A new pitch, a new day but the same old story of Rupesh winning the toss and rightly choosing to field first. The Panthers think tank had the wet conditions on the field in their mind and opted to give their fast bowlers the maximum advantage first up. Panthers were welcoming Samir Khatri and Santosh Joshi after a long break and on paper the Panthers were looking as formidable as any team in the tournament.
The pitch was devoid of any grass and looked lifeless from a distance albeit a bit wet. Vijay S opened for Panthers and so did Hanu and Anil Guntur for Mavericks. The first over saw a bit of swing but there wasn't any nip in the pitch. The ball was a bit odd sized and a few full tosses were given away by Vijay S and Rosie who were unable to hold the ball properly. The first over saw 3 runs given away in singles and second over brought Rosie to the bowling crease who had taken a five-for in the previous match. Rosie started well with nice length deliveries. Rosie too had trouble gripping the ball and gave two full tosses which were dispatched by Hanu over square leg and mid-wicket. Rosie though on his 5th delivery hit Hanu on an awkward spot which made him see some stars on a bright sunny San Dieg0 skyline. Vijay S continued the third over and gave way 6 runs to make the score read 20 off 3 overs. Captain Rupesh brought himself on and gave away a wide before settling on to a nice line-length. Anil G (3 runs, 8 balls) went for an ugly swipe and Rupesh disturbed the castle, not for the first time in the day.
Rosie started the fifth over and gave away just 6 runs or so but in the process hit Hanu again on the leg who had to retire back to the pavilion. Anil Nimma, the Mavericks captain replaced Hanu and started playing straight for a few balls. Rupesh bowled his second over and after 6 overs Mavericks were 32 for two down. Rupesh picked Santosh from Mavericks who edged a simple catch to Rahul Bedi. Hari started the 7th over with a great delivery which took Anil's edge but Santosh Joshi was placed at gully and the ball went for a boundary. The next delivery was a waist high full toss which was dispatched for a six. The ball seemed to have fallen a bit short but the umpire (Anil Guntur) was adamant that he saw the ball fly over the fence. Anyway. Hari just couldn't control his length and gave away another boundary off a no ball. An exasperated Hari by the end of his first over saw 23 runs being scored and as the old cliché goes the momentum was with Mavericks and Anil Nimma.
In strife the true capabilities of a leader comes in to observation. Clearly, Hari's over had probably turned the match into Mavericks favor but Rupesh believed otherwise and continued to encourage his troops. Any other captain would have been frustrated, angry, quiet and among other things negative about his team; but Rupesh believes in his team and vice-versa. Rupesh brought himself on and the first thing he did was to clean up the dangerous Anil Nimma who scored a 14 ball 26. At the end of 10 overs Mavericks were 62 for 5 with Saurabh and Pavan also cleaned up by Rupesh for nought.
Samir and Rupesh continued after the break and so did Vijay S. Sameer got Hanu's leg stump uprooted and Vijay S got Raj to cut a delivery which was gleefully accepted by Samir at backward point acrobatically. Abhi picked Sushmit who holed out to Hari at long-on. Mavericks were finally dismissed in the penultimate over when Santosh had Rajendra caught in the slip off Rosie.
Rupesh was pick of the bowler with 4-1-14-4 well supported by Vijay S and Samir as well as Rosie and Abhi.
The familiar Panthers duo of Shekhar and Abhi walked in. Abhi who doesn't have a negative bone in his body started in a positive fashion as always but Santosh from Mavs was treated with respect with only 2 runs scored in the first over. Prashanth's second over though saw three boundaries from Abhi and Panthers were on their way with 18 on the board off two overs. Abhi hit some lovely straight drives; the one off Santosh in the third over was a gem which bisected the mid-on and long off boundary fielder perfectly. Abhi though fell when he was looking dangerous, edging the ball to keeper Raj off Santosh. Abhi provided a great start to Panthers scoring 17 runs off 14 balls with three cracking boundaries.
In walked Hari who had a steely determination on his face and a sole purpose to crack 23 runs in no time. Hari started watchfully but got into his grove quickly. Shekhar and Hari moved the score to 41 runs off 5 overs with Shekhar playing a glorious pull off Sushmit over square leg. Shekhar though edged one off Sushmit in the next over where Raj behind took a great diving catch. In walked Santosh who challenged Hari to a few singles and twos. Hari struck some beautiful boundaries off Pavan who went for 10 runs off his first over. At the end of 10 overs Panthers were placed comfortably at 65 runs and two wickets down.
Hari started out all aggressively and took every new bowler to the task. Hari who is a good hooker (of the ball), played some audacious strokes off Praveen, Santosh and Prashanth over the cover region as well. One etched in memory is a cover drive off Anil Nimma. Panthers managed to lose Santosh Joshi and Aravind but registered a comfortable win in the end with almost 6 overs and identical wickets to spare.
Hari (41 runs off 44 balls), Abhi (17 runs off just 10 balls) and Santosh (19 runs off 30 balls) starred with bat so did Rupesh who had a match winning spell of 4-1-14-4 wickets. At one time the Mavericks were well poised to score more than 120 runs; but thanks to Rupesh's captaincy and bowling skill that was not to be. Hari's batting also deserves a special mention. He is the sort of guy who can destroy any bowling attack on a day and win the match for you; but only if he keeps his cool and doesn't jester around on the field.
The MoM prize is a tricky one in this case and the writer is fortunate enough not to be the one who has to make a decision in this regard.
Panthers face their brothers, Eagles, in the next game on Saturday. Eagles are a talented lot but haven't played well as they would have liked would be keen to make a good impression.
MoM : Captain Rupesh Gupta with figures of 4-0-15-4 (You take the charge against me and I knock your stumps. You defend against me with your bat behind the legs, I can still sneak through and get the stumps)
Hari R , 41 *(44b, 4*5) :- Guys, I told you it is not a problem, let them score a few runs, we are all here to have some fun. The only reason, I gave away runs in the one over I bowled was because I wanted the opposition to put a score on board so that I could get a chance to play a long inning.
Scorecard : http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p69faXyzPo49VAHAceKbBMA&hl=en
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