Abhishek won the toss and elected to field first against RBCC in round 4 of the tournament. Narayanan and Khozi walked in to open for RBCC. Khozi started well by dispatching loose balls out into the vacant region, square of the wicket on the leg side. Narayanan played the sheet anchor role to aid Khozi. A fine edge off the blade to the keeper with the bowling of Vinay was turned down to give Khozi a well desired respite. Narayanan however fell in a simlar manner and there was no debate a second time around as the batsman walked. Srinivas gave the Eagles the break through but Khozi had made the Eagles to pay for loose bowling. One might get loose balls but one has to put them away for maximum by placing the ball in vacant regions. Khozi lashed a six and a few fours and by the break RBCC was well placed.
Ajay was introduced into the attack that resulted in the unfortunate run-out at the non-striker's end to dismiss Khozi. Srinivas pounced on the ball and quickly ran to the stumps to get rid of Khozi who by then had laid the tone for the proceedings by means of an attacking inning of 43 (39b, 1*6, 4*4).
The relative weakness of the RBCC batting was then evident as batsmen after batsmen perished although in the search of quick runs. The Eagles fought back well to pick up wickets and restricted the score to 91 or 92 for 9 in 19 overs. The last over however was plundered for 16-17 runs to take RBCC to a healthy score of 108/9 in 20 overs. The fielding of the Eagles was not upto one's expectation with a couple of catches being grassed and at least one bad mis-field yielding a four where there should have been one. 10 fours and a six suggests the graciuos offering of loose balls and the fast nature of the outfield. Srinivas was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4-0-10-2. Sam and Vinay did well too.
Abhishek and Rajesh opened the batting but were kept quiet by means of tight bowling and fielding against the bowling of Bala and Mohinsh. 14/0 in 6 overs then changed to 34/2 in 10 overs with Abhishek and Hari being dismissed. Rajesh played the ball on merit, hitting an ocassional boundary and placing the ball around and sprinting for quick runs. Eagles were behind the run rate and were now required to score at 7.5 an over in the final 10 overs.
The first over after the break did yield them 7 runs but Rajesh was dismissed soon. Rajesh made 19 (36b, 2*4) that was a good stabilizing inning. Mudit walked in with a purpose and stroked the ball well. One firm straight drive resulted in a boundary as both the long-off and long-on fielders could not get to the ball in time. Mudit and Parag provided some impetus to the inning. Abhishek (runner for Parag) and Mudit sprinted around for quick singles and twos putting pressure on the RBCC fielding, which for the first time seemed concerned about defending the good target. Mudit (22 in 20b, 2*4) was then run-out in unusual circumstances. Parag (18 in 23b, 1*4) hit one to Gavaskar at cover who held a good overhead catch. The asking rate was around 8 an over but with new batsmen coming in it was no easy task. Quite a few batsmen perished when required to score fast right from ball one.
Eventually the Eagles scored just 87/9 in 20 overs thereby losing by a substantial margin of 21 runs. With three losses in four games they now have more than a question to ask themselves.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p69faXyzPo4-ULt1hs_iDdg&hl=enl
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