 finals between Triad Leopard Cricket Club (TLCC) and Fun Unlimited Cricket Club (FUCC). It felts like the mid-90s’ when India, Sri- Lanka played each other every often. Both the teams were going to face each other for the 5th time this year. TLCC defeated FUCC in the Triad T20 opening game and were confident of achieving the same feat again. Little did they know that 2 out of 3 Kalakeya boys didn’t play the opening game? Sukesh & Vinod joined Sunil to complete the Kalakeya trio for the final match. The sun was out and the wind was minimal on a cold Sunday morning. TLCC captain Rizwan won the toss and invited FUCC to bat first. FUCC had scored 200 runs a day earlier against a quality HPCC attack and were riding high on confidence. FUCC started the proceedings with their superstar opener Rajan Thakur and a master in the making Amit Tayade who was feeling very confident after reaching his maiden fifty the previous day. For TLCC Rizwan started with the new bowl and had a long on & long off for Raj. TLCC knew getting Raj early would shift the momentum completely in their favor. Such is the aura of this man that everyone in CCL talks about his phenomenal batting skills. Both the openers started cautiously and had to run hard as the damp outfield prevented the ball from travelling. Kamran started the 2nd over and immediately tested Amit with a quick short bowl. The bowl hit Amit on the hand and Kamran thought he had ruffled the batsman. He tried the same bowl again but this time Amit fiercely cut him over point region for a boundary. Kamran realized he was bowling to a technically sound batsman and will have to work very hard to get Amit’s wicket. With a damp outfield and the bowl swinging, runs were coming at a less than the desired rate. Amit tried to up the tempo and in the process ended up nicking to the keeper off Kamran’s bowling. Thus TLCC had drawn the first blood with the score on 13 in 3.3 overs. In walked “SUNIL THE STAR” and it didn’t look like he was about to play his first delivery. The very first bowl was dispatched to the cover boundary and we knew he was in for another special knock. Sunil took the attack to the opposition bowling by hitting 2 more fours straight down the ground and gained momentum for FUCC. Raj too joined in and together they had a partnership of 30 runs in just 16 balls. Sunil was dismissed against the run of play when he was brilliantly caught by Rizwan. FUCC were 46/2 in 6.1 overs. In walked one of the most experienced FUCC batsmen who happened to play cricket across 3 continents. Sunny K/Sunny Sr. joined Raj in the middle and started nudging singles and doubles. Sunny seemed like an ideal partner to Raj as he was frequently rotating the strike until he was undone by a full toss from Tanvir. Sunny Sr. was c&b by Tanvir for a personal score of 8 runs and FUCC seemed in trouble at 59/3 in 9 overs. Next in was FUCC flamboyant stroke maker. The man who sailed FUCC’s ship in the knockout stages of Carolina Cricket League. Rahul Mandewalker was in tremendous form after bagging man of the match awards in CCL’s semi-final and final match. Raj took the ownership and hit a few crucial boundaries along with running hard between the wickets. Rahul too started well by taking singles and doubles but fell to the spin web of Rizwan. He went for his trademark slog sweep and was brilliantly caught by Usama at deep mid-wicket. Rahul’s wicket put FUCC in further trouble with the score reading as 77/4 in 11 overs. Next in was Damodar Kamat. He might be a newbie at FUCC but had loads of experience playing for Greater Greenville Cricket Club and in CCL. He started off brilliantly taking singles every ball and smartly rotated the strike. He stood at the wicket like a solid wall and took the pressure of Raj who in turn started to look very dangerous. Raj reached fifty in style by hitting a monstrous six in the cow corner area. He further continued his assault on TLCC bowlers and slammed two more boundaries. Damu and Raj started running hard between the wickets and both played a pivotal role in resurrecting FUCC’s innings. They both had a 54 run partnership off just 38 deliveries before Raj was undone by a brilliant piece of fielding. He was dismissed by Tanvir after Rizwan took a catch above his head at the long on boundary. Raj scored a magnificent 66 runs from 58 balls striking 6 fours and a huge six. A very crucial & match defining innings. Next in line was FUCC’s big bash player Sunny E/Sunny Jr. The platform was laid for him to launch his sixes. On the other hand Damu, in an attempt to get quick runs was cleaned up by Abu Bakar. Navanith & Sunny Jr. where dismissed in consecutive deliveries at long on and long off when they tried to hit Kamran out of the ground. Sukesh was cleaned up Kamran in the 4th ball of the last over. The last man to walk in was Harissh who along with Vinod tried to get maximum runs. FUCC were all out for 148 runs in 20 overs. Overall a very good score as the TLCC bowled and fielded very well. TLCC’s innings got underway with Mayuresh and Bilal opening the batting whereas for FUCC it was the dangerous duo of Sukesh & Vinod. Mayuresh was the leading scorer of the tournament. He had a 100+ and 95+ innings. Sukesh bowled the 1st over and immediately troubled Mayuresh with his trademark inswing. In the 2nd over Vinod bowled 5 consecutive deliveries on a perfect line and length thus frustrating Mayuresh. He wanted to break the shackles but ended up giving a catch to Amit at mid-off. Sukesh bowled a brilliant 3rd over to Bilal who was struggling to pick in swingers & out swingers. Finally his stumps where rattled when he tried to cut an in swinging delivery. The no. 3 and no. 4 batsmen were struggling and clearly it looked like TLCC had fallen behind in the race. Sukesh & Vinod bowled the first 6 overs in the power play and conceded only 28 runs. Usama, the 1 down batsmen was doing the bulk of scoring. Navanith bowled the 7th over and conceded only 2 runs. The situation was well under control but FUCC knew that TLCC could go BANG BANG any moment. “SON OF HOBSON” Sunny K was introduced to get some quick wickets and he delivered instantly. He got rid of Safeer caught at mid-off by Harissh in the very first ball. In the last 3 matches at Hobson Sunny K has got 9 wickets and no wonder he is called “SON OF HOBSON”. Sukesh was reintroduced and completed his quota of overs. Usama started playing freely and FUCC wanted to see his back soon. Harissh was introduced and he too like Sunny K struck in his very first ball. He cleaned up Usama with a flighted delivery. In walked the destructive Rizwan and everyone knew what damage he could do. Navanith reintroduced himself and got rid of Rizwan. He bowled a well directed short picthed delivery and Rizwan holed out to Sunny Jr. at mid-off. Sunny Jr.’s excitement knew no boundaries and everyone could see the child like happiness on his face. TLCC were struggling at 56/5 in 11.1 overs. At this stage TLCC needed 93 more runs off 53 balls. Lala (MAMA) joined Kamran in the middle for this daunting chase. Kamran was given a life in the 12th over when he was dropped at long on. He got a couple of more lifes due to fielding errors. Lala & Kamran together took the attack to FUCC bowlers and clobbered 52 runs in just 24 balls. Different bowlers were tried but none could get either of the batsmen out. Rahul’s leg spinners were introduced and he bowled 4 beautiful deliveries to Lala who had no clue how to play leg spin. 2 bad deliveries and TLCC made up the required runs. TLCC were in the home stretch needing 41 runs from 30 balls. Navanith bowled the 15th over and got rid of the dangerous Kamran but on the other hand Lala was hitting fours & sixes at will. TLCC needed just 16 runs from the last 2 overs with 4 wickets in hand. “Cometh the hour; cometh the man” Harissh, the man with balls of steel was given the responsibility to bowl the penultimate over and boy he bowled a match changing over. He bowled 3 dots balls which were worth gold dust and got the dangerous Lala run out. The game at the stage was hanging in balance with TLCC needing 16 runs from the last over. The man with the golden arm “Sunny K” was given the responsibility to bowl the last over. He looked calm from outside but I am sure his heart was pumping at twice the normal speed. He bowled the first 4 balls and just gave 2 runs. The pressure was right back at TLCC needing 10 runs from 2 balls. With so much cricket experience behind him Sunny Sr. just conceded 2 runs in the last 2 balls and helped FUCC win the match & retain the championship trophy. Phew what a game of cricket swinging like a clock pendulum. A perfect end to the 2015 season!! Thank You, Navanith |
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