Match Report: Game 2 FUCC vs CKCC (AMKO) by Navnith Shetty

Post date: May 12, 2016 2:23:6 PM

FUCC vs CKCC, CCL DIV1, Game 2 @ Lakhani Cricket ground, Saturday May 7th 2016.

FUCC was traveling to Gastonia to play their 2nd game at Lakhany cricket ground against Charlotte Knights Cricket Club (CKCC). FUCC had 3 debutants Rohaan Gosala, Pramod Aglave & Harsha Rapala. FUCC’s captain Raj Thakur won the toss and elected to bat. Raj Thakur & Amit Tayade started the proceedings for FUCC and Rahmatullah & Swaraj opened the bowling for CKCC. Both the opening batsmen were cautious as CKCC bowlers bowled with great discipline and did not offer much width. The pitch offered some bounce and after negotiating the first few overs both batsmen started to score runs by lofting and cutting over the infield. Amit was dismissed against the run of play when Swaraj’s ball bounced awkwardly off good length and nicked the front glove and landed safely in Shyam’s hands. He took a good low diving catch to give CKCC their first breakthrough. At this stage FUCC were 25 for 1 at the end of the 6th over. Gaurav Parikh known for “Mark Greatbatch” kind of batting walked in at no.3. He made his intentions clear from ball 1 lofting anything in his zone over the infield. This prompted a change in bowling and Thouhid was introduced. Raj & Gaurav added another 14 runs before Raj was cleaned bowled by Thouhid’s skiddy fast ball thus leaving FUCC struggling at 39 for 2. CKCC players were surprised when they saw Bollywood’s veteran actor Anil Kapoor walk in at no.4 but upon closer look realized it was FUCC’s veteran star Sunny Kriplani. Sunny & Gaurav and started the rebuilding process by taking ones & twos. With Sunny taking the senior role, Gaurav curtailed most of his aerial shots and played on the merit of the ball. The pair looked set for a big partnership but Sunny was caught by Sarvana off Sridhar’s bowling. FUCC were 72 for 3 with a long batting line up to follow. Amit Trivedi joined Gaurav to cover the void left at the fall of Sunny’s wicket. Gaurav was back in the pavilion the very next over when he chased a loose delivery from Satish and edged it to the wicketkeeper. FUCC looked in trouble with the score reading at 72 for 4 at the end of 16 overs. Navanith walked in at no. 5 and alongside Amit Trievdi tried to stabilize the innings but CKCC bowler Sridhar delivered another blow by cleaning up Amit Trivedi. FUCC were 79 for 5 and looked heading towards a collapse. Sunil walked in no. 6 to form the “Sunil-Shetty” pair. Sunil looked in good touch and immediately started scoring runs. The pair put on another 10 runs before Sunil was caught in covers off a full toss from Saravana. FUCC looked in all kinds of trouble with the score reading 89 for 6.  Superman is called man of steel and so is FUCC’s Harissh Sundararaman, only difference being is that one is from Krypton and the other is from Thalaiva’s land Chennai. Harissh immediately got a sense of calm to FUCC’s innings and started to rebuild along with Navanith. The pair ran hard and scored an odd boundary without taking risks. The pair added another 24 runs before Navanith was caught at long on by Swaraj off Satish’s bowling. FUCC were 113 for 7 and in walked debutant Rohaan Gosala. He looked in good nick when his backfoot punch went for four towards cover boundary. Unfortunately a misunderstanding between Rohaan and Harissh resulted in him being run out. FUCC were 119 for 8. In walked another debutant Pramod Aglave who was making a comeback to cricket after an injury layoff. He looked solid with his defense and complimented Harissh who on the other hand started taking ones and twos and kept the scoreboard moving. Both batsmen knew that the key to posting a fighting total was playing the quota of 35 overs. The pair added 21 runs before Harissh was dismissed when he went for expansive lofted shot over mid-off and was nicely caught by Sridhar off Thouhid’s bowling. FUCC were 140 for 9 and somehow wanted to cross the 150 mark. The 3rd debutant Harsha joined Pramod in middle and the pair tried to squeeze in as many runs as possible. Harsha ran hard and Pramod played sensibly. Pramod was cleaned bowled by Thouhid with the score reading 148 thus FUCC ended a rather not very good outing with the bat.

CKCC needed 149 to win in 35 overs but FUCC players were determined not to give up. Swaraj and Shyam opened batting for CKCC whereas Navanith & Raj shared the new ball. After being watchful for the first 2 overs the batsmen attacked in the 3rd and 4th over and CKCC were 30 for no loss after 4 overs. Sunny K was introduced from the up slope end in order to give change of end for Navanith. Sunny K immediately controlled the scoring and Navanith was more effective from the down slope end. Shyam had already got 2 lives within the first 5 overs courtesy to dropped catches. Navanith cleaned up Shyam in the 8thover with the CKCC’s score reading 52. Sunny K got rid of no.3 batman Batsman Satish courtesy a brilliant stumping by wicket keeper Gaurav. Harissh was introduced in the 11th over and handed a double blow to CKCC by getting rid of the dangerous Swaraj and then had Sai lbw in the same over. CKCC’s batting innings was like a game of seesaw. The openers started very well but FUCC came back with 4 quick wickets. At this stage, FUCC has the upper hand on the game but the experienced Sarvana along with Sridhar rebuilded CKCC’s innings and at the half way mark CKCC were 100 for 4. Raj took over the wicket keeping duties as a result of an injury to Gaurav and immediately showed why he is the best keeper in CCL. He had Sai stumped down the leg side off the bowling off Rohaan and you could see the joy on the faces of FUCC players. They knew the importance of this breakthrough and sniffed a chance of getting back in the game. Thouhid joined the dangerous Sarvana in the middle. FUCC needed to see the back of Sarvana and Rohaan just delivered that by having him caught by Amit Tayade at long off boundary.  Rohaan was troubling the batsmen with his accurate line and length and very soon had Thouhid stumped brilliantly by Raj off Rohaan’s bowling. CKCC were struggling and to add to their misery Sunny clean bowled Rahmatullah with a brilliant inswing delivery. CKCC had 2 wickets in hand and still needed 27 runs. Rohaan almost had his 4th wicket when a mishit from the batsman couldn’t stick in Amit Tayade’s full length diving hands. The no.9 and no. 10 batsmen stuck around as bowlers tried to clean them up. The batting pair fought hard and added 20 runs with sheer hard work and some luck coming their way. After Rohaan, Sunny & Navanith had bowled out, Harissh was introduced to complete his quota of overs and boy he didn’t disappoint. CKCC needed another 7 runs when Harissh had the no. 9 batsman lbw. The game was heading towards a nail biting finish and the very next ball Harissh had the last batsman caught by Amit Tayade at mid-on. FUCC players erupted in joy and you could see what this victory meant to them. FUCC snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. A great contest between the 2 teams and eventually the team that kept their nerves won.

Cheers,

Navanith