The last game between the two teams was hard fought one which had seen Real Panthers sneeked through with 3 balls and a wicket remaining. FAC were playing almost the same team with Abhishek returning after a hiatus and Aravind back in the fold. The game was being played at the Hourglass field.
Vijay S won the toss and invited Real Panthers to bat first on a cloudy Saturday morning. There was quite a bit of moisture in the air which was to be exploited. Also, given the fact that the Real Panthers (RPs) struggled against us in the first 10 overs the last time it was a calculated decision to field first this time.
Rosie - who had a brilliant match last time taking 3 wickets and bowling three maidens on the trot - started the proceedings. Navin and Amit started for RPs. Rosie started off well first two balls on a perfect length. The third ball though was a rank full toss which demanded a due treatment. But such was the effect of Rosie's previous exploits that Amit managed to hit the ball high towards the short fine leg where Srini sprinted 8-9 steps towards his right to take a brilliant catch. What an effort! To top that off Rosie bowled a maiden over to give us a perfect start. Vijay S started off the second over and immediately got into action by claiming the wicket of Siddhartha who edged a short and wide delivery to Parag behind the wicket the very first delivery. RPs were 2 down without a run on the board. Giresh entered and started well by dispatching a full pitched delivery towards long on for a single. RPs were struggling at 2 runs for 2 wickets at the end of 2nd over.
The third and fourth over by Rosie and Vijay S just gave away 5 runs. The fifth over by Rosie scalped Girish who hit a low full toss high over the bowlers head. Rosie due fully accepted the catch and as the cliché goes FAC were right on the top. Hari was introduced in the 6th over and started out well but bowled a half tracker which was dispatched over the point by Navin to give a welcome boundary to RPs. Srini the bowled the next over and immediately got into the action with a wicket of Ajay. Ajay tried slogging a length delivery from Srini but only managed to sky it towards Samir at point. I guess everyone knew Samir would take the catch 101 times out of 100 but what happened last time just added a bit of concern. RPs were 4 down with less than 25 runs on the board.
Vilas joined in and belted one over the midwicket region for two runs off Srini. Runs were hard to come by and the bowling/fielding from FAC was near perfect. Samir started off well by taking a wicket off his first over by edging out Navin in the safe hands of Parag. Navin played well for his 18 runs but played 36 deliveries in the effort. By the end of 12 overs RPs were 6 down and just 46 runs on the board. Mudit joined in and immediately removed Vilas. Mudit pitched one at a shortish length and Vilas went for a pull over the square leg but only managed to hit one to Srini. Srini stretched both his arms and took a wonderful catch to send Vilas packing for 12 runs. What an effort from the same guys who looked terrible in the field the last week (including yours truly).
Hari started the 15th over and gave a boundary to begin with but struck immediately. Naveen hit a short ball towards the point region where Mudit took a reflex catch! Yes, Mudit, catch and reflex in the same sentence :). Mudit has taken some really amazing catches but this was one of the best you could see anyone. Samir bowled the 16th over conceding 5 runs and taking a wicket and RPs really tottering at 67 runs and 9 wickets down. Mudit started the 17 th over and the very first ball took a wicket. Well, almost! The square leg umpire for some reason (best known to him) looked at the other umpire and gave it a no ball. Srini again took a great running catch but was of no use. Now it was very evident that there were non-cricketing reasons behind the decision. It's a different issue if a team want's to win every game, but there is a fine line between trying to win a game and trying to make all the decisions in your favor to win the game. Sadly, RPs were just doing that. Just a few overs earlier Sanjay had edged one towards slip where Shekhar held a good catch lunging forward. How the heck the umpire at the non-strikers end saw the ball falling short is still a mystery. The leg umpire on the other hand was non-responsive although he definitely had a good view from that angle.
Anyway, Mudit ended up conceding 10 runs in the over and RPs were placed at 76 for 9 at the end of 17th over. Not a bad score but most folks from our side felt cheated. Vijay S bowled his 4th over and grudgingly got Kailas out by hitting the off-stump.
Rosie again did well (3 - 1 - 4 - 2) with the ball and was well supported by Srini and Samir. So just 77 runs to win and FAC started off with Abhi and Gopal as the openers. First over by Navin was very good with Abhi defending off the first few deliveries on the back and front foot. RPs striked in the first over though by scalping out Gopal who misjudged everything and got an inside edge to Girish off Navin. 1 down and only 2 runs on the board. Not an ideal start.
Shekhar joined Abhi and began the consolidation phase. The line and length by RPs Sanjay and Navin was pretty good and FAC just managed 11 runs off the first 6 overs. The 4th over by Sanjay saw Abhi hitting two brilliant boundaries off the last two balls and lifting the score to 32 runs off 8 overs. By now Parag had joined Abhi with Shekhar bowled out by Sanjay in the 6th over of the match. Nothing was going right for RPs hereon. Abhi pulled a short one but only managed to lob the ball at square leg where Siddharth made a mess of it. Even my mum would have catched that would have been the cry by Geoff Boycott. It was that simple.
Finally Abhi was out caught and bowled by Upendra not before making a well made 16 runs of 25 balls with two boundaries. Hari walked in next and was beaten first ball by Upendra. The next ball was a disaster. Hari tried a lofted shot over mid-on but completed misjudged the length and angle of the ball and was bowled off an inside edge. Samir K joined Parag with 39 runs required off 10 overs. Parag started brilliantly along with Samir (who was playing with a brand new bat) and seemed to find the singles and twos at will. Parag hit a memorable straight six to Girish who seemed a bit lost after that. Samir played some exquisite shots off the back foot while Parag nudged the ball beautifully for singles and the occasional two.
In the end it was fantastic win by FAC with Parag, Samir and Abhi coming good. Parag made a brilliant 25 off 37 balls and Samir provided excellent support playing an entertaining knock of 19 runs off just 18 balls. Not to forget the brilliant fielding effort put in by Srini who took 3 catches along with Samir who took two. Of course Mudit's catch was a blinder and would be remembered for a long time.
Most of us were appalled by the way RPs conducted themselves. They are probably one of the most talented team ; but the win at any cost attitude will not win them any friends. The sooner they realize it the better.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rRclD6aUBEn19U1Y9Cd9C4Q
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