Month: October 2016

[KCL Semi] Engineers leave the Tigers wounded

IECC enters Grand final of KCL  2016

Match report by P.Kale

Details

Date
Oct 30, 2016

Match Report
     In the final league game against Samurai, the Engineers played like an wounded tigers  which helped IECC moved to 2nd position in league table.In the semi-final match played on 30th Oct 2016, Engineers ensured that it was the Tigers who left wounded at the end.

       For this important game, Umpires needed to be neutral and good and desperate search was on. Finally on Friday night, Mihindu gracefully accepted the request. Regular captain Vinay was back in town and he put up one of the strongest 11 so far of the season.  He created special comm. group to discuss, motivate and make sure everybody arrives at ground on Sunday morning. 5 team members (Vinay, Raman, Rajneesh, Prashant Kumar, Saif) joined Pavethy from Akihabara. Rest 5 by train. Prashant Kumar, Raman, Devendra reached Tatebayashi on time at 8.30am and duly headed towards ground! (Well done guys). Prashant Kale & Manu being culprit of catching wrong trains arrived 9:00 am at station Shared taxi with ITCC guys to arrive at ground.

     Lot of spectators were expected for this game to cheer IECC however at the end we had only 2 ie. Biju Paul (IECC president) and Prakash Jayara arrived on the ground to support the team

Toss: ITCC Captain won the toss and Chose to bat first. It was decided to have 35 over match.

1st Innings 

img_4997

     A small pep talk and Opening bowlers Rajneesh and Devendra were ready to roll their arms. Both bowlers maintained tight line and length. In 3rd over, Rajneesh provided first breakthrough. Opening batsman tried to clear mid-off fielder Manu but could not do so.  ct. Manu b. Rajneesh is by far is the most familiar entry in score sheet this season. At the other end, Devendra’s (left arm off spin) pacey spin was relatively quicker than genuine medium pace of Rajneesh. His tight lines with good pace and bounce were too difficult to handle for ITCC batsmen. First few overs, Prashant Kumar behind the stumps & slip cordon had to weather lot of inside, outside edges, missed stumping (did I say that!). Devendra wkt meter as usual was not ticking.

       At the end of first power play, scoreboard read 7 runs 1wkt 7overs. Rajneesh produced another breakthrough 2nd  wkt when batsman tried breaking shackles Devendra tried a slower one which turned and bounced and edge was neatly taken by Pavethy at first slip earning him his first wicket and 3rd wkt for team.. It was well taken by Devendra. Vinay replaced Devendra and continue to put pressure on batsman.  Rajneesh bowled 6 overs in his first spell with excellent figures of 6-0-10-2.  Prashant Kale replaced Rajneesh and trapped batsman plumb in front to give IECC its 4th wkt . His 2nd over was wkt maiden a catch well judged by Abdul at Long on .ITCC 5 down for not many  As 5th wkt partnership started to develop for ITCC, Accurate throw from Vinay and glove work by Prashant Kumar found batsman short of crease 6down. Raman Replaced Prashant  and he continued to apply pressure backed up by some excellent fielding and catching in outfield. Vinay changed bowling ends from River side with Raman and bowling from Sano end (Yes we have name for the bowling ends. He gave more flight and less pace on ball and batsman went after it. Batsman missed straight one and ITCC lost 7th wkt. 8th wkt was catch at long on taken by P. Kale .

img_4999     When Abdul is on the field , you will be able to see spectacular dives,  one-handed diving catches and that’s how Vinay got his third and 9thwkt of ITCC. Excellent catch at covers and the whole team was on him like someone scored a Goal in World cup final. !  Patient Raman maintained his line and length and finally when batsman decided to go after him only to find a fielder Himanshu at mid –off. Finally, ITCC were bundled out for 67 runs in 24 overs. This was possible due to good execution of lines by bowlers and excellent fielding in the outfield by all team members. “Catching” remains a lot to be deserved.

  • Rajneesh 6 – 0 – 10 -2
  • Devendra 7 – 1 – 9 – 1
  • Vinay    5 – 0 – 14 – 3
  • Kale     3 – 1 – 16 – 2
  • Raman    4.4 – 1 – 16 – 1
IECC chase

        The opening pair of Prashant Kale & Abdul Sattar was at the crease again to knock off 68 runs. Opening bowler Ranjeet was making ball talk by this clever mixing of In-swing, cross seam and straight seam bowling. Big gap in bat and pad and Abdul missed an in-swinging delivery.  Saif was promoted at no 3 to spend some time in the middle. Except Ranjeet, rest of bowlers were not so impressive. Prashant Kale started Diwali celebration of IECC by dispatching deliveries back past the bowlers and over the outfield.(2×4, 5×6).img_5001

One mistimed drive went over the 2nd slip for 2 runs. This particular mention is for the critics : ) .  At the other end, Saif started nervously. He has been victim of playing too many shots at the start and giving his wkt away. He soon gained in confidence when instructed to play only in “V”. Good straight drives for 1&2s came often and that made a good viewing for all members. Most importantly it was confidence boosting for himself to understand how to build an innings without risks at the start of the innings.

Drama of the day

6 to win and 6 to complete 50 for this writer.

     Yours truly tried to finish it with six but did not time it well & as the ball was heading towards cow corner rope, long on fielder ran almost 20 meters to his left to complete a good catch but instead of stopping inside the field of play, he ran a step further & went over the rope. Well.. this writer & team couldn’t be happier to get a confidence boosting 50 in the semifinal.

Target was well achieved in 10 overs. IECC won this game convincingly by 9 wkts and 15 overs to spare to enter the Grand FINAL OF KCL 2016. Game finished at 1:30 pm almost 2 hours earlier than usual.

Barbeque

img_4995Meanwhile, at Lunch time, Rajneesh and Prakash were out and arrived exactly at the end of the match (after 1 hr or so) . As soon as match finished Prakash set up the barbeque in a flash. .X5 tailgate was open to make a nice podium to enjoy barbeque. Raman wanted to stay a bit longer and this writer, Devendra, Manu agreed to stay for 30 min and then leave… Once the beer can got opened, everybody forgot about the time and train.

Writer also vividly remembers someone or someone’s car was rescued with electric shock/ jump start to bring back to life!

Tennis ball game

img_4996

At 3:00 pm some Asian expats were playing taped tennis ball Cricket match and few sober guys decided to challenge. This writer & few other were too busy enjoying barbeque and chat that we were later told that we won that match..

It was good to see that people planned for barbeque but focused on match first. Abdul, Prashant kumar, Manu were electric in the field. Catching still needs a lot of attention. This will be most important factor in Final.

Happy and safe Diwali to all of you.  KCL Final match is also our last match of the season. Let’s do our best and end the season on high note.

Match scorecard

Match Summary

TeamRunsWickets LostOversOutcome
ITCC671024Loss
IECC68110Win

ITCC

RunsHSB4s6s10050InnNO
OMRWbbf

IECC

BattingRunsHSB4s6s10050InnNO
Prashant B. Kalenot out50-3225-111
Abdul Sattar 0-4----1-
Saifuddin Rajnot out7-20----11
Pavethynath Velusamy 000000000
Prashant Kumar 000000000
Rajneesh Shukla 000000000
Vinay Mohan Iyer 000000000
Manu B. 000000000
Himanshu Bugalia 000000000
Devendra Dhaka 000000000
Raman Tanwar 000000000
Extras11
Total 68        

Did not bat: Pavethynath Velusamy, Prashant Kumar, Rajneesh Shukla, Vinay Mohan Iyer, Manu B., Himanshu Bugalia, Devendra Dhaka, Raman Tanwar

Photos
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BBQ Photos
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[KCL] Samurai’s decoded in a crucial Sano encounter

IECC enter semifinal by strong display of Cricket skills.

Match report by Himashu Bugalia & Pavethy

Details

Date
Oct 23, 2016

        On a bright sunny autumn day, IECC were all charged up for their most important game of the season, knowing a win here against the table toppers Samurai would take them into the semi-finals. After reaching the field on time, IECC started warming up under the command of our on and off field practice manager, Kale. Pavethy given the responsibility of captaining the side on a must win game, made it clear that he won’t be accepting anything less than victory. Luck always rides with those who take efforts and show their full commitment. After winning the toss, on his debut captaincy Pavethy chose to bat first. As MIB Umpires did not bother to show up, both teams agreed to have own umpires and play the game in best possible sporting spirit.

First Innings:

          Strategy was very clear. “Aggression” and not to give the Samurai’s any space to breath. Kale and Abdul, both experienced players opened the batting. They knew the importance of their wicket and were determined to lay good partnership together. As usual Kale the aggressor started to hit a few out of the ground sixes. The ball started getting disappeared again and again; and Samurai bowlers looked clueless to bowl to him. He lost three new balls in a span of four overs. The Samurai players were confused whether to search the lost balls or to bring another new one. At one point they were starting to realise that they too were lost again and were also losing time in searching the lost balls, the two captains spoke about it and reduced the match to 35 overs.

  20161023 vs SamuraiIt was decided to use one side of the wicket for rest of inning to avoid ball getting in to dense outfield. The raining sixes news had travelled very fast and it made our President (Biju Paul) rush to the ground and support the team. Abdul on the other end kept rotating the strike, well decorated by some classic boundaries. After putting up a quick and a solid 100 runs partnership in mere 64 balls, Abdul got stumped while trying to hit a lofty shot. Our skipper Pavethy started well by hitting a boundary however he was undone by playing all around to a well-pitched up ball (confused mind!!). After two quick wickets, Prashant Kumar decided to enjoy Kale’s classic sixes from the best view point in the ground, from the non-striker’s end.

       After putting up a 49 runs partnership, 1 less than 50, umpire raised his finger for a strong appeal and disappointed Prashant Kumar had to leave the pitch with a pinch, followed by Devendra Dhaka in quite the same fashion.. Kale had his own set of lucks , nevertheless he reached his century raising his bat proudly to a standing ovation from the team members. He was eventually out on 111. Once looking strong at 167/2, IECC were 172/6. Our late bloomer Vivek took the strike to entertain the crowd with couple of boundaries, with one spectacular cover drive in it. Raman and Vivek tried their best to slow down the wicket flow, however, IECC were stubborn enough to reach 204/9 with 22 balls in hand. Samurai were almost getting ready to have their lunch but IECC was not in the mood to give up yet and decided to bat until the last delivery of innings. Last wicket partnership of Rajneesh and Himanshu tried to keep the scorecard moving and put up a small yet quick partnership of 23 runs in 22 balls with one six over the deep mid-wicket boundary in last over by Himanshu. IECC did wag its tail this time and scored 227 in 35 overs.

Second Innings:

After putting up a good total on board, Engineers looked quite in rush to wrap up the Samurais. Starting the attack with Rajneesh and Vivek, our opening pair made Samurai batsmen to struggle very hard for runs and to rotate the strike. The gamble taken by the skipper in making the last minute changes within playing XI finally paid off. Vivek succeeded in dismissing Hanif with a fast & furious peach of a delivery rising from good length, hitting the batsmen’s glove leaving him awestruck. It was quick and was wonderfully collected by Prashant kumar behind the wickets at chest height. Supun (Captain of Samurai and their most important batsman) walked in next. He cut Vivek for a boundary at point region. Everyone knew him as an aggressive batsman. But the next delivery Vivek rattled his stumps with a bouncy top of off-stump in-swinging delivery.

     Samurai were left in totters to make any sort of comeback. Vivek looked like he was bowling on Gabba pitch and not in Sano. IECC showed full commitment in the field to support their bowlers and made sure that not a single loose run was given away. Rajneesh on the other end was bowling tight lines but was not lucky to get any wickets. Saif in the 30 yards circle and Suresh on the boundary showed the full commitment and put extra efforts in the field. Adding to it, Dhaka aka “The Osaka Express” quite disappointed by his own bowling with which everyone else was amazed and Samurai batsmen could only play him like a headless chicken, he took a spectacular catch on Kale’s delivery.

         Any words would be short in front of the jump he took at boundary and made sure to stay in the boundaries to take an unbelievable catch. Quite distressed by the IECC performance, Samurai batsmen were trying to come up with a good partnership. Raman was bowling good line and length deliveries with the old ball. But the Samurai batsmen were not taking any risks, hence no wickets. Pavethy decided to bowl some off-spinners with a set left handed batsmen in the crease. Soon the gamble worked out as he tried to hit a loose ball to heave but only managed to see Abdul who took a spectacular running catch by fielding at leg slip; he took the catch running backward. Raman soon added insult to injury by taking Talha on duck. Pavethy, made sure to get even with his poor luck in batting by taking 3 wickets.

     Spin seemed to be Samurai’s weak point. The Osaka Express finally got off from the poor luck to take Ishira who was looking settled at pitch but was leaking some runs behind the wicket because of his quick deliveries. Then the skipper just couldn’t wait and got our tail end specialist Saif to clear up the rest of the two wickets. IECC bowled out Samurai for 134 runs within 24 overs to clinch the most needed victory and made sure they qualified for the semi-finals. They will meet arch-rival’s Indian Tigers in the semi-finals coming Sunday. Definitely going to be a ripper of a match with some blasts seen during this high-octane Diwali season match.

Scorecard highlights:   

Indian Engineers CC: 227/10 (35 overs) – P Kale 111, Asantha 3/24, Thilina 3/31

Samurai CC: 134/10 (23.1 overs) – Pavethy 3/14.

Match Summary

TeamRunsWickets LostOversOutcome
IECC2271035Win
Samurai C.C.1291023Loss

IECC

BattingRunsHSB4s6s10050InnNO
Prashant B. Kale 111-71891-1-
Abdul Sattar 24-293---1-
Pavethynath Velusamy 5-6----1-
Prashant Kumar 10-241---1-
Suresh G.V 0-6----1-
Devendra Dhaka 0-1----1-
Saifuddin Raj 5-19----1-
Vivek Singh 8-11----1-
Raman Tanwar 10-19----1-
Himanshu Bugalia 16-1521--1-
Rajneesh Shukla 4-9----11
Extras24
Total 227        

Samurai C.C.

BattingRunsHSB4s6s10050InnNO
Hanif Niyazi 000000000
Thilana 000000000
Lakmal 000000000
Sujit 000000000
Asanka 000000000
Supun 000000000
Asantha 000000000
Ishara 000000000
Total 129        
BowlingOMRWbbf
Hanif Niyazi00000
Sujit00000
Asantha00000

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