Titans vs Prior August 09th, 2015 Playoffs at Prior field, Philadelphia.

Post date: Aug 11, 2015 9:55:05 PM

An EPIC victory !!!

Along the lines of Ramayana and Mahabharata comes another epic story starring Titans, the only difference is this one is real and I was part of it.

Chapter 1 - The Beginning

This story begins at Prior's Edgely cricket ground or as we would like to call it Prior National park. You know its going to be a great day when all Titans are at the field an hour before the game ready to take on the opponents. Sourav's lucky charm Prabhu won the toss and had no hesitation in opting to bat on a beautiful day for cricket. Prabhu's luck ended with the toss however when he got out in the first over trying to uncharacteristically hit the bowler over covers. He was caught at covers for 2 runs. What followed Prabhu's downfall was a period of calm and composure by two of our technically sound batsman in Madhu and Srinu. They batted together for 11 overs, slowly but steadily building a solid foundation. They were going at a healthy 4 runs per over with some exquisite drives , cuts and pulls . an all along the ground straight drive for four by Madhu standing out. When things were not going for the opponents they made the decision to change the attack to spin and it paid of well for them . Srinu edged a turning delivery by Rafiq Melath to first slip in his first over. In went Varun at 3, He and Madhu Played out till the first break when the score read 49 for 2.

Chapter 2 - Spinning out of our way

After the drinks break we started losing a flurry of wickets to spinners . First to go was Madhu bowled by Rafiq when he tried to go down the ground and completely missing the line of the ball. Madhu got out to a well made 25 runs. I am sure this innings has instilled some confidence in his batting after a horrible season for him personally without any luck. Next to go in was our second best batsman this season Manoj. Both Varun and Manoj tried to build a partnership but Manoj got caught trying to drive a ball through covers. The slowness of the mat wicket could have played a part in that dismissal. Varun was bowled by Kabir next for 7 runs. Suresh followed next getting out LBW. Titans were looking at yet another batting collapse at prior when the score read 66 for 6 in 18 overs. Sourav and Vidhya started a minor comeback with a partnership of 20 runs in 5 overs. Both looked fairly comfortable against the spin of Kabir and Rafiq. As fate would have it Sourav was run out trying to take a single . what would have been an easy single in any other ground got prior a run out due to the outfield as the ball stopped 10 yards from the bowling crease which prompted Vidhya to send back Sourav, but by that time Sourav had backed up too much and got run out for 7. Shanmuga came in next and was given LBW when he was struck in front of the wicket by Rafiq. Vidhya tried to salvage some runs but got out driving back to the bowler who took a diving catch . He made a patient 28 runs . Vineet went in last and could not score any as he became Rafiq's fifth victim. We were all out for 105 staring at defeat in this crucial game.

Chapter 3 - Nothing to Fear !!! Nothing to Lose !!!

The second innings started as expected with prior openers trying to attack their way to victory. Chaitu on one end was unplayable, bowling untouchable out swingers to Ankit Vora . Srinu did not look his menacing best due to a slight shoulder niggle he was carrying from an earlier game. As a result we gave away a few runs in the beginning. Prior's captain Faraz took a liking to our bowlers and the score raced to 30 for no loss after 4 overs. Sourav made the gut call to bring Vineet in early as pace was not doing the trick for us. The move paid off immediately as Vineet spun a web of his own removing Faraz LBW and Rafiq caught brilliantly at mid wicket by Manoj off consecutive deliveries to set things in motion for us. what followed was 8 overs of pure spin masterclass from Vineet and Suresh . Vineet got a third in his second over when he removed the second opener Ankit Vora off a brilliant catch by Madhu at Long on. Both of them bowled brilliantly giving very less away and keeping the pressure on the batsmen. Harshil who came in at no 5 couldn't handle the spin and got out hitting Suresh to Varun at short midwicket. In came Vishnu, Prior's most experienced batsman at no 6. He couldn't do much either and was caught behind by Manoj off the bowling of Suresh in the 12th over. The score read 50 for 5 at the break, truly a great comeback from the initial hiccup.

Chapter 4 - Its not over until its over !!!

Santosh who was batting at one end was trying to take the game away from us by hitting some lusty blows. Once the wickets started tumbling down he held back his aggression and tried to stem the flow of wickets. He had a useful partnership with Roshan who held one end by blocking our spinners and Santosh at the other end taking calculated risk to keep the score ticking. They carried on till 72 but Vineet had the final say. He trapped Roshan for a well deserved fourth wicket. Prior required 34 runs with 4 wickets in hand and 21 overs yet to be bowled. Sourin who came in at no 8 had one aim in mind, to stay till the end. Both Santosh and Sourin held the fort for Prior and the score was moving at a steady pace. Both Batsmen played out our spinners with a lot of luck from the umpire as well as catches not carrying to the fielders. with 12 runs to get and 4 wickets in hand they must have felt the game in their hand but our very own Sourav Chandidas Ganguly had different plans. He made a masterstroke decision to bring back our pacers Varun and CHaitanya . There is a reason Chaitanya is in the top 5 wicket takers in the league and he showed us why. What was inarguably the best over of the game he removed Santosh by having him caught brilliantly by that man Madhu again at long on and in the very next ball trapped Prior's noisy keeper krishna LBW for a duck. The match turned on its head and there was no turning back for us now. Chaitu and Varun bowled 6 brilliant overs at the end and Prior Batsmen were just trying to block the ball and get runs off of extras as runs were hard to come by off the bat. we kept the pressure up by setting attacking fields and they could do nothing about it. The 9th wicket fell with 10 runs required when Chaitu had Kabir caught by you know who at mid off. The final wicket fell when Saurin skied it to Varun off chaitu in the 30th over . Events leading to the catch was a deadly silence on the ground till he caught the ball and everyone on the field lost it after he caught it. Titans prevailed and Prior had fallen !!! Words cannot describe the emotions we felt as a team yesterday and Reminded everyone why we love this game very much. If family comes first I am very sure Cricket comes a very very close second to all the guys in our team. Our comeback was complete !!! Our Epic story was complete !!! we live to fight another day and I am sure we will come all guns blazing for the next fight .

Positives from the Game

1. Bowling of Suresh, Vineet, Chaitu and Varun.

2. Our spin bowling is showing us that there are more than one way to take wickets. Pace bowlers beware !!!

3. Catching was excellent today. Hardly any drops from our fielders. chances that were put down were less than half chances.

4. Fighting spirit defending a small total.

5. Our batting showed some glimpses of form even though the score doesn't reflect it.

Score Card

Match # 9926

Titans Cricket Club v/s Prior Cricket Club

Prior Ground

08/09/2015(40-over match)