(I had written this commentary after the match we played in 2008. Hope this will be a good nostalgic moment for our old teamies!)
We won against the conditions rather than FCC. It was a day of contrasting conditions. Tough day for our bowlers with wet ball and constant drizzle. Rubbing salt to wounds was the shorter boundaries and 'out of colour' man of the last match Ajay. Captain lost a key spell from him nevertheless bowled himself out very well. This was the time Arunesh sent down couple of good last two overs by gripping across the seam and reading the batsmen intents. Earlier opening the bowling, Sunil picked couple of wickets to keep us on hunt and he could have easily had three.
More 'extras' came in the form of couple of dropped chances, ball running between the legs to boundaries. Tough ones, real tough ones these, unless we are constantly practicing and playing cricket- but nevertheless remain a area of concern/improvement for us. Couples of standouts in fielding were the Murali's sliding catch at point and Diptesh's powerful on-spot throws.
It was a match of three contrasting innings. It was bright and sunny when we went to bat. Murali gave us a wonderful start with couple of classy strokes perfectly timed on the offside. Both of the back foot, one punched through covers and one cut away. He reassured his form with the impeccably timed straight drive. But, I guess he got a bit overconfident during this time which lead to couple of mistimed shots and eventually lead to a mistimed pull which was easily latched upon near ropes. Nevertheless, by this time he had seized the initiative from FCC and set up the runrate.
Then came KK, and essayed a range of shots to completely grab the match out of FCC. He looked he had all the time in the world to play his shots as he looked to concentrate more on his touch and timing. The unforgettable shot was the effortless loft of mediumpacer Sriram which had such a high and wonderful loop before clearing the ropes. The score jumped from 104 to 126 in a span of 6 balls, with KK punishing spinner Mahesh for a bunch of sixes and boundaries. It was the decisive over. The importance of the knock was felt in the way FCC celebrated his fall of wicket. But captain left the job undone.
All this time along, during these two decisive knocks, was a guy who was occupying crease at the other end. He played and missed a bit initially. As he eased out, all he did was put bat to ball and run hard and two, crash boundaries to midwicket if the ball was in his area. What a simple style of playing cricket, I wondered! Two things about his knock; one, he had a very good stamina and two, he never threw up. He sealed the victory for us with two crucial boundaries in the last two penultimate over. Rajesh did it! It was the third decisive innings of our batting.
On a Personal note:
I really enjoyed batting with Rajesh as all I have to do is hit, call and run. Never did he put a foot back during running. Such was the trust he had in his partners call and rather himself that he would reach the crease. Felt worth a point to share and learn.
We won against the conditions rather than FCC. It was a day of contrasting conditions. Tough day for our bowlers with wet ball and constant drizzle. Rubbing salt to wounds was the shorter boundaries and 'out of colour' man of the last match Ajay. Captain lost a key spell from him nevertheless bowled himself out very well. This was the time Arunesh sent down couple of good last two overs by gripping across the seam and reading the batsmen intents. Earlier opening the bowling, Sunil picked couple of wickets to keep us on hunt and he could have easily had three.
More 'extras' came in the form of couple of dropped chances, ball running between the legs to boundaries. Tough ones, real tough ones these, unless we are constantly practicing and playing cricket- but nevertheless remain a area of concern/improvement for us. Couples of standouts in fielding were the Murali's sliding catch at point and Diptesh's powerful on-spot throws.
It was a match of three contrasting innings. It was bright and sunny when we went to bat. Murali gave us a wonderful start with couple of classy strokes perfectly timed on the offside. Both of the back foot, one punched through covers and one cut away. He reassured his form with the impeccably timed straight drive. But, I guess he got a bit overconfident during this time which lead to couple of mistimed shots and eventually lead to a mistimed pull which was easily latched upon near ropes. Nevertheless, by this time he had seized the initiative from FCC and set up the runrate.
Then came KK, and essayed a range of shots to completely grab the match out of FCC. He looked he had all the time in the world to play his shots as he looked to concentrate more on his touch and timing. The unforgettable shot was the effortless loft of mediumpacer Sriram which had such a high and wonderful loop before clearing the ropes. The score jumped from 104 to 126 in a span of 6 balls, with KK punishing spinner Mahesh for a bunch of sixes and boundaries. It was the decisive over. The importance of the knock was felt in the way FCC celebrated his fall of wicket. But captain left the job undone.
All this time along, during these two decisive knocks, was a guy who was occupying crease at the other end. He played and missed a bit initially. As he eased out, all he did was put bat to ball and run hard and two, crash boundaries to midwicket if the ball was in his area. What a simple style of playing cricket, I wondered! Two things about his knock; one, he had a very good stamina and two, he never threw up. He sealed the victory for us with two crucial boundaries in the last two penultimate over. Rajesh did it! It was the third decisive innings of our batting.
On a Personal note:
I really enjoyed batting with Rajesh as all I have to do is hit, call and run. Never did he put a foot back during running. Such was the trust he had in his partners call and rather himself that he would reach the crease. Felt worth a point to share and learn.
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