Month: April 2017

[KCL] IECC Walks out Strong in their 1st KCL Outing of the Season

Match report by Vinay.

A week after IECC knocking out Tigers almost out of Japan Cup, they were back on the field with some fresh looking young Guns & Veterans too this time, to grab their 1st KCL Victory.

The Match was scheduled at Edogawa, onto a newly laid Mat. IECC were looking very much confident on taking Serendib against whom they have a 100% Win record. IECC Players were on time and started their Practise sessions. Men in IECC Jersey all around but Serendib had some late comers which delayed the Toss…But both, the Captains & Umpire from Pak Stars (Mr. Mumtaz Alam) decided to go with the Toss. With clear intentions to Bat 1st, Myself, the Captain & your writer was eager to win the Toss and have a go @ their not so good looking bowling attack but as usual IECC lost the Toss and Serendib decided to Bat first.

We started with our Veteran opening pair, Biju Paul & Rajneesh Shukla. Both of them kept the openers on their feet all the time. Runs coming off extras but nothing with the Bat which kept the openers to think off. Finally one of the opener perished to Rajneesh (1/10) by giving a simple catch to Saif at mid-wicket. After the pair bowled 4 overs each, the Captain decided to bring on our very own Ashok Kumar and to join him was Raman from the other end. Both bowled with good pace and great line which both the batsman couldn’t read. Raman (1/11) produced another break through which was caught excellently at gully by Rahul Manahoran. The ball was travelling with good pace but he managed to grab it well. Rahul was involved in a crucial Run-out too which dent the Serendib Batting further and to make it worse, Rahul (1/11), next in the bowling line up, chipped in with another quick wicket by knocking the Stumps.

Looking at the Tail we didn’t expect it to last long but it did when a batsman was sending our bowlers to every part of the ground. The score started moving and @ drinks the Captain decided to Bring on the Spin-Twin Pavethy & Himself to stop the scoring and wag the tail off.

It worked in the very first over when Pavethy got the other batsman out. Vinay (1/11) at the other end tempted that batsman with some loopy doosra’s to take him on but he couldn’t manage to connect a single one and was finally stumped by Prashant Kumar. Pavethy(4/25) was firing the ball at the tail enders and kept knocking the timber. Finally Serendib were bowled out for 120 Runs, Gaining the 1st Bonus Point for bowling out the Opposition. Pavethy finished off with 4 wickets in his bag, and IECC had to Chase down 121 Runs in 40overs. Rather in less than 20overs to gain the Additional Bonus point which was always on the cards with our strong batting line-up.

Our out-off form Captain, Vinay decided to open himself with in-form Adrit so that he can try to get his form back. The game started after a 15 mins break. Adrit taking the strike off the 1st ball managed to Middle the ball. Serendib bowlers bowled good length but missed their line and few wide deliveries gave us few Byes too. Adrit smashing the bowlers through covers for boundaries and 2’s but Vinay at the other end was being too cautious but that didn’t last long when a short ball shooter which he couldn’t do much off knocked the stumps from below his bat. Another rare DUCK for him.

In came the MoM of previous game Pavethy, who knew was the no1 contender to get it this time too with 4wickets in the 1st innings. He & Adrit together kept the scorecard ticking with one’s & two’s. With no further break through the Serendib Captain decided to keep changing the bowling which never worked as Adrit and Pavethy had now decided to go after them. Adrit dealing in Boundaries & Pavethy in Sixes which bought us very close to the Target as Serendib had already given up their hopes. With six Runs to WIN and Adrit on 45 everyone were expecting a SIX to finish off the game and a well deserved Half Century by him. He took a Single which bought Pave on strike who in turn took another single to bring back Adrit (46) on strike. No wasting time and he smashed the very Next delivery into Deep midwicket, once bounce Four and a very well deserved Half Century and IECC Won the Game in 18.3 overs with 9 Wickets in Hand gaining a total of 2 Bonus Points. Adrit 50* and Pavethy 42* were the Stars of the Chase.

Sachi Mom & KCL MoM (Both going to pavethy) its special note to mention about Adrit’s Fielding who managed deep midwicket and Square as almost every Ball was into him and he had to keep changing quickly for both the Batsmen…commendable  Fielding effort and later on opening the inning  and playing a not-out innings.

A brief Summary of the Game.

Serendib   –  120 All Out (Pavethy 4/25)

IECC      –  124/1 (Adrit 50* Pavethy 42*)

 

Pavethy grabs 2nd Saachi MOM

In form Pavethy continued his good run and grabbed 2nd successive “Saachi Partners Man of the Match” award.  Bowling and batting finisher of the team, cleaned up the tail with figures of 4/25 and promoted up the order, scored unbeaten 43* runs to chase partly 120 runs target set by Serendib.

He is certainly enjoying the batting up the order this season. With his current form, he is sure to move up in the batting and bowling charts of IECC by the end of the season.

[JC] IECC wins Last ball thriller in the opening T20 Japan Cup.

Details

Date
Apr 23, 2017

Match Summary

TeamRunsWickets LostOversOutcome
IECC144820Win
ITCC143720Loss

A Nail-biting finish on TV is always thrilling and nerve wrecking. The final over and particularly the final ball deciders are not for the weak-heart.  Watching the game and being the part of the game are two worlds apart. When you are actually involved in it, the feeling of pressure going through cannot be described.

Typically, what would a nervous player at a club level think?

Fielders: Hoping that a catch does not come to them or they don’t drop it,

Bowlers: Shy away to take last over, or not to bowl full toss or good length for slogs,

Batsman: Hoping that they don’t miss any ball or get out

Umpires: Either all senses become numb or far more sensitive to identify any edge or give correct decisions on run outs.

Everyone in the park including the spectators feel the pressure. I hope you can imagine the feeling that always go through the players’ mind.

The difference IECC had at this particular moment was entirely opposite. Every fielder was alert to take the catch, two bowlers wanted to bowl the final over and take responsibility of winning.When a team has this kind of mindset, calmness & attitude to not to give up till last ball, I am sure everyone felt & will feel proud to be part of this team including supporters and junior members.There was excitement in the group for the first match of the season. Vinay announced the team few days back and few members even had a practice session in Tsukuji. The excitement was obvious as all members & few families arrived at YC&AC around 12:15 ~12:30 noon. Kobayashi fresh from National team duties, led the warm up & practice sessions. Umpires from Aoyama Gakuin Cricket Club (Hidehiko Matsuchika & Hiroyuki Takayanagi) were more excited as they were going to key men  this pressure match.

This year’s Japan cup teams were divided in such a way that only the top team from each group qualifies for the final. IECC was placed along with ITCC, Keio, Aoyama Gakuin and British embassy teams. Considering the previous year matches, toughest opponent was ITCC and it proved to be. Praveen ram took the responsibility of scoring and Saif (12th man) ensured that everyone in the Team is aware of the stats situation after every over.

Ist Inning 

ITCC captain Saborish won the toss and elected to field first. IECC captain Vinay wanted to bat first, so it was win-win situation for both teams.

Considering the form, our batting line was shuffled. Pavethy and Prashant kale opened the batting together for the first time. ITCC opening bowler, Ragesh Nair, felt the crucial game pressure straight away as he bowled 13 wides’ in the first over and gave a hard time for the wicket keeper on both sides of the stumps. The Umpires were already tired of giving away wide to an extent that he refused to give a wide in an attempt to complete the first over. Normal proceedings followed in the second over.

The new Flex pitch was just laid on artificial grass of YC&AC meant that ball stopped and bounced awkwardly in first few overs. Prashant Kale was cautious initially and did not find the middle of his bat. Pavethy at the other end had no trouble whatsoever.

He started dispatching short and wide deliveries to all parts of the ground. Looked like both were playing on 2 different surfaces. At the end of power play IECC were 42/0 in 6 overs. In the 7th over, they brought 50 runs partnership. Soon later, Pavethy (31runs) chased a wide ball, aiming to go over the infield, but sliced it straight to point fielder. Dinesh joined Prashant Kale in the middle and tried to build-up the partnership. In an attempt to take risky single, a direct hit saw Prashant kale (6 runs) returning to pavilion. IECC batting line up goes deep till number 10 so everyone was excited to go out there and perform for the team. Kobayashi at no 4 instantly found his timing and started carting the bowlers. Dinesh (9 runs) could not connect the slow, short ball and pulled it straight up in the air and got out. Abhishek (24 runs), our star in the team took the responsibility of building the partnership with Kobayashi. After a steady 30runs partnership, Kobayashi (38 runs) fell to a loopy leg spin, giving a catch.

Vinay (0 runs), usually ever reliable was caught at covers in the very next delivery, without disturbing the Score and suddenly the tigers felt the upper hand. Raman (6 runs) and Prashant Kumar (9 runs) both tried to increase the run rate and perished in vain. With the last 10 overs yielding only 81 runs at the end of 20 overs IECC posted a below average total of 144 Runs.

It was a challenging total considering a slow pitch and our bowling line up.

2nd Inning 

Raman and debutant Sachin Panwar opened the bowling attack. ITCC started quickly and were able to maintain constant run flow, courtesy to some buttery fingers in the field and some traditional over-pitched and short-pitched stuffs. Vinay and Abhishek replaced opening bowlers and Abhishek tempted the batsman to play a false shot and provided the breakthrough, Adrit took an excellent catch in the outfield

It was the right motivation and gave the team a chance to gather together, decide next action to curb the run rate and bowl lot of dot balls. Meanwhile the other opening batsman was having his day on the field, in between few good shots, often found catches dropped short of fielder or over the fielders. Prashant kale & Pavethy replaced Vinay and Abhishek, in search of another Breakthrough. Pavethy produced the second breakthrough. Being dropped of previous ball, he bowled the inform batsman the next delivery.

The other ITCC batsman kept their team in the hunt of the total with slogs and mistimed shots over the fielders. In T20 Games, Runs matter, whichever way they come. The fielders who gave IECC batmen suggestions to play straight in “V” with footwork were themselves clueless against some good bowling. Only thing they knew were cross batted slogging and they succeeded in it. YC&AC outfield is made of synthetic grass, so anything going past the fielder is a certain boundary. Pavethy knew how to bowl in these conditions and started picking wickets with his variations.

Any over with less than 5 runs was a match winning over. Abhishek finished his spell with excellent figures of 4-0-22-1. At the end of every over, Saif was informing the updated score, target and run rate. Great team man to have in this situation. 15 required of last 2 overs. Raman did his best and gave way only 7 runs. Boundary scored of him was again the cross batted hook over square leg.

Pavethy took the responsibility of bowling the last over. Game went into overtime and made YC&AC support staff nervous.

1st ball : Drama started with a mankading appeal. The non-striker was backing up too much and Pavethy was quick to notice it and took the bails. According to the rules it was out but IECC decided to warn the batsman and withdrew the appeal. Meanwhile the Tigers dugout went raucous and started abusing.

1st  ball again: wide. (nervous may be)

1st  ball: dot ball

2nd ball: single and the inform batsman was on strike the next delivery.

3rd ball: dot + wicket. Batter tried to hit straight and was excellently caught and bowled by Pavethy.

4th ball: dot ball

5th ball: 2runs. a bit flight and the batsman slogged it to Deep Mid-wicket but Prashant Kale was fast enough to stop the ball cross over the boundary to save 2runs.

So it came to last ball of the match.1 to tie and 2 to win.

Last year IECC already had a tie game, so was History going to repeat? Anticipating chance of run out, Prashant Kumar behind the wickets moved a few steps back. Smart move & good thinking by him. I guess the batsman was more nervous at that moment.

6th ball: Pavethy bowled a flatter, faster one and the batsman missed it. The Non-striker was almost at the half of the pitch trying to take a single, Prashant Kumar keeping his calm, collected it cleanly and took the bails of the Stumps. RUN OUT+ Dot ball.

IECC pulled off a sensational win.

The Players were jumping in air with joy. Saif & Praveen off their seats, ran into the Middle & joined the winning Hurdle. We could proudly change our Slogan and say “AJJ JEET GAYE”

Thanks to ITCC for giving a good fight. Good to win such tough matches. It gives more understanding of team work, execution and motivating each other through tough periods in the match.

Pavethy, for this all-round performance was adjudged “Saachi Partners -Man of the match”.

The victorious lads spent some good time reliving their nail-biting moments in YC&AC sports bar.

IECC

BattingRunsHSB4s6s10050InnNO
Prashant B. Kale 6-20----1-
Pavethynath Velusamy 31-2451--1-
Dinesh Singh Rawat 9-11----1-
M. Kobayashi 38-2741--1-
Abhishek Jain 24-233---1-
Vinay Mohan Iyer 0-1----1-
Raman Tanwar 6-61---1-
Prashant Kumar 9--8----1-
Adrit Jain 000000011
Bidyut Sarkar 000000000
Sachin Panwar 000000000
Extras(w 19, nb 2) 21
Total 144        

Did not bat: Bidyut Sarkar

ITCC

RunsHSB4s6s10050InnNO
OMRWbbf

This is certainly a wonderful start to 2017 season and this win meant IECC keep their hopes alive to top the group and enter Japan Cup “South Kanto” finals.

 

Saachi Partners to sponsor IECC Man of the Match awards

Saachi Partners, a Japan based executive search firm working across APAC  will sponsor the Man of the Match award for all the games for 2017 season as part of a new partnership with Indian Engineers Cricket Club. The award is  worth  JPY 5,000 for each match. IECC is delighted to receive great support from Mr. Mithun Soni of Saachi Partners.

Saachi Partners is a Tokyo based recruitment company. Please visit website  www.saachi.co.jp for more details.

Friendly T20s against MIBs

On a warm sunny day 2nd of April, IECCians met the MIBies on the Edogawa pitch for a friendly and yet not so friendly match. One of the most convenient ground to be accessed around Tokyo. Two T20 matches were planned for the day. IECCians were quiet energetic after to have nice warm weather (ideal weather in this time of year in Japan) after the rain mishap in Fuji.

Prashant Kumar, the Skipper, decided to field first. Raman and Chetak took the command with new ball and bowled a very tight spell. MIBies were restricted to 20 runs in 5 overs. Adrit came to bowl as the first change and took his first wicket in second over and continued the streak with the second wicket in his third over. Samir’s on the other end kept the pressure on by his leg spin. Under the pressure of slow run rate, MIBies tried to push run rate by scoring some quickies though IECCians made no mistake and quickly took 4 wickets. The score from 39/0 soon drifted to 54/4 with both the opener back in the pavilion. Vidyut with one of the eye pleasing spell, bowled it very tight. He missed his hat-trick by a whisker. Prashant kept modifying the field according to the changes and made his best efforts to ensure that fielders are placed at right positions all the time. If it wasn’t about extras (33) being the highest scorer of the innings, MIBies would have been totaled within two digit score. Vidyut and Adrit being the highest wicket taker in the innings with two wicket each. Sachin, debuted with one wicket in his first spell, showed a good sign for the upcoming season.

IECC came to chase the target of 115. Little did we know and its quiet rare to see Pavethy getting out in the first over for a duck. Adrit took the command and played some astonishing shots down the leg side. After a brief reasonable partnership with Suresh, he continued to build up the plinth for IECC innings with Bidyut. From 0/1 the score reached 28/3 when Adrit was given LBW. Bidyut continued to build good partnerships with Himanshu and then Sachin. But the turning point was the partnership between Raman and Bidyut. Both played some classics shoots and kept the scorers busy. They kept on moving and added 43 runs to the partnership. After taking IECC very close to the victory, Bidyut lost his wicket after scoring 38 runs, the highest individual score of the match. He left the task of scoring the winning run on Raman’s shoulder which Raman carried out with pleasure by scoring a six with swag. Raising his bat towards the tired bowler after hitting the winning six, he announced the victory for IECC with only 2 balls left.

After a short break, second match began with IECC decided to bat first. Avik and Himanshu opened the innings and couldn’t give the start that was expected from them. Avik bowled out on the first delivery of match which made Suresh and Himanshu to play defensive for some overs but soon Suresh defense was breached and IECC reached 24/2. Chetak came to bat and tried to make a partnership with Himanshu. They started increasing the run rate but ended up with Himanshu getting run-out by the direct hit. Sometimes luck play a huge role and that is exactly what happened when Skipper Prashant decided to go for a long shot on a very easy delivery but ended up with an edge and keeper took a sitter catch behind the stump. Bidyut came to bat and was expected to continue where he left off at first match but ended up getting out on 1 and from 37/2 IECC bowled out a score of 64.

Nothing much left to loose from there and IECC came to field to defend a very low target with all hopes on the bowlers. The hopes went high as soon as Raman revenged Avik’s dismissal by getting wicket on the very first delivery of the match. The match went with very slow pace but very effort from IECC to turn the match went futile as extras kept flowing. IECC took second wicket by a run out and by the time Himanshu and Bidyut made the break through, it was too late to make a comeback.  MIB chased the target in 11th over with loss of 4 wickets.