We lost the toss and were asked to field on a pitch that offered a bit
too the bowlers and played reasonable well for the batsmen.... Our
bowlers made a decent start by keeping the runs in check in the first
10 overs with the score at 62 for 0... our Bowling in the next 10 overs
was quite ordinary and lacked the bite.... the opposition batsmen took
advantage and helped by the two terrible and crucial umpiring decisions,
which were clearly out but given not out.... the opposition made the
most of it and going at almost 10 runs an over thereafter, posted a
slightly high par score of 156/3 in 20....
Vipul and myself opened the innings and Vipul in particular was very severe on the bowlers, punishing even the slightest errors in line and length.... he got out in the 4th over, having slightly misjudged the length and maybe guilty of playing across the line.. Sanket came in next and was quickly into his stride.... having got a life on difficult skier, he played a delightful cut shot and followed it up with a ominous pull shot and suddenly we were 64/1 in 7 overs.... going as well as we were, with the introduction of spin, the pressure was on and Sanket played back to a ball which maybe he should have played forward to and was clean bowled.... Niket came in next and with the spinners finding a nice rhythm, scoring became difficult I remember playing a beautiful late cut to quicker delivery bowled by the left arm off spinner, that went for a boundary and that was made possible by the reverse sweep I tried to play on the ball before.... the right arm off spinner, bowling from the other end was making things difficult and we weren't helping our cause by not rotating the strike enough.... in his third over, having anticipated the block hole/fuller length delivery, I took him for back to back boundaries.... when Niket got out in the 13th over, the match was nicely poised at 93/3....
Jugal, was the next batsman and struggled against some quality spin bowling and got out trying to break the shackles.... with the loss of the 5th wicket in the next over, the game was slightly in the opposition's favor with 11 runs an over, the asking rate.... again I felt the main reason was that, the new batsmen were unable to rotate the strike.... Ram was the next batsman in, having gotten a few sighters, he started playing his shots.... needing 33 off 3 overs, we got 3 boundaries and 3 singles in an over and it was down to 18 in 12 balls.... I remember, I had a word with Ram and asked him to firstly calm down and take the singles and twos and then look for the bad balls (to close out the match).... I don't know what he tried to do but the next two balls, he took two big heaves at the ball, the second one costing him his wicket and we needed 18 in 10.. Ayaz was in next and he too took two mighty swipes getting out on the 4th ball.... the bowler in question, Pritpal then maybe tried to pull a a-la-ShoaibAkhtar, by leaving the stumps and coming in my way as I ran outside of the wicket to complete a quick single, and maybe having failed in that attempt, he found it necessary maybe to stamp on my foot as he was shoved away by the momentum of the run....
Neil came in next and finally someone took a single to get me on strike.... needing 16 off 7 balls I walked across the stumps as the bowlers were bowling wide outside the off stump and to my surprise, the bowler bowled a good length ball on the middle stump, knowing that the fineleg was in the 30 yard circle I played it fine off the middle of the bat and for a second I thought it went for 4 as I was running, I turned briefly to look where the ball had gone and to my dismay it went straight to the fielder there and my late attempt to make it to the non strikers end, hampered by the foot stamping incident a few balls earlier.... I was left just short of the crease at the non strikers end.... after my run out, we needed 15 off the last over and although we managed a couple of big hits, we needed 6 off the last ball, which was not to be.. in the end we lost by 4 runs.... yes, couple of decisions went against us and an incident too marred the proceedings, but the opposition bowled and maybe also fielded better than us in that match and in the end were the well deserved winners of that match....
The second match though was another story altogether....
We fielded first again for the second match and the opposition, with their confidence up, and led by their captain Ram, had a great start and finished with a flourish to set up a target of 100 to win off 10 overs....
Neil and Umar, for a change, opened the batting this time and Neil was out trying to pull the ball to the squareleg boundary, as the ball maybe got big on him and he ended up top edging the ball for the fielder to complete the catch.... Umar was on song from the word go.. he literally smashed all the bowlers around the park and his final demolition act being that of Pritpal, where, in one over, he hit FIVE of the six balls for BOUNDARIES......... he made a 38 in 14 balls before he retired.... Sanket too put the opposition bowlers to the sword and, with 5 boundaries, made a 15 ball 27.... Harshit and Niket then completed the formalities by overhauling the target in 6.4 overs, for a comprehensive and well deserved victory....
Well played to both the teams for two wonderful games of cricket, it was a pleasure meeting some new players and hope we can play some matches in the bear future. Last but not least, fabulous ground and wonderful facility, thanks to Ram and Niket for inviting us for the matches, look forward to playing with you all again
Vipul and myself opened the innings and Vipul in particular was very severe on the bowlers, punishing even the slightest errors in line and length.... he got out in the 4th over, having slightly misjudged the length and maybe guilty of playing across the line.. Sanket came in next and was quickly into his stride.... having got a life on difficult skier, he played a delightful cut shot and followed it up with a ominous pull shot and suddenly we were 64/1 in 7 overs.... going as well as we were, with the introduction of spin, the pressure was on and Sanket played back to a ball which maybe he should have played forward to and was clean bowled.... Niket came in next and with the spinners finding a nice rhythm, scoring became difficult I remember playing a beautiful late cut to quicker delivery bowled by the left arm off spinner, that went for a boundary and that was made possible by the reverse sweep I tried to play on the ball before.... the right arm off spinner, bowling from the other end was making things difficult and we weren't helping our cause by not rotating the strike enough.... in his third over, having anticipated the block hole/fuller length delivery, I took him for back to back boundaries.... when Niket got out in the 13th over, the match was nicely poised at 93/3....
Jugal, was the next batsman and struggled against some quality spin bowling and got out trying to break the shackles.... with the loss of the 5th wicket in the next over, the game was slightly in the opposition's favor with 11 runs an over, the asking rate.... again I felt the main reason was that, the new batsmen were unable to rotate the strike.... Ram was the next batsman in, having gotten a few sighters, he started playing his shots.... needing 33 off 3 overs, we got 3 boundaries and 3 singles in an over and it was down to 18 in 12 balls.... I remember, I had a word with Ram and asked him to firstly calm down and take the singles and twos and then look for the bad balls (to close out the match).... I don't know what he tried to do but the next two balls, he took two big heaves at the ball, the second one costing him his wicket and we needed 18 in 10.. Ayaz was in next and he too took two mighty swipes getting out on the 4th ball.... the bowler in question, Pritpal then maybe tried to pull a a-la-ShoaibAkhtar, by leaving the stumps and coming in my way as I ran outside of the wicket to complete a quick single, and maybe having failed in that attempt, he found it necessary maybe to stamp on my foot as he was shoved away by the momentum of the run....
Neil came in next and finally someone took a single to get me on strike.... needing 16 off 7 balls I walked across the stumps as the bowlers were bowling wide outside the off stump and to my surprise, the bowler bowled a good length ball on the middle stump, knowing that the fineleg was in the 30 yard circle I played it fine off the middle of the bat and for a second I thought it went for 4 as I was running, I turned briefly to look where the ball had gone and to my dismay it went straight to the fielder there and my late attempt to make it to the non strikers end, hampered by the foot stamping incident a few balls earlier.... I was left just short of the crease at the non strikers end.... after my run out, we needed 15 off the last over and although we managed a couple of big hits, we needed 6 off the last ball, which was not to be.. in the end we lost by 4 runs.... yes, couple of decisions went against us and an incident too marred the proceedings, but the opposition bowled and maybe also fielded better than us in that match and in the end were the well deserved winners of that match....
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| First Match T20 |
The second match though was another story altogether....
We fielded first again for the second match and the opposition, with their confidence up, and led by their captain Ram, had a great start and finished with a flourish to set up a target of 100 to win off 10 overs....
Neil and Umar, for a change, opened the batting this time and Neil was out trying to pull the ball to the squareleg boundary, as the ball maybe got big on him and he ended up top edging the ball for the fielder to complete the catch.... Umar was on song from the word go.. he literally smashed all the bowlers around the park and his final demolition act being that of Pritpal, where, in one over, he hit FIVE of the six balls for BOUNDARIES......... he made a 38 in 14 balls before he retired.... Sanket too put the opposition bowlers to the sword and, with 5 boundaries, made a 15 ball 27.... Harshit and Niket then completed the formalities by overhauling the target in 6.4 overs, for a comprehensive and well deserved victory....
Well played to both the teams for two wonderful games of cricket, it was a pleasure meeting some new players and hope we can play some matches in the bear future. Last but not least, fabulous ground and wonderful facility, thanks to Ram and Niket for inviting us for the matches, look forward to playing with you all again
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