TCC win "Phil"led with joy!
TCC vs RCC; Jun 28th @ Shiloh; TCC won by 5 wickets
Oppressive heat and a late start made us believe that this was going to be one long and tiring game. But eventually this turned out to be one of the shortest games of this season. The match lasted for around 5 h, starting at 11.30 and ending at 4.30. Only 40 odd overs were bowled in the entire match. This combined with a very quick over rate ensured that the match went on real smoothly. And it really helped that the ball did not get lost even once during the match.
Naveen was not available and Kalyan was – making this the umpteenth 11 we have started with. Kalyan switched in as the wicket keeper instead of Khalil. Vijay called right and we decided to chase.
A two week break from cricket actually worked out for the better with the bowlers getting back into their rhythm. A weekend booze party -at teetotaler Krishna's place- really motivated the bowlers as they faced a lot of barbs about their performance in the CCC game. "DFAWM" Krishna started the bowling and his first spell was just what we needed. Pitching the ball just short of good length he made the ball kick right around the offstump. After swinging and missing at the first two balls, Sanjay played all over the fourth to lose his middle stump. An excellent start for us. With Rajesh in the other end also concentrating on line and length we were in good shape. Runs were quite hard to come by (except for one Rajesh's over), but RCC's Pramod and Jayman were settling down when Vijay brought himself into the attack.
You can abuse Vijay's bowling and non-existent fielding ability- but he has this ability of providing crucial breakthroughs. This time it was not by bowling or fielding, but through his feet. Jayman drove a ball from Vijay straight and hard, back- Vijay who in his advanced state of pregnancy just cannot bend, put his leg to stop it. The ball hit his shoes and hit the runner's stumps catching Pramod out of his crease. RCC were 30 odd for 2. The next batsman was out taking a non existent run towards Amit- who is one of the better fielders in the team. Amit calmly picked the ball and checked his throw for that extra second to decided where he wanted to fling this to-before firing it to Vijay at the non strikers end. An easy dismissal but something which we would messed up last year. 40 odd for 3.
Wickets kept regularly falling thereafter. Some resistance was provided by the next pair- Jayman and Girish (I think). They were aided by one bad over by Ramesh- who gave enough wides to make Krishna feel better. In any case at the first break- after 10 overs- RCC were 45 for 3. Yeshpal was brought in following the break and he promptly delivered- and this time for us! Another guy who faced a lot of good natured crap for his second spell against CCC- made amends this time getting an edge to give a regulation catch to Ram to dismiss Girish. Jayman on the other end was batting really well hitting Amit (who had a great first two overs) for 14 odd runs. His forte was opening the face of the bat and hitting the ball on the up in the off- which pays real good dividend at Shiloh.
Vijay and Damodar had great spells at this stage –especially Damodar who beat the bat consistently and was unlucky to see some tough stumping chances missed. These were tough balls to collect as they were quicker and down leg accentuated as they were by the fast pitch. The new batman who came in was bowled by Vijay off the second ball he faced, with the ball keeping low. Jayman went and lofted Anand (who had one loooooong over!!!) to be held by Ramesh at mid on. Mahesh swatted Krishna for a six and along with Dhimant (who was batting very well) looked to add some more runs. Mahesh fell to Damodar mssing the line off a quicker one to lose his stumps. Dhimant who was fast running out of partners tried to swing at damodar- did not get hold of the ball and was caught well by Khlail at the midwicket boundary. With the penultimate batsman being caught by Kalyan (off whom?) going for a pull and Krishna castling the last batsman RCC scored 115 runs.
Ram and Damodar opened the TCC inning. As I had mentioned a lot of times prior to this report Damodar on rampage is a treat to watch. And ofcourse he is one of the three big guns in the team (not including me). The amazing thing about his batting is that he never slogs and is a very clean hitter with strokes on either side of the wicket. By the same token it is his responsibility to make sure that we get to see those fireworks everytime. While setting a total it is totally understandable that he goes ballistic from ball one. In this case we had a total of 115 (around 3.5 runs an over) to chase- a feat which he can achieve in the last 10 overs – if he needs to. The important thing was to pick the right balls to hit in the 1st few overs and then hit as only he can. Here after hitting a lovely six which was picked up beautifully from the middle stump, he fell missing the line off a straighter one.
I have always observed him when he plays a game- and he is ready for any challenge and highly motivated to win. Case in point being him taking up the last over against CCC when they needed 10 odd to win. And he consistently delivers during his spells tying up batsman and taking crucial wickets. It may be too much to ask him to score also everytime- but I love being greedy. Especially after seeing his assaults against ANZACS (first game), MCC and CCC. Ofcourse this is not even close to suggesting that he should change his game- he is much much better than me for me to even suggest that- but to temper his initial aggression a little bit, till he gets his eye in and then go all out. Batting slowly, Damodar can average 6 runs an over… I spent quite a bit of time on this to point out that his wicket is too valuable to be just gifted away. Hope he understands.
With Ramesh leaving for some work he had to attend to- Kalyan went in at the loss of the first wicket. Unfortunately before he could settle down a ball from Girish induced the outer edge and he was well held by the keeper. Ram was next to go trying to whip a ball from Dhimant down the leg, missing the line to be out leg before. Anand middled the ball from the beginning and was just starting to get going with a sweetly timed four when he was adjudged leg before. You live and die with neutral umpiring and end up getting a bad deal sometimes- he was well forward and the ball was not on line with the stumps- a dicey decision at best.
We were in tatters- 31 for 4 with Anand, Ram and Damodar back. Vijay and Khalil played and missed but hung in there. Vijay's innings so far have been- to draw an analogy to sex- all teasing and lots of foreplay with no eventual penetration. He starts off promising big things and then… But on this day he delivered and that too with telling strokes. He started off with a extra cover drive for four. (Promptly he asked for a change of bat; Krishna went and picked up the grey nichols and walked all the way. Vijay said he will keep the slazenger. The normally CALM krishna went hopping mad flinging the grey nichols down. Unbelievable- no one had ever seen the sweet krishna angry…!). Pramod and Mahesh were dispatched for huge sixes. One particular six was just great. Coming down the wicket, Vijay realized that the ball was more down the leg than he antcipated. Almost tripping over himself he still managed to pick the ball cleanly for massive swipe over mid wicket. He had three sixes and atleast 2 4s in his well deserved 50. A great innings which could not have come at a better time. After the 50 he did the customary "pointing the bat to the pavilion" which has become the signature for a 50 for TCC. This 50 was definitely needed as going slowly into the playoffs we have 4 of the 5 guys at the top of the order having scored 50's. Will give us tremendous confidence in each other's ability in the unlikely event that Ram fails…
Ofcourse I did not mention Khalil so far. A great innings. It will drive a bowler insane to find the bat consistentlly come down at the last moment to play the ball! I have never seen a guy play so well- so late! He kept the strike moving with his singles. Although most of those were twos which were CONVERTED to singles by this pair's lightning quickness between wickets. Vijay especially was a joy to watch. His and Khalil's running between wickets looked like the hero and heroine bounding in slo-mo towards each other in between trees in old Hindi movies. Even a Sumo wrestler can move better than Vijay who incidentally says that he is in the best shape of his life. Coming back to Khalil- his inning had the customary stratospheric shot over midwicket. He played a wonderful and crucial knock of 23 runs, proving that in crux situations he always contributes- like the final last year. In any case Vijay fell swinging and missing to Pramod. Ramesh went in and Khalil deservedly hit the winning shot- a six off Dhimant over backward point. Altogether a nice win- and a comfortable one eventually.
Tidbits:
Best fielding ability of the match: Khalil's awesome pick up, have tea and throw – which missed.
Best Surprise of the match: Ramesh's look when Vijay offered him bowling
Best Tantrum of the match: Who else but "DFAWM" Krishna
Best Acting job of the match: Yeshpal- no where close to ball diving for a catch at short gully!!!
Best joke of the match: Ram pulling Kalyan's leg telling- 'Will you please stand back and keep as I am tired running from slips to pick up the ball!"
All in good spirits…
And ofcourse special thanks to Naveen who came from DC and immediately came to see the game. Such are the things which keep the fun atmosphere going. And ofcourse- damodar, krishna–keep sending mails insisting that we practice. Someone has to keep doing it, if we want to win it all. Waiting for MCC…
BEST WISHES TO SRINI FOR AN EARLY AND FULL RECOVERY FOLLOWING SURGERY.