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Post date: Nov 18, 2015 7:47:49 PM
It was a picturesque view at the Hobson Cricket ground for the High
Point T20 semi-final game between the home team HPCC and visiting team
FUCC. A sunny and little cold Saturday morning started with the
captain winning the toss and opting to bat first. FUCC opened with
their stalwart opener Raj Thakur and their find of the season Amit
Tayade. Raj and Amit started cautiously but were severely punishing
any deliveries pitched in their zone. Raj was in usual best flicking,
driving and taking cheeky singles in between. On the other hand Amit
was fiercely cutting and lofting the ball over the infield and the
boundary. The openers in no time put around 30 runs in the first 4
overs. From here on Raj with his new Sehwag type glasses was seeing
the cricket like a football and started attacking the bowlers. In no
time FUCC reached 50 runs between the 6th and 7th over. Soon Amit
joined the party and the delivered a few heavy hefty blows and along
with Raj took the score to 84 runs in 9 overs. The openers had a given
a fantastic start to FUCC and had taken the momentum away from HPCC.
Raj was the 1st one to be dismissed when the team score was 84. He
was adjourned LBW when trying to play across the line He scored
crucial 44 runs of just 31 deliveries, striking 3 fours and 2
monstrous sixes. At the fall of Raj’s wicket HPCC might have thought
that the scoring might slow down and they would get back in the game.
Little did they know the batsman coming 1 down was going to take the
game further out of their reach. Sunil started his innings cautiously
by taking singles and rotating the strike. Amit & Sunil started
applying pressure on the fielders by running aggressively and
converting the ones into two. It just took Sunil one ball to get back
to form when he hit one of HPCC’s spinners for a six over cover. At
this point Amit assumed the role of a senior partner and started
giving more strike to Sunil who in turn hit a flurry of sixes. In no
time he jumped from 7 runs of 7 balls to 28(17) and then to 45(22). By
this time he had hit 2 sixes over mid-wicket, 1 over cover and 1 in
the long on area. Runs were flowing freely and FUCC batsmen were going
at 10 runs per over. Amit reached his well-deserved fifty in the 16
over. He played a magnificent innings hitting fours, sixes and running
hard between the wickets. 2 balls later Sunil reached his fifty by
hitting a four in the fine leg area. He reached his fifty in just 24
balls, hitting 4 humungous sixes and a four. It was a treat to watch
Sunil play and no wonder he is called a STAR by his near and dear
ones. He played like a STAR and didn’t stop after his reaching his
fifty. Amit & Sunil started punishing the bowlers and were marching
towards a target of 200 runs. Sunil clobbered 2 more sixes and a four.
Amit on the other hand was running hard and made sure FUCC posted a
huge score of 201 runs. He scored 63 runs off 51 balls and carried his
bat. It’s a great achievement especially keeping in mind that he just
started opening the innings. He is our true find of the season. Sunil
remained unbeaten on 79 runs off just 39 balls. It was an honor to
watch him in full flow and destroy HPCC’s bowling attack.
The score was posted and it was going to get some real good batting to
reach this score. We all knew what HPCC is capable of and how they can
kill any bowling attack on their day. FUCC’s sultan of swing “Sukesh”
started the proceedings. He gave a full toss the very first ball which
was dispatched straight to the boundary. It was very unusual of Suki,
as he is the most economical and wicket taking bowler of FUCC. He
came back strong and almost had Gias out courtesy of a brilliant piece
of stumping by Raj but unfortunately the umpire was not convinced.
Vinod, FUCC’s trump card started the 2nd over and bowled with a great
line, length and pace. Gias and the other opener were struggling to
play due to Vinod’s immaculate line & length. After 3 overs HPCC were
around 24 runs. They had to consistently score 10 runs per runs over.
This along with a good line & length brought the downfall of their
first wicket caught at slips. Rahul showed great reflexes and took a
good catch after the ball had deviated hitting Raj’s left shoulder.
Vinod maintained his line and length and cleaned up their 1 down
batman thus putting HPCC on the back foot. Gias got another life when
he was dropped at mid –on in Vinod’s bowling. The dangerous duo of
Manzoor and Gias started taking the attack to FUCC bowlers and soon
they were 82 runs in 9 overs. At this point spin was introduced. The
captain turned to his most attacking bowler for a breakthrough and boy
he didn’t disappoint. Harissh almost had Gias caught but another
fielding error extended his stay at the crease. Two balls later
Harissh foxed Gias and had him caught at deep mid-wicket courtesy a
brilliant catch by Amit. FUCC had a sigh of relief but knew at the
back of their mind that the dangerous Manzoor was still at the crease.
For the next over the captain turned to the man with golden arm
“Sunny.K”. Hobson has been Sunny’s hunting ground and in the very
first over he got rid of Lala Huzair caught at long on by Rahul
Mandewalkar. Manzoor & co. continued scoring 10 runs per over. Sunny K
picked up another wicket in the 13th over and got 2 more wickets in
the 15th over. He got the dangerous Manzoor caught at long on by Vinod
in the 15th over. HPCC needing more than 13 runs per over started
their assault on FUCC bowlers. A couple of power hits by Jehangir got
HPCC an outside chance to win. They needed 53 runs to win from the 3
overs. Navanith bowled the 17th giving just 2 runs and bagged a
wicket. Sunny K & Sukesh were given the responsibility to bowl the
19th & 20th over respectively with HPCC still needing 51 runs to run.
They both bowled brilliantly and in the end HPCC fell short by 33 runs
thus making FUCC reach back to back Triad T20 finals. All in all a
great win for FUCC and a strong opportunity to defend their title.
Thank You,
Navanith
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