Post date: May 1, 2016 12:37:06 AM
Match: GPCL
Against: Knights
Venue : ECG- Barn End
Date : 17th Apr 2016
Team : Chaitanya, Varun, Pavan, Srinu, Suresh, Madhu, Vidya, Sourav, Shanmug, Aneesh, Sivaram
Pitch and Ground Conditions:
Our first match of GPCL this season, it was against Knights. Weather was perfect, no breeze, good pitch, good outfield, everything was just ideal for the opener of the season.
Toss:
Titans won the toss and without hesitation we elected to bat.
Batting:
Team opened with Madhu and Srinu, there was a little movement initially for the bowlers but not so much which could disturb the batsmen. Madhu and Srinu both played cautiously in the beginning, playing only the balls which are on the sticks, they did not lose any opportunity of running between the wickets, which actually put lot of pressure on the opponents. Compared to other teams, Knights were not very good fielding side so singles were abundant. Due the nature of outfield which was fast, anything in the gap gave 2+ runs. Both the batsmen were able to play little aggressively after initial period and at the end of 10 overs we were 60runs for 0 wickets. Just before the first drinks break, they brought in their spinners, by then team score was 85/0. Team reached 100 runs mark in 17th over without losing a wicket, which is almost at a rate of 6 runs, this when Srinu got out, caught and bowled by the bowler, he scored a well-made 39 runs.
As he got out Vidya who had padded in for long time, took some time before walking to the middle, he almost waited till Srinu who got out walked out of the boundary line, before walking in. Opponents appealed to the Umpire that there's a rule which says next batsmen should walk-in to the field before the batsman who got out leaves the field. There was an unwanted tension built due to this, finally Umpire has to call the Umpiring coordinator to check the rules, Fortunately Shanmug came running with his mobile to show the rule, if this incident happens for the first time, Umpire should give warning to the Team and he can give the batsman out next time. Luckily for us, Vidya who drove 3 hours from Maryland for this game was able to bat just with warning. Vidya, who was really pumped up after this incident, played a flamboyant innings which he’s known for, after defending couple of balls, he started scoring by lofting the bowler over the cover for a SIX, that defined how hungry he was to come into the middle. Madhu playing anchor innings and at the other end Vidya was exploding all the balls to different corners of the ground, quickly this partnership scored runs, at the end of 25th over when score was 148, Madhu got out trying to step down for a ball which was really outside the offstump, a simple catch to the fielder in point. After this Aneesh came to the middle, he's the new find of this season and very good batsman, also he's the only left handed batsman we have in our team, he hit a fabulous boundary sweeping the bowler on the on-side. Vidya by now had hit 4 sixes and completed his half-century in style, did not want to stay for long, he got out at 30th over when the score was around 190. Varun replaced him but due to pressure of scoring runs freely in power play overs, he got out trying to hit. Then came Sourav, the master campaigner, he started of cautiously, but he was lightening in running between the wickets. Anish and Sourav ran beautifully between wickets they had decent 30 runs stand, before Aneesh got out LBW, trying to slog pull the bowler. Shanmug who's Titan's HULK, joined Sourav and experienced duo made 20 runs in next 3 overs. Shanmug got out trying to hit the ball to KOP. Suresh joined Sourav and both of them played till the end, running between the wicket was again the key. Within notime Sourav also score half-century and remained notout at 57runs in just 29 balls. Titans finished the batting with a well-made 274 runs for the loss of 6 wickets.
Bowling:
We thought we had a good run in batting, but what bowlers did was totally outstanding, probably this could be a game where fielders were so relaxed because hardly there were any balls which travelled out of 30 yards line. Bowling started with Varun and Chaitanya, both bowled a very tight line and length was spot on, batsman have to play them. Varun took the first wicket with the ball which curved from offstump into the middle, beating the batsman who went completely in defensive position. Next over, Chaitanya bowled a tight line, there was a ball played in air towards point, Sivaram almost had in his hand before it was slipped, it was really good attempt to take that difficult catch. Varun again came back in 3 over and magnificently did maiden over with 3 wickets, 2 bowled and one lbw, one of them was well defended by batsman, but still ball bumped and hit the wicket, length and line was the key, batsman were really under pressure to play his balls, which was shattering all the defences and piercing through the bat-pad gaps. Chaitanya came from other end and this time he trapped the captain of Knights into an LBW decision. There was a relay catch, which landed safely in Vidya’s hand in the slip. Next over Varun plucked another bowled and made his first 5-wicket haul of the season, He took all these 5 wickets in 8 balls, it looked like (W.W.W.WW), no runs conceded. In the other end, Chaitanya also did similar achievement, completed his 5 wicket haul, and his 5 wickets bowling map looked like (W…W…Y…..WW.1..W) just 2 runs conceded. Shanmug took an easy catch to win this game.
Knights were all out for 24 runs, Varun 14/5 and Chaitanya 8/5.
All in all it was good victory, good start of the season. We can take lot of positives with this game however we still keep up similar striving for all the games we play.
Positives:
· Good Opening partnership, Good Middle order standing and Good Finish at the end.
· Excellent bowling, putting the ball in right areas. Fearless, good to watch
· Good running between the wickets.
Improvements:
· Let’s try to be consistent with what we are doing now.
Scorecard - http://cricclubs.com/GPCL/viewScorecard.do?matchId=645&clubId=48