It
was the first real hot day of the NC summer and the temperature had already
crossed the mid-eighties by 10:00 AM. A cloudless sky, short boundaries
and a dry pitch suggested that the OCC-TCC encounter would be a battle of
the bats. OCC is a young fighting outfit from Richmond, VA with a never-say-die
spirit. The match started at 12:15pm with OCC arriving later than expected
since they had players coming in from out of town. TCC would like to thank
Nagi and Nihar (NCSU) for umpiring this game.
Aravind, TCC’s Captain, won the toss and chose to bat. Raman and Samir
Tikare walked out to open the innings for TCC. Raman must have brought
immense joy to Gavaskar in the first two balls he faced with his flawless
defense. And that was indeed the last time Raman respected the opposition
in the match. The third ball was a beamer headed for Raman's neck, and Raman,
licking his lips, took all the time in this world and deposited the cherry
deep into the woods in style. The last ball of the very first over claimed
Samir. It was a rank bad ball that begged Samir to punish it, which he did
by trying to cut, but only managed to nick it into the waiting hands of
the keeper.
Vijay joined Raman at the other end who had already tasted first blood.
In the next ten overs, he went berserk and the scoreboard went crashing
through the roof. Vijay pulled a couple of short balls for maximum runs.
Raman’s next 50 runs came in just 23 balls. TCC's scorecard showed 92 runs
of first 10 overs. With Raman going berserk at one end, Vijay played a very
mature and selfless knock, and put the batting stability in the forefront
and gave strike to his more belligerent partner. Raman was bowled for a
well-compiled 57. The ball literally rolled on to his stumps. Nevertheless,
it was one of the glorious knocks his team - mates will remember for a long
time to come. Aravind joined Vijay who had donned the accumulator’s hat
and was compiling his runs in singles. Vijay holed out to deep midwicket
after trying to clear the ground in Abhi’s first over. Soon, Arvind returned
to the pavilion after sweeping into the hands of the long leg fielder who
actually took a good catch. The ball rose more than he had expected thus
resulting in a top edge.
Rajesh U joined Syed at the crease with the latter going for his shots
in an effort to up the run rate. These two players carried the score till
213 in 24 overs when an unfortunate misunderstanding occurred resulting in
Rajesh being run-out. Syed carried on his marathon knock into the 25th over
and he perished trying to clear the ground one too many a time in a single
over. Sundar, Rajbal, Samir Arekar, and Amar chipped in invaluable runs
at the end to post a daunting total of 252 in 30 overs.
TCC having put up a formidable 252 started off with Samir Tikare being
asked to keep the wickets while Syed decided to go head on as an able ally
to VT, TCC’s ace leg spinner. Aravind didn’t have a very good first over
‘cos Vishal who opened with Ninad for OCC decided to throw his bat around.
He hoicked Aravind for a huge six over midwicket. Rajbal shared the new
ball at the other end and Vishal’s expansive drive flew high to thirdman
where Vijay dropped a difficult chance giving a boundary in the bargain!
Thankfully, it didn’t prove too costly since Rajbal had the last laugh with
Rajesh U. pouching a sitter at long off in his next over. Salman joined Ninad
at the other end and the pair batted with poise and controlled aggression
taking the score to 73 in 11 overs. Sundar and Amar were the first and second
change bowlers respectively for TCC. Amar, keeping a nagging line in the
corridor finally got Salman to nick one to Samir behind the stumps after a
lot of misses.
OZ joined Ninad who seemed to be on a mission. This pair added 57 runs
in just over 6 overs. VT’s first over went for 20 runs while Syed wasn’t
able to get the better of the batsmen operating from the other end. Just
when the match seemed to get out of TCC’s hands, Aravind asked Vijay to
bowl and he responded right away by getting one to nip back into OZ’s defense
hitting his middle stump in the bargain. With the required run rate at 9,
it required nothing but hitting and in trying to do so, Ninad paid the price
trying to late cut a straight ball from Vijay and the ball rattled his off
stump. Two key wickets in two overs pegged OCC back.
From here on, OCC just tried to delay the inevitable. Omar stuck around
trying his best to accelerate at one end while the batsmen at the other end
caved in meekly. Tanmay, OCC’s captain, was caught at deep midwicket by
Vijay off VT. Samir Arekar was brought on to replace Vijay at the other
end. He got a wicket off his first over with Rajbal making a good catch.
Without further ado, VT cleaned up OCC’s tail thus completing a 5-wicket
haul in this match. What a way to come back after being clobbered for 20
runs in his first over! TCC won by a good 73-run margin. The extras came
down to 20 as compared to the previous match, but the ground fielding needs
to improve in the upcoming matches. Keep up the overall good work guys!!
Man
of the match- Raman (OCC seemed to be under the Raman effect!)