First of all congratulations to our bowlers for rallying and defending a
par score on yet another two paced uneven bounce wicket, that, although
had a decent cover of grass on it, the balls kept horribly low at times
and on rare balls, even took off from a length....
We won the toss and opted to bat, myself and Akshay Bhatia opened the innings and we got off to a good start with some boundaries (which were too long at some corners, so we ran some 2's and 3's).. Some balls were coming onto the bat nicely, while some held up a bit on the pitch.... Akshay got out in the 5th over to a ball that he could have done better with.. I think a shot was on, but he played it too early.... Yaeesh came in early today and looked a bit tentative to start with.. but just as he started settling in, in the 8th over, he got out... I too got out in the over before, to a fullish length ball that took off and hit the makers label and the ball spooned gently for an easy catch to short cover.... Neil came in next, he and Jugal ran a couple of quick 2's/3s and had couple of heated exchanges on the pitch, not with the opposition, but with each other.... and in the middle of it all, Neil was given out Lbw to a ball bowled from around the wicket, that could've pitched outside the leg stump.... There were some debatable decisions through the game, where several wides were not given when we batted and were given when they batted and two dead straight lbw's were not given when we bowled, although these were neutral umpires, they were arranged for by the opposition, and maybe that's why inconsistency in their decisions....
We were 4 down for 56 in 9/10 overs and needed a partnership.. Jugal and Umar's partnership looked promising and Umar didn't waste any time, he started belting the ball in his trademark counter attacking style, but took one chance too many, and had his stumps rattled on last ball of the 13th over, in the next over Karan got out and we were reeling at 92/6....
In walked Mr Cool.. with a point to prove.... yes our very own Ramesh Powar.... In the meantime, a well set Jugal had a lapse of concentration and gave away his wicket.. at a time when he should've carried his bat towards the end... Akshay Kamble who came in lower down the order, did a fabulous job.... earlier, in anticipation of our possible batting collapse, I had kept Akshay for holding together the innings and taking it to the end... and he played his part to perfection... first with Ayaz and then with Rohit, he had two small but well compiled partnerships.. he made both of them run quick 2's, 3's and 4's and esp in case of Ayaz Powar it was superb hustling
Rohit came in at the fall of Ayaz's wicket and in the last over, took
the bowling apart.... slamming two boundaries and helping score 16 off
the last over.. we ended up with a par score of 141/9
Stellar bowling performance overall, Neil and Umar bowled fabulous lines and lengths on a pitch which was by now becoming easier to bat on.. the way they moved the ball, be it coming sharply into the batsman or be it leaving them and beating them all ends up.... one needed to be in very good form to even knick the ball.. Bowling add good as they were, we didn't have the heart to take them out off the attack and bowled them out, Neil finished with figures of 4-0-18-2 and Umar with similar figures of 4-0-13-1. And with a paltry 34/3 in 8 overs the opposition were already on the mat... But there was a slight twist in the tale to come..
I should say a twist on the tale followed by the twist on the tail..
Aabid and Karan both had forgettable first overs
giving away almost 10 runs each and the batsman suddenly seemed to have
the momentum and the shots that were found wanting in the first 8
overs.... we brought on Yaeesh and Akshay with their left arm off spin
and both bowled nervous first overs and that again went in favor of the
opposition team, but then, they were completely bamboozled by Yaeesh's
fine and accurate off spin, he single handedly brought them down one by
one and it was so tragic for their skipper who seemed to be in control,
but thanks to Yaeesh, he was left watching as mute spectator to this
fine spell of off spin bowling, I would say very close to the 12 wickets
that Jadeja took in the recent test match.... well played team and I
want to make a special mention of the better fielding efforts from all
in this match, Ayaz included.... also fabulous and much improved wicket
keeping by Akshay.... (as thankless a job, as it is) well played guys,
happy republic day and happy weekend, jai hind!!!!!!!!!
We won the toss and opted to bat, myself and Akshay Bhatia opened the innings and we got off to a good start with some boundaries (which were too long at some corners, so we ran some 2's and 3's).. Some balls were coming onto the bat nicely, while some held up a bit on the pitch.... Akshay got out in the 5th over to a ball that he could have done better with.. I think a shot was on, but he played it too early.... Yaeesh came in early today and looked a bit tentative to start with.. but just as he started settling in, in the 8th over, he got out... I too got out in the over before, to a fullish length ball that took off and hit the makers label and the ball spooned gently for an easy catch to short cover.... Neil came in next, he and Jugal ran a couple of quick 2's/3s and had couple of heated exchanges on the pitch, not with the opposition, but with each other.... and in the middle of it all, Neil was given out Lbw to a ball bowled from around the wicket, that could've pitched outside the leg stump.... There were some debatable decisions through the game, where several wides were not given when we batted and were given when they batted and two dead straight lbw's were not given when we bowled, although these were neutral umpires, they were arranged for by the opposition, and maybe that's why inconsistency in their decisions....
We were 4 down for 56 in 9/10 overs and needed a partnership.. Jugal and Umar's partnership looked promising and Umar didn't waste any time, he started belting the ball in his trademark counter attacking style, but took one chance too many, and had his stumps rattled on last ball of the 13th over, in the next over Karan got out and we were reeling at 92/6....
In walked Mr Cool.. with a point to prove.... yes our very own Ramesh Powar.... In the meantime, a well set Jugal had a lapse of concentration and gave away his wicket.. at a time when he should've carried his bat towards the end... Akshay Kamble who came in lower down the order, did a fabulous job.... earlier, in anticipation of our possible batting collapse, I had kept Akshay for holding together the innings and taking it to the end... and he played his part to perfection... first with Ayaz and then with Rohit, he had two small but well compiled partnerships.. he made both of them run quick 2's, 3's and 4's and esp in case of Ayaz Powar it was superb hustling
Stellar bowling performance overall, Neil and Umar bowled fabulous lines and lengths on a pitch which was by now becoming easier to bat on.. the way they moved the ball, be it coming sharply into the batsman or be it leaving them and beating them all ends up.... one needed to be in very good form to even knick the ball.. Bowling add good as they were, we didn't have the heart to take them out off the attack and bowled them out, Neil finished with figures of 4-0-18-2 and Umar with similar figures of 4-0-13-1. And with a paltry 34/3 in 8 overs the opposition were already on the mat... But there was a slight twist in the tale to come..
I should say a twist on the tale followed by the twist on the tail..
No comments:
Post a Comment