A walk in the park ...

The summer of 2022 is here and we expected a heated game in the middle against the newly assembled Sentinels team. The game started with the stand-in captain winning the toss ( for a change ) and the opposition captain demanding a do-over because they didn’t ‘call the toss’.

We started like we normally do and gave nothing away in the first few overs and the powerplay ended with the Titans squeezing hard and picking a couple of wickets.

Well typically you would expect the vastly experienced Puneet( the McGrath of Titans) to know the basic rules of cricket, but to our surprise, we were informed today that he shouldn’t be bowling fast with a short Run-up, this distracts the batsmen and affects their concentration. Unfortunately due to this, the batsman lost his wicket and Puneet added to the huge pile of his wickets that he has accumulated over the years.

I and Puneet promptly apologized to the batsman for bowling fast with a small run-up and for swinging and seaming the ball !! We also promised to consult him for settling the field while he was batting and thanked him for his unparalleled knowledge of the game.

Just kidding! We gave a send-off that made him throw away his bat on the pitch only to be picked up by the incoming batsman.

We continued the squeeze and they folded for 55/8 in their allotted overs, not before they had staged a resurrection of some sorts fueled largely by some lapses in the Titans fielding, something we all will agree that would need to be worked on at practice.

We went into the chase with a clear mindset of playing our shots and sticking to our natural game as batsmen. We did lose our openers quickly however, today was the day we were going to be entertained by some exquisite shot-making by Raviraj, there was an instance when the Titans, SCC, and the Volcanoes players stood up to applaud a sumptuous cover drive that sped through the covers and banged on the mat storage box, at this time the Sentinels were deflated and demoralized, Pawanesh piled on to their misery by some very calculated and smart batting exploiting gaps on the field as well as their fielding techniques. To our immense pleasure, the pair wrapped up the game quickly, ensuring a comfortable win for the Titans.

A walk in the (Veterans) park.

Man of the match is Raviraj for his batting, though Puneet should have ended with a 5fer had we held on to our catches.

This was a very satisfying win despite the let-off on the field, our batting is starting to show gumption. The bowlers are lethal as usual and the team environment makes me want to be on the field all the time.

We would like to thank another Ravi ( the legend ) for his contribution to the team not just for umpiring today but all throughout last year as well, it’s people like Ravi who remind you that contributions to our team are not just on the field.

We break for the American Independence Day with Titans atop the league standings, waiting for the Mad Captain to return from his trip and lead us again.

We have some tough games coming up and will need to continue the hardworking culture that has defined this season.