SDCS Winter 2009 : Panthers v/s Real Panthers - Round 7 03-08-2009

Panthers were playing last of their games before the semis next week. The game was a dead rubber with Panthers fully knowing their spot in the semis was a guaranteed one and Real Panthers were just playing for the fun of it. First though, before the match began Panthers were greeted to celebratory news that their brothers, Eagles, had defeated Blasters quite impressively. This meant that whatever happens in this game Panthers will be at the top of the tables.

As has been the norm, Rupesh won the toss and decided to challenge his cadres to bat first on a slightly dampish pitch and overcast conditions. Hari and Aravind started the proceedings for Panthers and Anil and Bhupendra began for Real Panthers. The pitch had good bounce resulting in few of the deliveries going way above the batsman and the keeper. 11 runs were scored of which 10 runs were scored by extras courtesy boundaries of a wide and a no ball. Hari was playing watchfully and ably supported by Aravind who absorbed a few blows himself. Hari was hit quite a few times on the knuckle prompting a batting gloves demand from him. In spite of the ball kicking up from a good length spot the Panthers were able to progress to 34 off 5overs without loss.

Aravind was first to go caught off Bhupendra by Giresh who took a one handed catch at mid-off. In walked Samir Khatri. Samir found the bounce difficult to negotiate and add to that a few good overs in between which restricted the score to 59 off 10 overs and one wicket down. Hari though was going great with some intelligent batting. A deft touch towards the square leg, a punch down the ground and so on kept the scoreboard ticking. Samir was first to go after the break when he was run out via a direct hit attempting to steal a single. Rupesh walked in and immediately started sweeping from the word go and collected a single off his first ball. One magnificent 4 was struck over the square leg boundary by Rupesh and looked like his day. Hari on the other hand continued to take singles and picking up the odd boundary or two. Few off the strokes were pure timing; one in particular was a backfoot drive which pierced the gap between the cover region and sweeper position.

At the end of 15 overs Panthers were well placed at 89/2. Hari got out holding a catch to Bhanu off Bhupendra but not before making a wonderful 46 off just 43 balls. Hari's inning included 6 boundaries and definitely very few singles. Rupesh (11 runs, 12 balls, 1*4) was bowled by Chaitanya. In the end Real Panthers were asked to chase 126 runs on a pitch which had become a bit easy to bat on.

Vijay S started the proceedings to only see a chance being grassed off his 4th delivery by Santosh who had joined his team during the innings break. Ajay presented the opportunity and in the second over made good use of the opportunity by striking a boundary off Rosie. At the end of 2nd over Real Panthers were placed comfortably at 11 runs without loss of any wicket. Rosie presented a few full tosses to Sanyasi who latched on to them and stroked a boundary on the leg side. Vijay S though struck in his second over by clean bowling Sanyasi to an in cutting delivery and uprooting the leg stump. Chatainya joined Ajay and started putting up a good partnership. Rupesh brought himself on in the 4th over and immediately got into the groove. Hari started waywardly conceding 10 runs off his over.

Aravind was brought on and immediately got into the act getting Ajay out for a slow 10 runs off 21 balls. Bhanu came in the middle to join Chaitanya. Rosie started the 8th over and the very first ball Bhanu decided to give a charge down the pitch to only miss the ball completely. Santosh immediately whipped off the bails to only find the umpire judging it not out. Vijay S fielding at point could immediately feel that the umpire was probably myopic. The very next ball Rosie bowled a beauty to get the outside edge to Santosh. Justice there. More surprisingly the same square leg umpire who had judged Bhanu not out raised his finger. A case of strong ears and weak eyes.

At the end of 10 overs Real Panthers did well to score 58 runs and the match looked pretty balanced. After the break Samir started for Panthers and restricted Anil and Bhupendra pretty well. At the end of 13th over Real Panthers required a very gettable 59 runs off 7 overs. Amit K was brought on and immediately provided the required impact. The loopy off-spinners were too much to handle for the Real Panthers. Chaitanya was first to stumped by Santosh. The next over by Amit was a maiden and the next two overs produced two more stumpings to give Amit a superb return of 4-1-4-3. In the end Real Panthers were 32 runs short of the target. Vijay S (3-0-7-1), Rupesh (4-0-16-1) and Samir (4-0-13-1) were impressive; but Amit with magnificent figures of 4-1-4-3 was bowler of the day. So was Hari with the bat scoring a wonderful 46 off 43 balls.

Panthers face Mavericks in the semis next week.















MoM : Hari Rajagopalan 46 (43b, 4*6). Quote - The ball was not travelling, I thought I had hit about 10 fours but the ball stopped short on four of those shots and I got just one run each time. The last time he scored 41, he did not get a MoM. There's do denying this time.

Santosh and Vijay S


Vijay S : Good job behind the stumps today !
Santosh : Thank you. What's up with you, you just got one wicket today?
Vijay S: Yes, I could have got more but then I would have had the highest wickets in the tournament. I have been told at home to secure no more "Man of the Series" trophies with the ball in hand







Scoresheet: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pEn3926bpcpoiXdUKrT-GVw