It was another internal game with familiar friendly faces around. The only change from a usual Team A v/s Team B setup was that, this was an occasion where 11 of the 22 were the Panthers and 11 others were the Eagles.
The morning turned out to be a frustrating manhunt for an appropriate ground. One and a half hour later the relatively small ground at the Nobel Dr Recreation Center was chosen as one for the semi-final encounter amidst differences in opinions.
Shekhar won the toss for the Panthers and elected to field. Vinay and Amit opened the bowling for the Panthers. Rahul B snapped an in-form Naman behind the wicket on only the 2nd ball bowled by Vinay and in walked in captain Vijay S. The very next over Vijay S edged one to Rahul B with Amit bowling and suddenly the Eagles were 3/2 and under pressure. Mudit walked in to join Parag and cautious batting at one end was coupled with an aggressive approach by Mudit. Amit was hit towards mid-wicket in a customary manner by Mudit in the 4th over of the inning. This however turned out to be the only four for another 15 overs. Panthers bowled exceedingly well on a pitch where the ball was not coming to bat at a decent pace. Abhi and Samir carried forward the good bowling effort. Mudit however fell in the 6th over being bowled by Samir.
At the end of 10 overs Eagles had only managed 27/3 and Panthers seemed to be in good control. In the next 10 overs Eagles managed to score 56 runs for the loss of another 4 wickets to end up with 83/7 in 20 overs. Siva coming in at the fall on Rupesh's wicket connected well, right from ball one. A brisk 13 in 11 balls (1*4) by Siva provided the right momentum to the Eagles. It made quite a difference at a time when batsmen at the crease were not able to accelerate as one would have expected. Parag played a patient and relatively slow knock of 29 in 49 balls.
Amit (4-0-13-2) and Hari (4-0-14-1) ended up with the best bowling figures to show for the Panthers. Rahul B picked up three catches behind the wickets and effected a run out with a direct hit.
84 was a very reasonable target and Panthers certainly would have fancied their chances.
Sam and Siva started exceedingly well against an aggressive Abhi and a patient Shekhar. The duo gave nothing away with Sam snapping Shekhar and Samir in the 5th over. Vijay S picked up the crucial wicket of Abhi in the 8th over putting the Eagles on top at that point of time. 10 overs produced 23 runs for the Panthers for the loss of 3 wickets. With a difference of 4 runs in the score of the two teams, a cautious Yogesh and Amit at the crease with aggressive batsmen in Hari and Suresh to follow the game was for any team to grab.
Wickets kept falling for the Panthers in the second half of their chase amidst an asking rate of 6 an over. Sam snapped a very sharp catch to dismiss Yogesh off Rosie. Mudit caught Hari off Aravind, thereby holding on to the second crucial catch that came his way. Panthers finally ended with 67/10 in 18.1 overs resulting in the Eagles winning by 16 runs.
Amit (13) and Abhi (9) did well for the Panthers in the batting department.
Both sides did equally well in the bowling department with the Panthers probably putting on an overall better fielding effort. Aravind and Sam held on to exteremely good catches for the Eagles. The better of the two are left to the discretion of the observer but it is true that the effort of both of them left every viewer stunned.
Panthers kept losing wickets at regular intervals amidst a disciplined bowling effort by the Eagles. Eagles on the other hand stuck to the task of level headed batting not knowing what a winning total would be on a relatively unfamiliar pitch.
Kudos to the Eagles in the bowling department in defending a total of 83 runs. Sam (3 wickets), Siva, Vijay S (3 wickets), Rosie (2 wickets), Rupesh (1 wicket) all delivered as usual particularly in this crucial encounter.
Good game all, it was one with no incidents, good understanding and equal commitment on either side.
Eagles would now face "Doyle Devils" in the finals whom they defeated earlier in what could be considered as the quarter finals.
Eagles can certainly improve on controlling extras and get sharper at catching. Bowling looks strong and also does deliver. Batting has held well even though it seems the weaker of the two departments.
One final team effort from all Eagles lead by the cooling effervescence of Vijay S and Rupesh should get the Eagles beyond the rope.
Well fought fellow Panthers. Go Eagles !!
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pEn3926bpcpp7GMPGWrVIWQ&hl=en
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