The Final & decisive blow !
The month long Spandan Cricket tournament for the year 2008 came to an end with a thrilling game in the finals . The Match played between Rakesh's XI and Nitin's XI got underway at 3 pm . The weather was hot and there was no sign of any breeze blowing . Nitin's XI won the toss and elected to bat first . During the little warm up ( prior to the start of the match) we had , I wasn't bowling well , often bowling short and spraying the ball all over the pitch . My friends and supporters who were sitting outside the field felt that I wasnt at my best and it will be a huge gamble ! I was disapointed with the way I was bowling . I picked up a broom and cleaned the extra amount of sand which was there at the bowling crease which was creating some problem for me . As usual Chandru opened the bowling for us . I was supposed to bowl from the other end and partner him at the start of the innings . The first 2 overs bowled by me were absolute Jaffa ! Often beating the batsman edge and making the batsman play false shot . I got the first breakthrough when Pradeep hit straight to one of the ATM building wall and the ball richoeted back to me . I went to fetch the ball and run him out with an underarm throw . I had one stump to aim at and I was fortunate and lucky that I was right on target .
In the second over of my spell , apart from a dubious No ball decision , every ball was a dot and that kept a strong check on the opposition . I was about to give way for the second change bowler and suddenly " Yours truly - Srinidhi " yelled - You are in a midst of good spell , have one more go ! I took his words and started the over . A sharp chance was put down by Anna and a tough stumping chance was spilled by Guru . But kudos to their effort that kept me going . Meanwhile , Ankit was trying to unsettle me with whatever he could do like : holding the bat with single hand and asked me to start my run - up , dancing down the track , trying to slog me ... I hit him twice on his body , the second one hit to the unorthodox stump :P ! On that , Guru was constantly chirping and said - " You have already hit him twice , this time I want to hear the noise of the timber ! " . Boy .. his words came true and when ankit charged down , I followed him and had his leg stump pegged back ! Srinidhi's words did wonders and we were back in the game . Anna and Jadoo bowled miserly to keep the run rate in check by striking crucial blows at the right moment . We restricted them to 69 runs in stipulated 12 overs .
Given the batting line up we had in our ranks , this target was easily chaseable ! Jadoo - the saviour in all the previous games was out on the 2nd ball without troubling the scorecard . I went and replaced him at the strike . After facing 2 balls , I went for an over ambitious pull shot - which wasnt a pull shot although coz i was undone by the bounce and with the slowness of the ball , I tried to whip it . Result : A dolly catch for the wicket keeper . At the end of 1st over - the score was 2/2 . In the next over , Karthik and Anna got out and by the end of over number two , the score was 4 / 4 . In the 4th over , Guru snicked one and the score read 11 / 5 . OMG !! I thought the game was over and most of the spectators who were at the ground already had a result in mind . In came , the hero of the day - Silver Spoon Silpakumar akka Chandru ! When he arrived at the crease , Srinidhi also did not open his account ! Sri said to Chandru - " All you have to do is Hang on there ... Dont worry I will score all the runs " - To this Chandru nodded his head in a calm and polite manner . The first two balls Chandru faced , he scampered for two 2 quick runs . He felt some pain in his legs and asked for a runner . Guru charged on the ground and said Chandru just defend the ball . After the fourth over , the first change bowler Nagesh arrived at the scene . Chandru calmy played down the first three balls and deposited the 4th ball outside the ropes bringing much to the delight of the spectators who came to watch the match . The next ball was also sent out of the ground bringing much cheer to the dressing room and team as well . To that shot Guru whispered to Chandru - " You have already hit 6 per over da..we are above the required rate " . Chandru kept sending the ball out of the park bringing no change to the result but listening to various comments and valuable tips from Guru and Sri . Every over's last ball was played for a single by Chandru and not allowing Sri to have a go !
In the meanwhile , Jadoo was giving all the tips he could give to Sagar as he was the last batsman . Myself and jadoo are bit superstitious in our approach. We urged people not to move from their places . Sit in the same position as the audience were , Making Anna lean on the tree , Asking Rajshekar and Sumit to stand wherevre they were ! When Chandru hit the final and decisive blow , Sri had scored 6 runs and Chandru had stolen the show and was in the limelight for scoring 52 runs in just 32 balls . As soon as he hit the ball , he started running on the ground as football players do when they score a goal ! We all ran on the ground and caught him ... Congratulated him and took him to the pond and threw him in the pond !
Wow !! What a match that was ! Nobody thought that we would win the match . The oppostion team ( Our seniors - now Alumni ) were bit complacent in their approach and thought that game was over when they had rocked and ripped the top order when the score read 11 / 5 and requiring only 2 more wickets to wrap up the match ! We shook hands with our seniors and then had a traditional victory lapse !
Thanks Chandru for putting such an extra ordinary performance and making this day memorable ! Now we are the IIIT B Champions - The UNBEATABLES !
Overall , The highest run getter in the tournament was Jadoo with 102 Runs , I scored 51 runs and picked 10 wickets ( Highest wicket taker ) and effected 4 run outs ! Hope , I will come back strongly with my batting performance in the E - Cup hosted by NTTF .
And as promised to my team members , we went for a treat @ Dominos ! Some snaps were clicked by Guru , click here to view them !
You can read the posts by the batsman themselves on the eve of the match here and here
posted by Munna / Rakesh @ 3:56 PM,
1 Comments:
At March 10, 2008 at 4:30 PM,
Big Foot said...