Let me start off by saying that we are becoming better and better
at playing on difficult wickets.... I say that because, although the
wicket became easy towards the last quarter of our innings and the whole
of the opposition innings.. it was a bowlers wicket particularly in the
first half of our innings.... and in that aspect, Neil's innings today
was fabulous, yes, he had two chances and knicked/edged the ball a
couple of times, but he stood firm, held his own ground and the rest is
history, I think some of the big shots he played were on par with those
of Umar and Ayaz.. of course all of them are beyond compare... in my
honest opinion, this is probably his best knock and although he got out
on 98 playing a loose stroke, to me it was a century if not more..
Umar's innings was equally good and his brutal striking put the match well beyond the opposition.... he was merciless in his approach and destroyed+demolished the opposition bowlers, he was severe on everyone and butchered anything that was full or short, if I was a bowler bowling to Umar today, I would take a break or two from cricket or probably a long holiday, he made a whirlwind 73 off 32..
And I would like to make a special mention of Akshay Bhatia's innings, he along with Mayur at first and later with Neil played a strokeful and purposeful knock of 27 and helped navigate our innings to where we eventually reached and mind you, we got all out in the 32nd over to the oppositions relief and to Deva's fury, he was terribly horribly upset with Nagesh for having got out how he got out because he knew he would get out how he got out, as confusing at that sounds, in Deva's point of view it's very simple, he called it.
After the blitzkrieg/midday mayhem.... everyone took a much needed break.... we resumed the battle post lunch, Neil and Umar started the proceedings and their captain took his chances a bit and got them off the mark, he was supported well from the other end by who we thought was a solid batsman.... but 'it' was not to be.... the batsman who Umar bowled a few bouncers to was actually a batswoman (not the fake Anaarkali in our group photo....) but the real deal.. and to top it all, she made gritty 50 odd runs.... the captain perished early in the chase and he was replaced by a batsman who had neither the ambition to make good the chase nor the drive to better his strike rate.. Umar and Neil bowled the balls in the right areas and asked a question or 10 to the batsmen, never allowing them to settle.... by the end of their opening spells (10 overs or so) the ball had lost most of its shine and the wicket was dead beat dry... so we started with the spin off Yaeesh and Tahir, Yaeesh was a bit on the shorter side in the first over but came back well in the next over and after bowled a fabulous spell of spin.. a-la-jadeja.... 3 of his balls turned square and on a by then, flat wicket.. they beat the batsman 'all ends up' he also bowled stone real accurate quicker balls that somehow missed the stumps and also at times hit the pads but were given not out.... Tahir bowled a good first over and kept it tight and had the batsmen playing and missing atleast 5 times in his 5 overs.... but then half their side was back in the pavilion and they needed 200 off 18 overs, so we brought on Mayur and Akshay and both bowled teasing lines and got us two more wickets and by the time we were in the last few overs the asking taste was well above 15 an over and hardly any wickets left.. when it all ended and we shook hands, the expression on their captains face, could well be read as, "so glad it's over".......
I just want to add that, this season, so far, is probably the best we have played in the last two years or so.. thanks largely due to our individual game improvement, our ability/attitude/confidence while playing in difficult conditions, our gelling together as a unit and most importantly thanks to the improvement in our bowling, which can only become better by raising the standards of our fielding, which has been ordinary, to say the least.... maybe some fielding practice is called for....
Well played team!! I think now we are 9 wins in 11, fantastic going guys!!!!
Also if I was to rate our bowling, batting and fielding for this match, on a scale of 1 to 10.. I'd give....
Bowling 7
Batting 8
Fielding 4
Umar's innings was equally good and his brutal striking put the match well beyond the opposition.... he was merciless in his approach and destroyed+demolished the opposition bowlers, he was severe on everyone and butchered anything that was full or short, if I was a bowler bowling to Umar today, I would take a break or two from cricket or probably a long holiday, he made a whirlwind 73 off 32..
And I would like to make a special mention of Akshay Bhatia's innings, he along with Mayur at first and later with Neil played a strokeful and purposeful knock of 27 and helped navigate our innings to where we eventually reached and mind you, we got all out in the 32nd over to the oppositions relief and to Deva's fury, he was terribly horribly upset with Nagesh for having got out how he got out because he knew he would get out how he got out, as confusing at that sounds, in Deva's point of view it's very simple, he called it.
After the blitzkrieg/midday mayhem.... everyone took a much needed break.... we resumed the battle post lunch, Neil and Umar started the proceedings and their captain took his chances a bit and got them off the mark, he was supported well from the other end by who we thought was a solid batsman.... but 'it' was not to be.... the batsman who Umar bowled a few bouncers to was actually a batswoman (not the fake Anaarkali in our group photo....) but the real deal.. and to top it all, she made gritty 50 odd runs.... the captain perished early in the chase and he was replaced by a batsman who had neither the ambition to make good the chase nor the drive to better his strike rate.. Umar and Neil bowled the balls in the right areas and asked a question or 10 to the batsmen, never allowing them to settle.... by the end of their opening spells (10 overs or so) the ball had lost most of its shine and the wicket was dead beat dry... so we started with the spin off Yaeesh and Tahir, Yaeesh was a bit on the shorter side in the first over but came back well in the next over and after bowled a fabulous spell of spin.. a-la-jadeja.... 3 of his balls turned square and on a by then, flat wicket.. they beat the batsman 'all ends up' he also bowled stone real accurate quicker balls that somehow missed the stumps and also at times hit the pads but were given not out.... Tahir bowled a good first over and kept it tight and had the batsmen playing and missing atleast 5 times in his 5 overs.... but then half their side was back in the pavilion and they needed 200 off 18 overs, so we brought on Mayur and Akshay and both bowled teasing lines and got us two more wickets and by the time we were in the last few overs the asking taste was well above 15 an over and hardly any wickets left.. when it all ended and we shook hands, the expression on their captains face, could well be read as, "so glad it's over".......
I just want to add that, this season, so far, is probably the best we have played in the last two years or so.. thanks largely due to our individual game improvement, our ability/attitude/confidence while playing in difficult conditions, our gelling together as a unit and most importantly thanks to the improvement in our bowling, which can only become better by raising the standards of our fielding, which has been ordinary, to say the least.... maybe some fielding practice is called for....
Well played team!! I think now we are 9 wins in 11, fantastic going guys!!!!
Also if I was to rate our bowling, batting and fielding for this match, on a scale of 1 to 10.. I'd give....
Bowling 7
Batting 8
Fielding 4
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