Match report for 3rd T20 game against QCCC on 20th March 2016

Post date: Apr 06, 2016 1:54:22 PM

Below is the match report for game no.3 against QCCC.

The conditions were overcast and with rain forecast later in the evening, QCCC’s captain Chaitanya won the toss and elected to bat. FUCC playing 2nd game on the same day made some changes. Sunny E came in for Amit Tayade and Dennis Anthony replaced Sunny Kriplani.  Akash & Jayul opened for QCCC whereas Sukesh started the proceedings for FUCC.  Both openers knew how dangerous Sukesh can get with his new ball swing and started to play him cautiously. In the 2nd over, FUCC’s new pace sensation Harris Khan was introduced and showed his impact early on. The openers struggled to read his pace and bounce. The wet mat didn’t help and bowlers were losing their landing grip around the popping crease. Harris slipped quite a few times at the point of releasing the ball but luckily didn’t do a lot of damage to himself. QCCC openers took advantage of this and started attacking from both ends. The openers played some good shots and started taking calculated risks and scored at a brisk pace. FUCC’s 2nd quickest bowler Prashant was introduced in the 6th over but the runs continued to flow. Sukesh bowled beautifully in wet conditions and completed his quota of 4 overs upfront. Prashant got his line & length back in the 8th over and bowled with a great rhythm.  On the other hand QCCC were scoring at around 9 runs per over. Harissh’s off spinners were introduced to get a breakthrough but he was unable to make an early impact. Rahul was introduced in the 10th over and in the very 2nd ball got rid of Raj caught by Navanith at cover, thus FUCC drew the first blood and were looking forward to halt QCCC’s march towards a big total. In walked Anshuk at no. 3 and immediately you could see FUCC fielders on their toes as Anshuk is well known for his running between the wickets. Kayul and Anshuk kept the scoreboard ticking by running hard and scoring the odd boundary. Kayul was run out in the 14th over courtesy an exceptional piece of fielding by Prashant. His throw from mid-off hit the stumps direct and the batsman was found short of his crease. The new batsman Sandeep immediately showed his intent and hit a couple of quick boundaries. QCCC’s score at the end of the 16th over was 149 for 2 and the launch pad was set to reach a target of 200+ runs. Dennis, Prashant & Harris foiled QCCC’s plans and bowled superbly in the death overs. Dennis bowled a brilliant 16th over and surprised the batsmen by pace and Yorkers. Sandeep was brilliantly run out after a tag team effort of Raj & Prashant when he was trying to steal a 3rd run. Ankur walked in at the fall of the wicket and was looking to hit some big shots. However, he was run out when Prashant on his follow through fielded brilliantly and hit the stumps direct. Like Dennis, Prashant too bowled a great over.  Harris bowled the 19th over and kept QCCC’s scoring rate under control.  Dennis was given the responsibility of bowling the last over and he cleaned bowled Anshuk by his sheer pace.  All in all, a good display of death over bowling by Dennis, Prashant and Harris. QCCC notched up 179 runs for the loss of 5 wickets and FUCC knew they had to bat really well to win the game.

FUCC chasing for the 2nd time in a day and were confident after the way they batted against SPCC. None the less chasing 180 was a daunting task. FUCC opened with Rajan Thakur & Gaurav Parikh whereas Sumit Sethi opened the bowling for QCCC.  Raj started the boundary flow when he hit the 3rd ball of the innings to fine leg boundary for 4. In the next over, Gaurav played a lofted shot over the infield towards long on for a 4. Both Gaurav and Raj played aggressive shots mixed with cautions and started the run chase confidently. In the 3rdover Raj dispatched an overpitched delivery from Sumit to 6 over long on. One could sense that Raj was in for a big score. In the 4th over Gaurav showed his class by hitting 3 consecutive boundaries, the 1st two towards fine leg and the 3rd one towards backward point. FUCC was racing at over 10 runs per over and ended the 4thover at 41 for no loss after 4th over. The 5th over was no different with Raj hitting a 6 and a 4 towards backward point and FUCC reached 50 runs in just the 5th over.  Gaurav was dismissed against the run of play in the 6th over when he was caught at mid on by Mahesh off Sandeep’s bowling. In walked Rahul Mandewalker at no.3 and opened his account by hitting a 4 towards fine leg boundary. Rahul & Raj took advantage of the dropping body languages of QCCC players and started to run hard and score quickly. By the end of the 8th over FUCC had reached 83 for 1.  In the 9th over, Ankur who stood tall at 6’4 was introduced in the attack in order to extract some extra bounce and get rid of Raj who in turn took him to cleaners. Raj hit Ankur’s 1st 3 deliveries to boundaries and reached his fifty in just 25 balls. 21 runs were scored in the 9th over and FUCC was racing at a run rate of 12 runs per over. QCCC’s captain Chaitanya bowled the 10th over and the script was no different than before. He conceded 23 runs and at the 10th over mark, FUCC was 127 for 1. With clouds looming over the ground, both Raj and Rahul showed great presence of mind and knew the importance of gaining full six points and started accelerating at full throttle.  Both of them were just dealing in 4’s and 6’s. At the end of the 12th over FUCC had reached 160 for 1 and were on the home stretch.  It looked like both batsmen would take FUCC to victory but Rahul was dismissed in the 13th over when he was caught by Jayul at deep extra off Chaitanya. Rahul played a magnificent innings scoring 41 runs off just 22 balls which included 3 fours and 3 sixes. Sunny E walked in at no.4 and started rotating the strike immediately. Raj was in killer mode and was looking to finish game in least possible no. of balls. He finished the game by hitting the first ball of the 14thover for a six over deep mid-wicket.  At one stage, it looked like he might reach his maiden T20 century but fell short of 2 runs. A great match winning innings by FUCC’s stalwart batsman, He scored 98 runs off just 41 balls hitting 11 fours and 4 huge sixes. It was a treat to watch him play in full flow. A great combined team effort helped FUCC earn their 1st win in the 2016 T20 season.

Cheers,

Navanith