Summarizing the 25th Dec Pre QF match. Excited to write since it was a thriller. Also we had promised Ajay and co that we win this match as a new year gift :) Secondly winning a friendly challenge with Pinky :)
Hot sunny afternoon, Kaushik went for the toss - unfortunate we lost the toss and fortunate enough to end up batting first :)
Highlight of our Innings was 52 not out from Bayana, He is perfect middle order bat,just loved his reverse sweeps. Yadav got 42, UP Ajay 20's and me 25 - unfortunate run out with Bayana hitting straight into the stumps :( We made descent 159.
First 6 overs belonged to us, Sujith bowled well with the new ball. However HSBC lost only one wicket. The score was 58/1.
Little complacency creeped in at this stage as the target was way ahead. Slowly but surely HSBC were getting their act together and we were sloppy in the field. Lot of runs leaked between 6 and 13 overs. Last 7 overs they required around 70 runs. The opener still there well set. Every over there was a short ball and sent over the boundary with ease.
Next 3 overs same story, dropped catches, mis fielding. I myself had a bad day with keeping - had left a Sujith wide ball for a boundary.
One example of sloppy stuff was Ball hit to Long off and Shashi misses the catch - if he wouldn't move, ball would have landed comfortably in his hand :) Yadav who was getting irritated all this while saw this and threatened to walk off the field. One thing we had to control was not to shout at each other , made us look silly in front of opposition. We had a talk to Yadav and Kaushik rightly gave few suggestions to Mr. coach :)
Come 16th over - the game seemed to be slipping away, but somewhere deep inside there was a thought which said 160 on this ground cant be chased easily. Anil who had dropped a catch(again there was a fight for that :)) in earlier over in short fine leg was pushed back to the boundary in long off position. 4 overs and HSBC needed 36 runs with 7 wickets in hand. First ball goes to a boundary uff :( Looked like there are no fielders in the ground - runs all over.
The next ball hit high and hard and guess what Anil is at long off. I think it was a do or die situation, If Anil takes catch we still had a chance if not its gone. Ball soared high and my heart was thumping for some reason i thought Anil will do a miracle and guess what he did it :) I think one of the fantastic catch he has taken till date - Ajay would be proud of it i guess :)
We were into final three,18 balls and my thoughts on answering Pinky and Ajay - i felt bad but not down :) Yadav who was expensive till now bowled a half tracker - dispatched for a six. Hopes shattered - its only 15 runs of 12 balls. It was clearly HSBC game - any team would win from here - with 6 wickets remaining.
There is a small gathering, Shashi had bowled 16th over and he was difficult to pick. Keeping helps to access who bowls well. I wanted Shashi to bowl and there was opposition for that from everyone :) Yadav was clearly frustrated and i knew that if we lose from here, Yadav may have lots to say :) I believe Yadav and Kaushik spoke that the match was over once Shashi had the ball :).
In comes Shashi and the field we had discussed well before the match and the end from where he would bowl, he was bowling from the end where it was difficult to hit on leg since it was a bigger boundary and there was grass cover for the ball not to roll over. The first ball - the flighted one batsman swings and misses the ball is as slow as goods train :)
Next ball batsman gets frustrated and takes a step forward and misses it - Stumped :) another ball - Sujith takes a brilliant catch - yo Sujith - he says he never drops catches in matches :) - I am sure he has heard this from someone :)
Shashi concedes 2 runs only( wides) and takes 3 wickets. Next Over Bayana concedes only 4 runs. Day belonged to Shashi. Man did he rock - he changed the match and won it for us. He won the man of the match - not seen a happier Shashi till date :)
Men of the Day - Shashi for excellent Bowling, Anil for the catch of the day, Sujith for great opening spell and the catch, Bayana for steering the Innings - excellent batting
A great day a great game - day to remember.
Man of the match,
Match highlight in Hindu paper
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-sports/article2753698.ece
Thanks,
Umesh
Hot sunny afternoon, Kaushik went for the toss - unfortunate we lost the toss and fortunate enough to end up batting first :)
Highlight of our Innings was 52 not out from Bayana, He is perfect middle order bat,just loved his reverse sweeps. Yadav got 42, UP Ajay 20's and me 25 - unfortunate run out with Bayana hitting straight into the stumps :( We made descent 159.
First 6 overs belonged to us, Sujith bowled well with the new ball. However HSBC lost only one wicket. The score was 58/1.
Little complacency creeped in at this stage as the target was way ahead. Slowly but surely HSBC were getting their act together and we were sloppy in the field. Lot of runs leaked between 6 and 13 overs. Last 7 overs they required around 70 runs. The opener still there well set. Every over there was a short ball and sent over the boundary with ease.
Next 3 overs same story, dropped catches, mis fielding. I myself had a bad day with keeping - had left a Sujith wide ball for a boundary.
One example of sloppy stuff was Ball hit to Long off and Shashi misses the catch - if he wouldn't move, ball would have landed comfortably in his hand :) Yadav who was getting irritated all this while saw this and threatened to walk off the field. One thing we had to control was not to shout at each other , made us look silly in front of opposition. We had a talk to Yadav and Kaushik rightly gave few suggestions to Mr. coach :)
Come 16th over - the game seemed to be slipping away, but somewhere deep inside there was a thought which said 160 on this ground cant be chased easily. Anil who had dropped a catch(again there was a fight for that :)) in earlier over in short fine leg was pushed back to the boundary in long off position. 4 overs and HSBC needed 36 runs with 7 wickets in hand. First ball goes to a boundary uff :( Looked like there are no fielders in the ground - runs all over.
The next ball hit high and hard and guess what Anil is at long off. I think it was a do or die situation, If Anil takes catch we still had a chance if not its gone. Ball soared high and my heart was thumping for some reason i thought Anil will do a miracle and guess what he did it :) I think one of the fantastic catch he has taken till date - Ajay would be proud of it i guess :)
We were into final three,18 balls and my thoughts on answering Pinky and Ajay - i felt bad but not down :) Yadav who was expensive till now bowled a half tracker - dispatched for a six. Hopes shattered - its only 15 runs of 12 balls. It was clearly HSBC game - any team would win from here - with 6 wickets remaining.
There is a small gathering, Shashi had bowled 16th over and he was difficult to pick. Keeping helps to access who bowls well. I wanted Shashi to bowl and there was opposition for that from everyone :) Yadav was clearly frustrated and i knew that if we lose from here, Yadav may have lots to say :) I believe Yadav and Kaushik spoke that the match was over once Shashi had the ball :).
In comes Shashi and the field we had discussed well before the match and the end from where he would bowl, he was bowling from the end where it was difficult to hit on leg since it was a bigger boundary and there was grass cover for the ball not to roll over. The first ball - the flighted one batsman swings and misses the ball is as slow as goods train :)
Next ball batsman gets frustrated and takes a step forward and misses it - Stumped :) another ball - Sujith takes a brilliant catch - yo Sujith - he says he never drops catches in matches :) - I am sure he has heard this from someone :)
Shashi concedes 2 runs only( wides) and takes 3 wickets. Next Over Bayana concedes only 4 runs. Day belonged to Shashi. Man did he rock - he changed the match and won it for us. He won the man of the match - not seen a happier Shashi till date :)
Men of the Day - Shashi for excellent Bowling, Anil for the catch of the day, Sujith for great opening spell and the catch, Bayana for steering the Innings - excellent batting
A great day a great game - day to remember.
Man of the match,
Match highlight in Hindu paper
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-sports/article2753698.ece
Thanks,
Umesh
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