TCC gets the V-I-C-T-O-R-Y stopping CCC 29 runs short

The day started with a mysteriously wet and soggy pitch with an equally wet and soggy mat. TCC was about to give a call to the FBI as there had been no rain for at least a couple of days, neither was there any in the forecast for the day. But time being of the essence, TCC decided that just moving the mat aside and letting it dry out might prove to be more prudent.

The teams decided to go for the toss with the lone umpire present, and CCC ended up calling the right side of the coin. After some serious deliberation, CCC emerged from the chambers to announce their decision, which was to put TCC into bat.

Just when he started looking as comfy at the crease as lounging in his favorite easy chair, Uchil – better known as "U-Chill" in gangsta circles, missed one coming in from Vijay and was on his way back since he had asked Nataraj the 12th man to hold his already lit cigarette. Anand was quick to follow off Ajay as he longed for a big drag from the Marlboro light calling his name too. Muki and Aravind took on the CCC bowling attack spraying the field with some much needed runs, with most of the damage being inflicted by Aravind. With the score sitting pretty at 91, Muki was caught napping and fell lbw to a nice in-swinger from Pranav. From there onwards, Aravind and Shibu took the helm and guided TCC until Shibu was caught behind on a suspect appeal. Skipper Rajesh punched in a bunch, but the rest of the batting order pretty much folded like a delicately made paratha, and were bowled out for 203 in 32.1 overs.

CCC's innings started nightmarishly (for CCC that is). Skipper Ahmed was cleaned up almost immediately by a sweet one from reliable ol' Aravind. But Pinku joined by John, had other ideas and decided that since they had missed the 4th of July fireworks, they’d supply some of their own. They put on 72 together, before Pinku was scalped by Sundar (aka "Sundax" to the LAPD). Praveen and Vishwas fell shortly thereafter, but John remained a thorn in the side, aided by at least 3 calls that went his way. In the end he was no match for Vijay's deliveries which stopped him short of his half-century, giving Srinivas (aka Posada) a much cherished catch behind the stumps. Shankar came in and provided some resistance but he too fell after a few good ball-launchings over the boundary. The rest of the line up was adamant to stick around, but it seemed to be an exercise in futility which was finally realized as Shibu took a fantastic catch, worthy of Sportscenter top 10, inches from the boundary line, to dismiss Ajai.

All in all, a great solid all-round effort from Team TCC won the match for us in the end.

MoM - Aravind.