but the dismissal of Arun in the 14th over, put paid to any of those hopes as Nikhil ran through the lower order and had THBS bowled out in the 18th ovr for a paltry 87.
Chasing a modest total, Swayam and Nitin began cautiously looking to see off the threat of the new ball. The pair showed restraint in strokeplay and it worked in the sense of not losing wickets. Half way through, 44 for no loss seemed a perfect position to be in, but losing Nithin just past the half-way mark and Goutham to the next ball kept THBS’s spirits and hopes very much alive.
Swayam, continued his impressive run with the bat with another fine knock as he held the innings together. But a bumper to his head shook him a bit and he soon was out with the victory still another 30-plus runs away. A lot of needling and verbal volleys were exchanged in this final leg of the innings, but captain Kapil and Asheesh held fort to bring up what would be a comfortable win in the end.
Brief scores: THBS 86 all out in 17.3 overs (Arun 39 (41b, 3X4, 1X6), Vishal 13 not out (21b, 1X4), Nikhil 4/10, Goutham 3/7) lost to IDM Cricketers 87/3 in 18.5 overs (Nitin 22 (29b, 4X4), Kapil 18 not out (19b, 2X4), Madhusudhan 2/16) by 6 wickets
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Performer of the Match: Goutham – MVP points 18.77
Post-match presentation:
Match 22: Boltz (A3) versus CECC (B3)
17th August 2013 (2:30 pm – 5:30 pm)
Boltz won the toss and elected to bat
Gokul took a tumbling catch at short midwicket to send back Aseem off Gaurav in the second over as Gaurav followed it up with the wicket of Praveen soon after. Botlz though fought back with Sachin and captain Sandeep, coming off a an injury.
Sachin was a tad lucky as his aggressive streak streak also produced chances only for the CECC fielders to spill them repeatedly. Captain Sandeep was let off by his counterpart Goutham as well.
Gokul though produced a fine spell as he sent back both Sachin and Sandeep in the same over to tilt the scales even once again. But Vikas and Nagaraj produced a brutal finish to the innings that produced 50-plus runs in the last 5 overs. The partnership had the fielders and bowlers scurrying as a the final kick pushed the score upwards of 140 and set CECC a stiff target.
CECC’s hot-and-cold batting came back to bite them on the back as the top order stuttered against Nagaraj who followed up his hard hitting innings with a wonderful spell with the new ball. Goutham was sent back in the first over and Shoukath was run out not long after as CECC struggled to shake off the slow start. Harsha continued to fight in a promising partnership with Jobin as both found their feet as spinners came along.
Things went astray when Harsha hit a long hop straight down the deep mid-wicket’s throat. Gokul and Gautam came and went as Jobin was left to wage a lone battle. When has was run out for 31, the pressure of the chase proved too much as Boltz coasted to a comfortable win in the end.
Brief scores: Boltz 143/6 in 20 overs (Nagaraj 35 not out (19b, 3X6), Sachin 32 (32b, 3X4), Gokul LN 2/26, Gaurav 2/30) beat CECC 118 allout in 19.4 overs (Jobin 31 (31b, 4X4), Harsha 24 (23b, 4X4), Naveen 2/6, Sachin 2/24, Avinash 2/26) by 25 runs.
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Performer of the Match: Nagaraj – MVP points 19.68
Post-match presentation:
Match 23: Unisys (A4) versus ACT (B2)
18th August 2013 (7:30 am – 10:30 pm)
ACT won the toss and elected to bat
ACT won the toss and elected to bat in this crucial league game for them. A win for them would force NSN to win their last match to qualify as group toppers to play the tournament finals. A lot at state for ACT going into the game. For Unisys though, Boltz’s victory over CECC meant they would qualify for as the 4th team from their group irrespective of the result.
A rather sedate Vinay was the first to leave after a mix-up with his opening partner and captain Sharath. Their best batsman and also the tournament’s best, Bharath walked in and looked to dominate from the word go. A steady partnership developed between the two and Bharath looked good to continue his outstanding run in the tournament when Sanjeev struck him. Soon Sharath and Deepak joined him in the hut as Unisys applied the squeeze on run scoring through Mallikarjun and the others picked wickets around him as a result.
Then, a crucial innings by Ajay in a good partnership with Bavesh pushed ACT above 110 which looked highly unlikely. But for the switch-hit that eventually proved his demise, Ajay looked in prime touch as he tackled all bowlers with aplomb. And a total of 114 was a fighting total given how well ACT’s bowlers were bowling through this tournament.
Chasing under 6 an over seemed to bring a relaxed approach by Unisys as their top order approached the target with great confidence though Bharath was out in the powerplay overs. Harish looked in prime touch and Sandeep looking solid, the team 50 was raised under 8 overs and the chase looked on course for an easy coast to victory.
Thomas, coming back from a leg injury soon struck a crucial blow and sent back Harish, With his stuttering run-up and low arm trajectory with a slight bend at delivery stride, he got the ball to skid on to the batsmen and kept them honest as ACT built pressure through Ajay with his accurate off-spin from the other end,
As ACT build pressure through spinners, overs were churned quickly over without conceding too many runs. Rohit and Shithu applied the squeeze as runs came to a grinding halt,
Rakesh though broke through with tremendous big hitting to keep Unisys in the hunt. His entertaining and enterprising 30 thought still was not enough as ACT held their nerve as Bavesh produced an outstanding last over to land his team a close but satisfying 6 run win that provisionally put ACT on top of Group B.
Brief scores: ACT 114/9 in 20 overs (Ajay 29 (24b, 4X6), Bavesh 24 (26b, 1X4), Kaushik 3/25, Prahshanth M 2/22) beat Unisys 106/8 in 20 overs (Rakesh 30 not out (28b, 2X4, 1X6), Thomas 2/19, Shithu 2/19) by 8 runs.
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ACT winning their last game meant the pressure was on the group leaders NSN to win their last league game to remain on top to qualify for the main finals of the tournament. And they looked up for the fight from the word go.
A brilliant run out by Satya in the first over sent back Chirag and NSN had already established a vice-like hold on the game from the first over. NSN didn’t let the opportunity go to try out a different bowling combination as Vidyasagar opened the bowling and held back Lalmani for a different role.
As the batting innings wore on and only Ramesh seemingly having the bearings to counter the challenges offered by the spin and medium pace combination of NSN bowlers.
Almost all NSN bowlers got a go as EMC never threatened to take the attack to the bowling allowing NSN to rotate bowlers and experiment at will. With Ramesh getting out in the 15th over, it was as best as EMC could do to stutter close to 100 at the end of their innings as Saravanan and an injured Krishna found some runs at the end.
NSN stuck to their mantra of opening with their regulars – Prakhar and Avinash – and the pair produced another good start as runs came in torrents in the early overs as EMC bowling struggled for consistency. Both openers rarely looked in trouble and looked good to finish the game by themselves as they raced to 50 in the powerplay overs.
Jeethendra though provided his team the much needed relief as he sent back both openers soon after powerplay. NSN chose to send their players that hadn’t had much of a hit so far in the series a go.
Ankit took the chance well as his high back-lift and flourishing follow through left-handed batting lit up a dull game with some sparkling strokeplay at the end. His off-shin was sharp in the game and with him finding runs at the end, he was the Player of the Match.
Brief scores: EMC 96/2 in 20 overs (Ramesh 35 (54b, 2X4), Saravanan 21 not out (20b, 1X4), Ankit 2/23) lost to NSN 98/3 in 12.5 overs (Avinash 35(31b, 2X4), Prakhar 27(22b, 2X4), Jeethendra 3/32) by 8 wickets.
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Performer of the Match: Ankit – MVP points 14.46
Post-match presentation:
Match 25: GE (A1) versus Wowzers (B5)
18th August 2013 (2:30 pm – 5:30 pm)
GE won the toss and elected to bat
GE won the toss in a game they had very little pressure. Their net run rate was very high that even a loss guaranteed them a place in the finals. Like NSN, they chose to experiment a bit with the batting and bowling combinations a bit.
For starters, captain Abhishek pushed himself up the order and produced a chancy by stroke filled 79. His partner and one of the shining lights of the tournament Rajnikanth skied a lofted drive to be out for a low score in this game. Amit and Dheeraj batted up the order even as Abhishek was making the most of the many spilled chances Wowzers were guilty of giving him.
Amit and Dheeraj had short stays, but Harsha stuck around for a bit to be involved in a 56 run partnership with Abhishek in under 5 overs. Abhishek looked good to get to a hundred when he was out in the 15th over for 79. The scoring rate dipped at the fall of his wicket but a decent finish by Bhaskar ensured the work of Abhishek was not wasted as GE ended with 174.
Chasing a steep target, Muzaffer slammed the first ball he faced from Dheeraj over mid on for a massive six. Dheeraj struck immediately trapping Muzaffer in front the next ball. Suresh and Ravi looked good and as has been their bane through the tournament, converting starts to meaningful scores let Wowzers down again.
Ravi and Karthik looked to be in good flow as GE moved to rotating their fringe bowlers after the burst from regulars Dheeraj and Abhhisek Pathak. Vivek, Dyaneshwar and Ankit all got their chance to roll their arm over as Wowzers’s innings took a nose dive following the wickets of Karthik and Ravi. Vinoth bowled his offspin well to pick up 2/22 in the absence of regular frontline spinners Arvind and Mallikarjun.
Captain Abhishek rounded off an impressive league phase for his team by bowling himself and picking up the last wicket to give his team a massive win.
Brief scores: GE 174/9 in 20 overs (Abhishek 79 (54b, 7X4, 2X6), Harsha 20 (16b, 2X4), Rajesh 3/33, Karthik 2/25, Rakesh 2/31) beat Wowzers 120 all out in 19.4 overs (Ravi 30 (38b, 3X4), Karthik 15 (12b,2X4), Vivek 2/3, Vinoth 2/22) by 54 runs.
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Performer of the Match: Abhishek – MVP points 18.29
The two unbeaten teams from Group A squared off against each other. The long and powerful batting lineup of Boltz versus the all round strength of GE promised a lot more than what panned out over the next three hours after Sandeep won the toss and elected to bat.
Sandeep pushed himself to open the batting and it lasted all of one ball. He square drove the first ball of the match to Arvind at point and took off for a non existent single. Arvind swooped in and threw it to the keeper to bring GE their first wicket – a gift of sorts on a lazy Saturday morning.
Exactly two overs later, it was action replay as Arvind this time chose to throw it to the bowler for the run out. The Buy One Get One offer seemed to be the order of the day with Boltz.
Boltz, true to their batting depth kept coming at the GE bowlers but struggled to put any decent partnerships (a highest partnership of 25 for the 7th wicket is a story in itself). All the while GE’s bowlers and fielders had the Boltz batsmen in a tight leash. Only Jyoti and Vikas had the measure of GE’s bowling, but didn’t produce big enough scores to hurt GE. For GE, the slightly erratic Mallikarjun was benefited immensely by the pressure built at the other end, especially by Arvind, as Boltz’s batsmen tried to go after him and often lost their wickets. Mallikarjun’s 5 for 29 hastened a struggling Boltz innings to a quick end in the 17th over for a paltry 95.
Sandeep took a chance defending a low target by opening with the left-arm spin of Aseem. Aseem had Shimjith caught at point with his second ball and the bizarre batting day continued to chug along in its merry way. Soon, Amit batting at 3 was sent back by Aseem and the possibility of another collapse loomed.
GE’s batting mainstays Rajnikanth and Arvind would have none of it as they built a strong partnership. Rajnikanth was his usual self in taking the attack to Boltz’s bowlers while Arvind seems to relish repairing torn innings and be there at the end. He did so for the third time in as many matches this tournament.
The rate picked up immensely as the pair spent more time at the crease. Rajnikanth helped himself to another half-century, with the straight six being the highlight of his innings. The win soon came half-way into the 15th over.
Sandeep rued a miserable day all round and hoped that his team would bounce back in the remaining games.
Brief scores: Boltz 95 all out in 16.1 overs (Jyoti 31 (34b, 4X4), Vikas 22 (21b, 3X4, 1X6), Mallikarjun 5/29) lost to GM96/2 in 14.3 overs (Rajnikanth 59 not out (45b, 8X4, 1X6), Arvind 27 not out (34 b, 2X4), Aseem 2/20) by 8 wickets
Full match report along with individual reports can be downloaded from here
Performer of the Match: Mallikarjun MVP Points – 18.3 (Bowling 18.3)
Post-match presentation:
Match 12: Unisys versus EMC
3rd August 2013 (11 am – 2 pm)
EMC won the toss and elected to bat
In start contrast to the morning game, this was a contest where both teams were looking for their first win of the tournament. Both teams were coming into the game having suffered defeats over the last few weeks.
EMC won the toss and elected to bat first – a sign of improving confidence (they had inserted the opposition in previous occasion). Their captain and perhaps their best batsman, Krishna got out for a duck in the first over to Sanjeev. Ramesh, opening the batting today, looked steady with the bat though he was dodgy between the wickets.
Unisys’s opening bowlers were steady and kept the EMC batsmen in check in the powerplay overs. A change of bowling massively altered the pace of the game. Mallikarjun came into the bowling attack and immediate accounted for the wickets of Umesh and Jeethendra.
But his bowling fell away drastically as Kushal went after him initially and when Fredrick eventually joined Ramesh, the fielding was losing its wheels too as he was gifted two over-thrown boundaries of the first two balls he faced.
For the best part of the next 12 overs the batting pair of Ramesh and Fredrick tore into Unisys’s bowling that was considerably weakened by the absence of its regular captain Harish. The pair was relentless in its strokeplay as boundaries were struck with great regularity. Soon, Ramesh brought up his half-century and kept pressing onwards though he looked tired. Fredrick fell with on ball left in the innings, but he had done his bit in ensuring that Unisys would have to chase a massive total to defeat them.
Chasing 160 to win, Unisys opted to come out swinging and they targeted Suresh initially. Though Vivek and Sharath lost their wickets while on the lookout for quick runs, it was Sanjeev who looked to be in total control. His balance was good as he flicked boundaries on either side of the square-leg umpire when the bowlers bowled straight. He was able to showcase deft hands and touch play when the fine-leg was brought inside the circle and he beat them with regularity.
Sanjeev found and able ally in Vikram. Vikram, who plays more with his hands and not his full arms was contrasting in style to the flourishing mannerisms of Sanjeev in play, but equally effective. He found power when he needed it and when he punched them, he found enough timing.
The pair soon had the captain and bowlers confused for field placement and lines to bowl as all they tried was being sent to the fence. It was inevitable in the end that Unisys won the game quite easily with 14 balls to spare.
Brief scores: EMC 159/6 in 20 overs (Ramesh 69 not out (58b, 11X4), Fredrick 47 (35b, 3X4, 2X5), Mallik 2/49) lost to Unisys 162/2 in 17.4 overs (Sanjeev 76 not out (50b, 10X4), Vikram 46 (36b, 7X4), Jeethendra 1/21) by 8 wickets
Full match report along with individual reports can be downloaded from here
Performer of the Match: Sanjeev – MVP points 27.97 (Batting: 20.29 Bowling: 7.68)
Post-match presentation:
Match 13: CECC versus THBS
4th August 2013 (7:30 am – 10:30 am)
THBS won the toss and elected to field
Overnight drizzle had greased the outfield a little as THBS won the toss and inserted CECC into bat. CECC’s openers Goutham and Harsha soon got off their team to a quick start with 26 runs coming in the first 3 overs. Shreyas then produced a sterling over generating steep bounce off a length troubling both openers. It was a sign of things to come as THBS settled on a decent length from which none of the CECC batsmen could break the shackles from.
Both openers were soon sent back as THBS made a sterling comeback to end the powerplay on a high having reduced CECC to 35/2. The pattern of struggling to get legs into the innings continued as Jobin and Shoukath found it difficult to force pace. Jobin soon was castled and the Gokul who joined Shoukath in the middle resorted to safety first option.
Shoukath too fell looking to up the ante after another promising steady partnership. Gokul and Ashsish struggled with a nagging middle-overs spell of 4 overs for 13 by Arun. The restless pair tried to make up for the many dot balls at the other end with mixed results. And soon the disappointing CECC batting performance closed at 100 at the end of 20 overs.
Chasing 5 an over can often mess with the approach of the chasing team. THBS started off with aggressive intent as both openers – Lalith and Arun – looked to go over the top with mixed results. Crisp lofted drives were interspersed with many play and misses. Some connections – like in the case with Arun – sent the ball out of the ground and misses – as was with both openers cost them their wickets.
CECC kept the field up making THBS to go over the top. With the opening pair having reduced THBS to two down for not a lot in the powerplay overs, the game was still in the balance. It all changed rapidly as Bhargav came in to bowl.
Managing massive inswing with a bit of pace he repeatedly found the stumps in a memorable spell of swing bowling. THBS batsmen were caught between being aggressive and assertive and kept losing wickets as Bhargav sliced through the entire middle-order with his pace and swing. He was ably supported by Jobin in keeping the runs down at the other end which meant that THBS were to take risks against Bhargav and they came up short.
A total of 6 wickets in a little over 3 overs changed the game on its head and Bhargav played catalyst in CECC defending a very low total.
Brief scores: CECC 100/5 in 20 overs (Gokul 26 not out (31b, 1X4), Ashish 19 (28b, 1X4), Arun 2/8) beat THBS 78 all out in 13.1 overs (Vibhav 15 (11b, 2X4), Bhargav 6/13, Shoukath 2/18) by 22 runs
Full match report along with individual reports can be downloaded from here
Performer of the Match: Bhargav – MVP points 32.59 (Bowling: 32.59)
Post-match presentation:
Match 14: NSN versus Wowzers
4th August 2013 (11 am – 2 pm)
Wowzers won the toss and elected to bowl
Wowzers won the toss. That’s just about the only thing that went right for them through the game against table toppers NSN.
Rakesh hurt his ankle while bowling and it soon reduced Wowzers to a bowler less. Having already accounted for two NSN batsmen by then, it was a massive blow to Wowzers. Soon recurring issues of extras hurt Wowzers badly even though they managed to bowl enough good deliveries to keep producing wickets they were unable to build any sustenance of pressure which hurt their chances of keep the run flow in check.
NSN capitalised on Wowzers’ largesse on a day when not many of their batsmen could build on Wowzers’s wayward ways. Only Deb seemed to be in the mood for a long haul as the rest were looking to bash quick runs and invariably perished. With a score of 100 looming at the end of 12 overs NSN managed to give away 5 wickets to open the danger of being bowled out without consuming their overs.
Lalmani’s 5/14 earned him the Man of the Match award. The CouchExpert
Captain Gangadhar and Manish played with calm heads and feasted on the loose balls on offer as Wowzers’s bowling started to wilt after Karthik finished his overs in the last 3 overs and took their team to a big total of 162.
The batting of Wowzers, if anything, was even more disappointing than their batting and Lalmani went about dismantling its top order with ease. He reduced Wowzers to 18/5 in less than 5 overs to shut the game down completely. Only Karthik backed up his good bowing with another spirited fighting performance with the bat that seemed to be lacking in most of his teammates. He played handsome strokes and remained unbeaten on 22 at the end of the innings.
It was inevitable that Lalmani who had taken the third 5-wicket haul of the weekend should end the match with a direct hit from mid-off to run out Rakesh.
With the win NSN move to the top of Group A with 6 points.
Brief scores: NSN 162/6 in 20 overs (Deb 39 (41b, 3X4, Manish 28 not out (20b, 4X4), Rakesh 2/20) beat Wowzers 45 all out in 10.2 overs (Karthik 22 not out (21 b, 2X4), Lalmani 5/14, Gangadhar 2/1) by 117 runs
Unisys seemed to have brushed off the blues of their last two games as they seemed positive as they came out to bat against IDM Cricketers. The openers seemed to be in a hurry and the first five overs yielded 54 runs as IDM Cricketers found it difficult to stem the flow of runs.
As is the wont with Unisys batsmen through the series, none of their batsmen were able to convert their starts into big runs as IDM Cricketers clawed their way back into the game through Ajit who ran through the Unisys middle order to finish with 4 for 13 in his 4 overs.
“I just stuck to line and length and Sudhanshu was a great help at the other end,” said Ajit at the end of the game. Unisys’s captain Harish was also of a similar opinion, “We got of to a great start putting up 50-plus in the first 5 overs but did not capitalize on the start and ended with 138 at the end.”
IDM Cricketers’s captain Kapil seemed pleased with the fightback. “We were poor in the power play overs giving away runs at 11 an over almost. But we came back really well through Sudhanshu and Ajit to restrict them to 138.”
IDM Cricketers started in a similar vein to Unisys as their openers found form for second straight game in a row. Sudhanshu was at his punishing best again as he tore into Unisys bowling while Swayam played the anchor at the other end. Sudhanshu’s 28 consisted of 5 boundaries and Swayam stayed solid as they raced at 9 an over for 10 overs.
Swayam held fort even as he lost Sudhanshu and Melvin in a short span of time. He stayed unbeaten for second straight game in a row as he brought up his second straight half-century for the tournament. He remained unbeaten on 63 as IDM Cricketers brought up the win in the 18th over.
Brief scores: Unisys 138/5 in 20 overs (Bharath 31, Harish 18, Ajit 4/13) lost to IDM Cricketers 189/5 in 17.4 overs (Swayam 63 not out, Sudhanshu 28) by 5 wickets
Full scorecard is unavailable for this game.
Performer of the Match: Ajit – MVP points 21.68
Post-match presentation:
Match 8: Wowzers versus ACT
28th July 2013 (7:30 am – 10:30 am)
ACT won the toss and elected to bat first
It was a day where just about everything (barring a freak accident to Thomas who stepped on a ball hurt his ankle) went right for ACT. All their batsmen found form and managed to get quick runs. All their bowlers were spot on. When they hit the ball in the air, often the fielders overran the ball or simply dropped them.
Vinay and Sharath opened the batting and looked to be positive from the onset. Vinay was the aggressive of the two and also the chancier of the two. Often looking to go over the top, he quickly spread the field around with some clean hitting. He maneuvered the field brilliantly often by stepping out and hitting over the top and then waiting for the short ball and then putting them away. He pushed the mid-on wide with his flicks and then would charge down the wicket to hit over straight-mid on. He seemed to be two steps ahead of the bowler and fielding captain all the while. He was also lucky as he did give more than a chance to the long-on fielder only for him to badly misjudge the first one and then drop the next one.
Sharath on the other hand was keen to put Vinay back on strike as often as possible in the powerplay overs. He played pleasing drives and cuts himself but seemed content to anchor the innings. He would often take the odd calculated risk, but seemed to be working to a plan as runs flew in a torrent as the openers put on over 100 in the first 10 overs. Vinay finally ran out of lives in the 12th over when he holed out. But he had produced an outstanding innings to give his team a massive start.
Bharath joined Sharath, who by now was well set to take over the mantle of quick scoring from Vinay. Sharath and Bharath produced outstanding flicks to the legside in contrasting styles – Sharath all along the ground and Bharath often managing one-bounce hits to the fence. Sharath fell 2 short of his half-century, but Bharath was keen to push his team to a total closer to 200. 60 were added in the last 5 overs between Bharath and Deepak as ACT fell 11 short of 200.
Chasing 190 was going to be difficult against a good all-round bowling side like ACT and Wowzers understood the magnitude of that difficulty when Laxman was hit on the helmet grill by Benjamin in the second over. The batsman was run out as he wandered off the crease after being hit. ACT withdrew the appeal and let Laxman play. Both Bhavesh and Benjamin troubled the Wowzers’ openers and kept them honest with their pace and bounce. Bhavesh accounted for Laxman with a full swinging delivery.
Captain Ravi walked in and seemed to be in good nick as he started finding the boundaries from the start. His back-cut off the bowling of Benjamin being the highlight. With Suresh seemingly getting into the innings and looking solid at the other end, the prospect of an entertaining chase loomed.
It all changed when Benjamin was replaced by Shitender. Bowling quickish leg-breaks and often darting straight quicker balls, he troubled the batsmen. He produced a hat-trick in the 8th over of the innings that killed the chase. His second ball of the over was a quick full toss down the legside which Ravi top-edged to give Paddy a swirling catch at short fine-leg. He had Suresh playing back to a quick ball that trapped him in front as the batsman went to hit it across the line and got hit on the back leg. He produced another quicker ball that hit the next batsman right in front of the middle-stump to bring up his hat-trick – and also the first at this ground.
Nani and Prithvi played out some pretty strokes in another attractive mini-partnership of 31 for the 5th wicket before Ajay broke through with two wickets in two balls. Shitender came back to pick 2 more wickets with the last two balls of his spell to finish with 5 for 13 for the game that set up a massive 100-run win for ACT.
Brief scores: ACT 189/2 in 20 overs (Vinay P 57 (45b, 9X4), Sharath 48 (35b, 7X4), Bharath not out 46 (30b, 6X4), Lakshman 1/28) beat Wowzers 89 all out in 15.1 overs (Ravi 20 (17b, 3X4), Shithu 5/13, Ajay 3/21) by 100 runs
Full match report along with individual reports can be downloaded from here
Performer of the Match: Shitender – MVP points 31.68 (Bowling: 29.68 Fielding 2.0)
Post-match presentation:
Match 9: NSN versus THBS
28th July 2013 (11:30 am – 2:30 pm)
THBS won the toss and elected to field
In a game that was under constant threat from the rains, THBS opted to bowl first perhaps thinking it best to chase in case the game was shortened because of the rain as historically it tends to favour the teams chasing under the Duckworth/Lewis method.
THBS captain Arun managed to get good nip off the surface and troubled both the NSN openers in his first over. But soon Avinash got the hang of the THBS bowlers and started to get inside the line and tuck the ball fine for boundaries. His partner Prakhar was solid at the other end and often pushed Avinash into taking the extra run everytime the ball went to the outfield. The openers opened up more as the first change bowlers Vaibhav and Dheeraj took a while to get their lines right.
NSN seemed to be on the way to a massive total when they reached 74 for 1 at the end of 10 overs with Avinash well set for a big score. His dismissal soon after slowed the runs down and THBS clawed their way back into the match with some tight bowling. Stand-in captain for the day Satya walked in and ensured that there was no more damage whilst accumulating runs with dabs and flicks to the outfield. He held an end up as Deb and Anil perished at the other end in the quest for quick runs as THBS bowlers found their radar. Even with Manish looking threatening to take the game away with his clean strikes, THBS bowled brilliantly to not concede more than a single boundary in the last 5 overs of the innings.
Chasing 134, THBS started off aggressively with Lalith in particular looking to take the attack to the bowlers. Manish for NSN had a mixed-bad bowling some very neat out swingers interspersed with boundary balls and Lalith cashed in. Lal provided the vital breakthrough for NSN when he sent back Lalith in the 5th over. Vishal’s fun out soon after powerplay meant the game was in the balance at 35 for 2.
Chandan and Shreyas played steadily to build a base for the final onslaught as they cut out risks and looked to rotate the strike. With 80 needed off the last 10 overs with 8 wickets in hand, they seemed to have played themselves into a good position to launch an attack. A very impressive Rakesh and an equally impressive Satya standing up to his medium pace soon accounted for both of them to push THBS back. Soon, it followed a similar pattern to NSN’s batting innings that struggled in the 2nd half of its batting innings with boundaries hard to come by.
There were a few needless overthrows, but by and large, Satya and his team had a firm grip on the game by now and they eventually squeezed THBS batsmen of any momentum by drying out any boundaries at all. By the end the target was 16 too many for THBS.
Brief scores: NSN 133/6 in 20 overs (Avinash 44 (42b, 6X4), Satya 29 (30b), Shreyas 1/22) beat THBS 117/7 in 20 overs (Lalith 21 (15b, 4X4), Shreyas 21 (27b, 1X4), Rakesh 3/14, Deb 2/11) by 16 runs
Full match report along with individual reports can be downloaded from here
Performer of the Match: Rakesh – MVP points 16.65 (Batting: 0 Fielding: 0 Bowling: 16.65)
Post-match presentation:
Match 10: Boltz versus EMC
28th July 2013 (2:30 pm – 5:30 pm)
Boltz won the toss and elected to bat
Boltz were coming off a good win last week while EMC were coming off a bad loss. Boltz won the toss and elected to bat.
EMC started off slightly better than they did with the ball last week as Ramesh gave them some stability with his medium-pace. Robin, on the other hand had an erratic day with the ball as Boltz’s openers Sachin and Aseem helped themselves to easy boundaries on both sides of the wicket. Sachin, other than the one ball that nipped back and hit him in the midriff seemed at ease punishing the EMC bowling. He perished slicing a drive to Fredrick at long off.
Captain Sandeep walked in and seemed edgy for the first few balls, but soon found his touch to be his fluent self again. Aseem on the other hand seemed to be enjoying himself as he repeatedly walked inside the line of the ball and punishing the ball to many legside boundaries. He was instrumental in keeping the runrate up and around 9 throughout his stay and looked good for many more than the 57 he made when he was runout.
Vikas had a lucky break to be dropped early at long on and he made the most of it by plundering runs all round the wicket as EMC bowling wilted under his onslaught. The fielders seemed to be distracted with the right-left combination at the crease and the bowlers’ lines also suffered as a result. Vikas’s whirlwind 49 propelled Boltz to a massive 192 at the end of 20 overs.
Chasing a massive target, EMC’s captain Sreekrishna pushed himself up the order and seemed determined to go after Boltz’s bowling. Aniket and Vikas provided a steady start to Boltz without looking particularly threatening. Fredrick was the first to go in the 5th over of the innings. But a very wayward Abishek struggled to get his line right and bowled and over with many wides. Sreekrishna, in the interim had played pleasing strokes to push the fielders back and looked set for a pretty good score when he top-edged a delivery from Abishek. The bowler dropped the straight-forward catch but ran Sreekrishna out as both batsmen found themselves in the middle of the pitch expecting the bowler to take the catch.
Boltz’s bowlers struggled for control as they conceded wides with constant regularity (a total of 30 wides in just over 17 overs), but the pressure of a huge chase ensured they kept chipping away at the wickets. Jeethu and Kushal had the wits about them to make the most of a very wayward Boltz attack as they strung together 41 runs for the 6th wicket in just a little over 4 overs. EMC’s innings folded up soon after as the lost the last 5 wickets for 8 runs to be bowled out for 133 in the 18th over.
Brief scores: Boltz 192/5 in 20 overs (Aseem 56 (45b, 7X4, Harish 49 (25b, 6X4, 1X6), Chirag 1/21) beat EMC 133 all out in 17.4 overs (Kushal 23 (18 b, 3X4), Sreekrishna 22 (20b, 3X4), Vikas 2/13) by 59 runs
Week 2 of The CouchExpert T20 Championship was marred with incessant rains on Saturday forcing the games to be pushed to a later date. On Sunday, GE and Boltz posted wins while IDM Cricketers won one of their two games on the day.
Match 4: UNISYS versus BOLTZ
21st July 2013 (7:30 am – 10:30 am)
UNISYS won the toss and elected to bowl
Having lost their first game last week, Unisys opted to bowl first on winning the toss on a slightly damp outfield – result of incessant rains throughout the week.
Boltz opened with Sachin and Aseem and looked confident against a steady Unisys new ball attack. Sachin was his free flowing self though Aseem seemed to be struggling to force the pace initially and it was not a surprise when a strike-deprived Aseem was snared up by Harish in the 5th over of the match.
The powerplay yielded only 31 runs, but the heavy outfield did indicate that the scores would be on the lower side throughout the day. Captain Sandeep joined Sachin and the pair seemed to have got used to the pace of the wicket as they found gaps with regularity. The pace picked up as the pair added a further 36 runs in the next 5 overs when Sachin fell.
The heavy outfield ensured that the new batsman had to grind his way to quick runs with running between the wickets and Jyoti and Sandeep tried to up the ante with 8 wickets still in hand. A combination of Karthik and Mallikarjun denied Boltz any easy runs as the run rate was brought down to 6 after 14 overs. The pressure told on Boltz as the captain Sandeep was run out looking for those extra runs.
Things changed for the better for Boltz as Vikas walked in and showed tremendous ability to clear the long boundaries with his powerful hitting. Hitting through the field was a difficult proposition with the heavy outfield, But Vikas’s 14-ball unbeaten 30 with three huge sixes to mid-wicket in the last two overs pushed the total to 140 and set-up a challenging chase for Unisys.
Vikas followed-up his tremendous finish with the bat with a fiery opening burst with the wall and accounted for Unisys’s opener Vivek for a duck in the fourth over. Bharath, on the other end played a good hand and found support from Sharath first and Sanjeev next only for both promising partnerships to be broken just as they threatened to cut loose.
With 71 needed off the last 8 overs and 8 wickets in hand with a well set Bharath at the crease, Unisys seemed very much in the hunt before losing 3 wickets in the next 2 overs that set their chase back badly.
Unisys found it hard to recover for those set-backs particularly, and not withstanding the late fireworks from Sandeep and Mallikarjun they were always going to be short of the total and lost the game by 11 runs eventually.
Brief scores: BOLTZ 140/3 in 20 overs (Sandeep 41 (35b, 3X4), Sachin 33 (42b, 3X4), Vikas 30 not out (14b, 1X4, 3X6), Harish 1/23) beat UNISYS 129/8 in 20 overs (Bharath 35 (39b, 4X4), Vikas 3/17, Aseem 2/22) by 11 runs.
Full match report along with individual reports can be downloaded from here
Performer of the Match: Vikas – MVP points 23.73 (Batting: 8.14 Bowling 14.59 Fielding 1)
Post-match presentationMatch 5: GE versus Unisys
21st July 2013 (11 am – 2 pm)
GE won the toss and elected to bat first
GE won the toss and elected to bat for the second time in a roe in this tournament. Soon, their free flowing and attacking opening pair of Shimjith and Rajnikanth found it hard to tackle the tall IDM Cricketers new ball bowler Sathish. Sathish managed to extract considerable lift off the wicket and had them GE openers hobbling. Sathish had Shimjith caught behind in the first over with another delivery that bounced from a length.
Things turned bad for GE when its captain Abhishek perished in the second over. It brought Arvind who managed a half-century in the previous game to the middle. The pair of Rajnikanth and Arvind seemed determined to see off the very impressive Sathish and cut out loose strokes and managed to stitch a few overs together playing smart cricket.
Just as Rajnikanth seemed to be getting the hang of things, he played on to another short ball from Sathish leaving GE 3-down before the end of the powerplay overs.
It required the calm head of Dheeraj and Arvind to put the innings back on track. They relied on singles and hard running between the wickets to tick the scoreboard along. The left-arm spin of Sudhanshu along with the other slow bowlers – Nitin and Asheesh – kept GE in check throughout the batting innings as they struggled to build momentum into their innings. It was again left to Arvind to pull them out of the hole and he did that with tremendous planning and execution.
He ground out the difficult early overs and rotated the strike admirably to build a platform and opened up towards the end of the innings with some innovative strokeplay as he manufactured 35 runs in the last 3 overs to push GE’s total to 127 which was a fighting score nonetheless.
IDM Cricketers seemed to be in a hurry in the chase as Sudhanshu seemed to be following up his good bowling performance with a rapid start to the innings as he went after Abhishek. Nitin provided good company as the openers plundered runs in excess of 8 an over in the first three overs. With 27 up on the board just after 4 overs, the game was slipping away from GE’s grasp very quickly.
Then Dheeraj bowled the over that changed the game on its head and irrevocably so. Dheeraj knocked over the aggressive Sudhanshu with his first delivery. He sent back the other opener Nitin and captain Kapil off the fifth and sixth ball of the over to have IDM Cricketers tottering at 28/3.
Dheeraj came back to clean-up Swayam in his next over to knock the wind out of IDM Cricketers’ sails. Dheeraj’s spell had changed the fortunes of GE dramatically in 20 minutes and had IDM Cricketers reeling. Bhaskar took over the mantle from Dheeraj and delivered the knock-out punch with four wickets of his own as IDM Cricketers were bowled out in under 12 overs for a paltry 60.
“We bowled well and then we collapsed with the bat after a decent start,” said IDM Cricketers’s captain Kapil at the end of the game. On the other hand, Abhishek said, “We knew we had the bowling to defend a smallish target. Am happy that the bowlers responded well.”
Brief scores: GE 127/7 in 20 overs (Arvind 50 not out (50b, 4X4, 1X6), Mayank 22 (33b), Sathish 2/23) beat IDM Cricketers 60 all out in 12.5 overs (Nitin 16 (18b, 2X4), Bhaskar 4/8, Dheeraj 4/23) by 67 runs
Full match report along with individual reports can be downloaded from here
Performer of the Match: Dheeraj – MVP points 24.93 (Batting: 2.5 Bowling: 22.43)
Post-match presentation
Match 6: EMC versus IDM Cricketers 21st July 2013 (2:30pm – 5:30 pm)
EMC won the toss and elected to field
IDM Cricketers were playing back-to-back games. And having seen them struggle against GE’s bowling, EMC’s captain Sreekrishna was quick to pounce on the low confidence of the IDM Cricketers’s batsmen and inserted them in.
IDM Cricketers made a change and sent Swayam to bat at the top along with Sudhanshu. The move paid off well as both Sudhanshu and Swayam got stuck into some very loosw bowling by EMC. Only EMC’s new ball bowler Robin managed to have any control over the batsmen as all others struggled for consistency in lines and lengths in the powerplay.
Sudhanshu seemed particularly in murderous mood as he stroked 8 boundaries in his 25-ball knock of 43. Swayam, on the other end, played a measured innings giving as much of the strike possible to Sudhanshu and opened up once Sudhanshu was dismissed.
The introduction of vice-captain Jeethendra paid dividends as he accounted for Sudhanshu and then Kapil and Asheesh in quick succession. Any intentions of a a EMC fight-back was thwarted by Swayam who paced his innings masterfully with fluent strokes on the leg-side in particular. He batted through the innings giving the much needed anchor it missed in the last game and branched out in the end to remain unbeaten on 73 while pushing his team’s total to 180.
Chasing 9 an over against a tough opposition was always going to test the depth and caliber of any batting side and EMC were now facing the issues IDM Cricketers found themselves facing in the last game. Their inability to string any substantial partnerships ensured that there was no constant pressure on the IDM Cricketers’s bowling.
Only Fredrick, Jeethendra and captain Sreekrishna got into double figures but none went past the teens as EMC wilted under the pressure of chasing a monumental target eventually folding up for 88 in the 19th over. For EMC Cricketers, they had their second straight game with the ball with all their bowlers having a good time of it with the ball.
“We were unable to execute out plans well,” rued a disappointed Sreekrishna summing up his team’s dismal performance.
Brief scores: IDM Cricketers 150/5 in 20 overs (Swayam 73 not out (55b, 11X4, 1X6), Sudhanshu 43 (25b, 8X4), Jeethendra 3/31) beat EMC 88 all out in 18.5 overs (Chirag 13 (21b), Asheesh 2/3, Sudhanshu 4/11) by 92 runs
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