This one will go down in our history!.....for those who weren’t there, I can only say unlucky you. P&G won by 1 run in a match which had more ups & downs then a roller-coaster ride. A match that put our spirits to the test…we were pushed to the wall more than a couple of times in the match and we fought back…oh boy did we fight back!! This is no individual’s victory, no one turning point in the match..….this one was by the team, for the team! Proud of you Guys…Great Win!
Early 8am match at IA and lacking insight about this ground, I chose to Bat after winning the toss. A decision that could have easily been fatal! The ground looked good but due to the heavy rains over the week, it had lush grass and still holding more water than I thought. The ball would just not travel and we would have easily lost at least 8-10 boundaries through the match, in fact we only had sixes in our innings not a single four!
Emerio Strikes: We started off probably worse than ever, we were 25/5 off 12 ovrs with Paddu, Sriram, Shiv, myself & Ashwin back in the hut with not much to show against our names. And while Emerio thought they have pulled off this match, Swapnil & Manish had other thoughts.
P&G fights back: They got going with one objective - last the entire 35 overs and believe me that looked far far away. The bowlers and fielders were on-top and we were pushed to the wall with 5 wickets down. Over by over they built a partnership, revised our target down to 130-150 given the situation and the ground conditions. Their partnership started looking promising but we never thought we would pull-off such a big come back. They stuck to their job, fought hard, resisted the temptation to hit that would have come atleast a 100 times and got us to the 27th over ….YES THE 27TH OVER without losing anymore wickets. Swapnil led from the front with a 49 but man that was the best innings of his life (worth a 100 any day) and Manish partnered him like a wall with 25-30 odd. Manish got out first while Swapnil carried on to hit a few big sixes. Venkat partnered him and scored a 20 odd very very quickly with a few big shots. We also saw some classic flicks from Usman and lasted the full 35 overs setting a target of 145 runs. What a BIG BIG fight back, Swapnil-Manish-Venkat & even Usman showed huge character, grit and courage to give us a fighting chance with the ball. Simply Amazing!!
Shiv took up the challenge to keep wickets as Manish was tired due to the long knock. Now we had 145 runs on the board and needed some inspired bowling and fielding to get us into the middle order of Emerio quickly. Especially getting Emerio’s captain, Sagar out who had scored 219 in 59 balls in a 20:20 match.
P&G Strikes: Nitin Goel and Shyam did exactly that. Nitin took 3 wickets in his first 3 overs with two of those caught by Shyam at mid-wicket and covers. Great catches given the situation and they also got Sagar back in the dressing room. We had tasted blood (sorry for the veggie’s) getting into Emerio’s middle order with only 25 runs on the board.
Emerio fights back: Dream start by Nitin but just then Emerio came back hard, hitting some boundaries in the following 3-4 overs.
P&G Strikes again: Then came in Mr. Reliable (Paddu) with his accurate, tactical bowling. Ashwin got a wicket & then Paddu got us another courtesy a great catch by Sriram running behind and judging it to perfection. We had a real chance now with 70 odd runs needed and 5 wickets in hand but a lot of overs left.
The struggle continues: Emerio continued on the offensive and the next two put on another defying partnership taking Emerio across the 100 mark. We were getting desperate & and so I came in to bowl J so I can’t blame anyone else and it clicked, we got a break-through. But again Emerio fought back, on the offensive scored a quick 30-odd and we were now facing defeat again. And then what….Paddu strikes back, knocking-out Emerio’s backbone who had scored a half-century. But by now they only needed 5 runs to win.
Setting the stage: With so many options and everyone eager to bowl, I took the chance to bowl myself. Emerio needed 5 runs of 14 ovrs with three wickets in hand. My first over was trying, the batsman missed 3-4 balls but no break-through. They now needed 4 runs of 13 overs. I asked Paddu, just get through an over give me a chance next over but he did more than that…..struck with another wicket. Emerio now needed 2 runs of 12 ovrs with two wickets in hand. We were attacking through the match but now was the time to frighten the batsman…it was all about putting pressure and making them nervous else two runs in 12 ovrs was a walk in the park. All fielders were in, some looking right into the eyes of the batsman at covers, mid-wicket and Shiv was keeping upto the stumps.
The Final Countdown: First ball and booooomm, clean bowled. Now everyone knew we were not letting this match go! New batsman comes in, 11th man wearing a helmet…we were going to kill him J. Shiv told him, probably something's hanging from your helmet and he took a min to fix it, making him more nervous…great job Shiv J. This guy was covering his stumps completely and the next two balls were a swing and miss outside off-stump. He changed guard (I don’t know whyJ) and opened up the stumps. I changed the field and brought in a short fine leg and this was the chance to go for a straight one. Next ball, straight Yorker on the middle stump and CLEAN BOWLED!!!! Wheweeeeeee…Victory!!! Oh we were on top of this world. What a fight back…all through the match…a complete team effort!!! An unforgettable match for everyone who witnessed it…
Now, we obviously need to get our act right…the first couple of matches haven’t exactly been as we would like. So lets meet at the nets, get some knocks, practice hard and talk the plan for the next match against SMU Lions…C u there…
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