Bouyed by the return of their captain Rupesh and other key players such as Rosie, Yogesh and Santosh. Last game against Eagles was a failed attempt so definitely Panthers wanted to get back in a winning mode. Panthers had lost one game in their last 5 outings whereas Blazings were yet to open their points account.
Panthers won the toss and invited Blazings to hold the willow. The match was to be played at Spring Canyon Ground; but sprinkler issues overnight had created wet patches and the ground was closed for maintenance. The smaller ground right opposite was occupied by a little league baseball team and not for the first time we were scouting for a new ground.
Luckily the Hour Glass field was unoccupied and the game started albeit a bit late. Vijay S started the first over for Panthers against Sourabh and Venkat from Blazings. The first ball was a wide, but the next 6 deliveries were spot on and only one run was conceded. There was nothing in the pitch really. the late start coupled with zero cloud cover meant zero assistance to bowlers. Line and length as the cliche goes was the key. Rosie back from an injury to his hand last week started off with two boundaries in his over one each to Sourabh and Venkat. The third over from Vijay S gave the initial breakthrough when Venkat tried to hoike one over long-on but to only see his leg stump castled by a late in swinging delivery. The score was 13/1 off 3 overs, a moderate start for both the teams.
Rosie in his second over struck twice to get rid of Surinder caught by Samir at point and Abhishek who presented a dolly to Suresh at long on. Suddenly 3 wickets in space of 6 balls and Panthers were on top. Rupesh started the 6th over and just conceded two run while Hari in the next over got rid of Sai who doled out a regulation long on catch to Suresh. Rupesh continued the 8 th over and again conceded just a two runs. Hari in his second over managed to tempt Sourabh into playing an uppish drive which was held onto by Vijay S comfortably. Half of Blazings was dismissed right on the 9 th overs.
Its never over til its over and Blazings proved this with a rollicking stand between Kiran and Aditya. Hari's 3rd over went for around 11 runs and Samir Khatri bowled a few looseners and suddenly Blazings were 76 off 14 overs. Rupesh, a man of few words but more action pressed himself on and bowled a maiden. Yogesh also played his part and two overs whizzed off without too many runs.
Samir was in a devastating mood after being plundered for a few in his first over. He got Abhishek, Kiran and Sai all clean bowled with two of them castling the middle stump. Himanshoo and Ravi continued but found it difficult to score runs at will. Himanshoo was scalped by Samir for his 4th wicket of the match.
Eventually Blazing scored a respectable 97 with 9 wickets off the twenty overs. Samir did well to pick 4 wickets (4-0-23-4) and so did Hari and Rosie with two wickets each. Rupesh again had a fantastic outing conceding a miserly 6 runs off his 4 overs (4-1-6-0).
At the end off the first innings there were quite a few baseball teams that were practicing perilously close to the fielders. Balzings were skeptical and so another 30 mins were wasted in moving the pitch. It was unfair on Panthers but so is life. Anyhow!
Panthers started with Vijay S and Santosh. The first over from Anand conceded 7 runs with santosh hitting a glorious pull shot from the first ball he faced. At the end of three overs Panthers were placed comfortably with 15 runs on the board. Sourabh's second over saw Vijay S dancing down the pitch but only managing a skier and was caught and bowled. In walked Suresh.
Santosh was middling the ball quite well and had earlier survived a confident appeal for a caught behind off Sourabh. Santosh capitalised thereafter and managed to hit some glorious boundaries. Eventually he was caught by Sourabh at short fine leg off Sreenivas. Hari and Suresh picked off singles and a odd boundary to keep teh score ticking nicely. Suresh managed a glorious six which sailed over the mid wicket boundary handsomely. Hari picked up the scoring rate as well with some good strokes. Suresh though was bowled off a skidding delivery by Surinder and in walked Samir. The score read 61 runs off 10 overs.
Samir started cautiously against Surinder who was hitting the right areas. Trying to alter the length of the delivery by dancing down the track, Samir lost his middle and off stump to a delivery which kept a bit low and suddenly Blazings were in with a chance. Yogesh and Hari consolidated to quell some tension in the Panthers tent (what tent!). Yogesh was caught when only 20 runs were required. Shekhar joined Hari and played some fabulous pull strokes and in the end the target was reached in the 17 th over of the match. Rahul Bedi substituted for Shekhar and hit the winning runs in a majestic fashion with a deft touch towards mid-wicket. Hari did well scoring 11 off 23 balls and so did Shekhar with a brisk 13 off 10 deliveries. Santosh though played a key role scoring a wonderful 29 off just 24 balls. Joyful innings that.
Not to mention the cool and calm demeanor exhibited by Rupesh when Blazings were going great after the 11th over. They say a captain is as good as the team but sometimes a team needs a good captain. It was evident this time.
It was an expected result for Panthers who play their namesake (Real Panthers) next Sunday. Lets see if appending an extra adjective to the word Panthers is just a gimmick or there is more to it than just a word.
Panthers won the toss and invited Blazings to hold the willow. The match was to be played at Spring Canyon Ground; but sprinkler issues overnight had created wet patches and the ground was closed for maintenance. The smaller ground right opposite was occupied by a little league baseball team and not for the first time we were scouting for a new ground.
Luckily the Hour Glass field was unoccupied and the game started albeit a bit late. Vijay S started the first over for Panthers against Sourabh and Venkat from Blazings. The first ball was a wide, but the next 6 deliveries were spot on and only one run was conceded. There was nothing in the pitch really. the late start coupled with zero cloud cover meant zero assistance to bowlers. Line and length as the cliche goes was the key. Rosie back from an injury to his hand last week started off with two boundaries in his over one each to Sourabh and Venkat. The third over from Vijay S gave the initial breakthrough when Venkat tried to hoike one over long-on but to only see his leg stump castled by a late in swinging delivery. The score was 13/1 off 3 overs, a moderate start for both the teams.
Rosie in his second over struck twice to get rid of Surinder caught by Samir at point and Abhishek who presented a dolly to Suresh at long on. Suddenly 3 wickets in space of 6 balls and Panthers were on top. Rupesh started the 6th over and just conceded two run while Hari in the next over got rid of Sai who doled out a regulation long on catch to Suresh. Rupesh continued the 8 th over and again conceded just a two runs. Hari in his second over managed to tempt Sourabh into playing an uppish drive which was held onto by Vijay S comfortably. Half of Blazings was dismissed right on the 9 th overs.
Its never over til its over and Blazings proved this with a rollicking stand between Kiran and Aditya. Hari's 3rd over went for around 11 runs and Samir Khatri bowled a few looseners and suddenly Blazings were 76 off 14 overs. Rupesh, a man of few words but more action pressed himself on and bowled a maiden. Yogesh also played his part and two overs whizzed off without too many runs.
Samir was in a devastating mood after being plundered for a few in his first over. He got Abhishek, Kiran and Sai all clean bowled with two of them castling the middle stump. Himanshoo and Ravi continued but found it difficult to score runs at will. Himanshoo was scalped by Samir for his 4th wicket of the match.
Eventually Blazing scored a respectable 97 with 9 wickets off the twenty overs. Samir did well to pick 4 wickets (4-0-23-4) and so did Hari and Rosie with two wickets each. Rupesh again had a fantastic outing conceding a miserly 6 runs off his 4 overs (4-1-6-0).
At the end off the first innings there were quite a few baseball teams that were practicing perilously close to the fielders. Balzings were skeptical and so another 30 mins were wasted in moving the pitch. It was unfair on Panthers but so is life. Anyhow!
Panthers started with Vijay S and Santosh. The first over from Anand conceded 7 runs with santosh hitting a glorious pull shot from the first ball he faced. At the end of three overs Panthers were placed comfortably with 15 runs on the board. Sourabh's second over saw Vijay S dancing down the pitch but only managing a skier and was caught and bowled. In walked Suresh.
Santosh was middling the ball quite well and had earlier survived a confident appeal for a caught behind off Sourabh. Santosh capitalised thereafter and managed to hit some glorious boundaries. Eventually he was caught by Sourabh at short fine leg off Sreenivas. Hari and Suresh picked off singles and a odd boundary to keep teh score ticking nicely. Suresh managed a glorious six which sailed over the mid wicket boundary handsomely. Hari picked up the scoring rate as well with some good strokes. Suresh though was bowled off a skidding delivery by Surinder and in walked Samir. The score read 61 runs off 10 overs.
Samir started cautiously against Surinder who was hitting the right areas. Trying to alter the length of the delivery by dancing down the track, Samir lost his middle and off stump to a delivery which kept a bit low and suddenly Blazings were in with a chance. Yogesh and Hari consolidated to quell some tension in the Panthers tent (what tent!). Yogesh was caught when only 20 runs were required. Shekhar joined Hari and played some fabulous pull strokes and in the end the target was reached in the 17 th over of the match. Rahul Bedi substituted for Shekhar and hit the winning runs in a majestic fashion with a deft touch towards mid-wicket. Hari did well scoring 11 off 23 balls and so did Shekhar with a brisk 13 off 10 deliveries. Santosh though played a key role scoring a wonderful 29 off just 24 balls. Joyful innings that.
Not to mention the cool and calm demeanor exhibited by Rupesh when Blazings were going great after the 11th over. They say a captain is as good as the team but sometimes a team needs a good captain. It was evident this time.
It was an expected result for Panthers who play their namesake (Real Panthers) next Sunday. Lets see if appending an extra adjective to the word Panthers is just a gimmick or there is more to it than just a word.
MoM :- Samir Khatri 4-0-23-4 (These days I'd rather swing the Golf Club. Rupesh gave me the ball, I started with a bad first over but then just like that I plucked 4 wickets. These batsmen are too easy to scalp)
No comments:
Post a Comment