Match 9 against Real Panthers on 0712209

Miramar College Ground (Big) was the venue for Game 9 against Real Panthers on July 12th 09.

Real Panthers won the toss and elected to bat first on a ground with thick grass and 70 yard boundaries. Real Panthers were not happy with the huge boundaries, given the thick grass and asked for about 55 to 60 yard boundaries. We never play with shorter boundaries unless the ground has restrictions on a certain side.

Neverthless, the game got under way around 9 am. Amit and Srinivas opened the bowling and the first five overs produced 3 wickets. Amit bowled Anil on just the second ball of the game. Hari K held a sharp catch above his head to give Srinivas his first wicket to dismiss captain Giresh. Siddhartha followed one outside the off stump and nicked one to keeper Santosh to give Srinivas his second wicket in the fifth over. Naveen S and opener Santosh then realized the situation demanded consolidation. Both played the bowling to merit and started taking some chances only in the latter half of the period prior to the break. The last ball of the 10th over resulted in the dismissal of Santosh to give Hari R a welcome wicket. Real Panthers were at 43/4 in 10 overs.

One over from Gopal, saw the first boundary being hit by Naveen S towards deep fine leg. Gopal however caused the dismissal of Vilas who hit one high in the air to see Santosh to hold the catch a few feet behind the stumps. Amit soon dismissed Naveen S in the final over of his spell. Bhanu coming in at the fall of the wicket of Vilas, played with aggression after initial uncertainty against the bowling of Hari R. One such hit travelled just over Srinivas at mid-wicket for a boundary. Another loose ball from Hari K was dismissed to the cover boundary on a lofted hit. Srinivas was hit for a straight hit for six over long-off. Bhanu was bowled by Sam in the 19th over by a yorker length delivery. Sanjay edged one to Santosh behind the stumps in the final over to give Hari K his first wicket.

Real Panthers finished with 100/8 in the allotted 20 overs. Amit was the pick of the bowlers (is it new?) with figures of 4-0-14-2. Hari K, playing after a long time bowled well to concede 19 runs in 4 overs and picked up a wicket. Hari R, Sam, Srinivas and Gopal played their part to restrict the opposition to a score that was not too daunting. The fielding was good with no simple chances being dropped. Santosh, infact picked up four catches behind the stumps. Bhanu (24), Santosh (18) and Naveen S (16) brought respectability to the score for the Real Panthers.

Our chase began with Parag and Hari opening the batting and playing the initial overs with caution. The 5th over produced 8 runs with Parag, hitting one for three to deep fine leg and then hitting one square of the wicket for a boundary. The ball was timed well and it bounced ahead of the fielder and jumped over the head of the fielder as he came in. At 23/0 in 6 overs the platform was laid down but it was time to accelerate. There were no loss of wickets and the score at the end of 10 overs read 47/0. The team now required 54 in the last 10 overs with all wickets intact.

Santosh bowled Hari on the final ball of the 11th over. The 49 runs partnership with Parag seemed to have set us for the chase. Hari scored 16 (29b) but returned just when he was intent on providing the acceleration. It was now time for batsmen coming in to take advantage of the 4th and 5th bowlers. Gopal however started uneasily and missed quite a few deliveries against Santosh and Anil. Parag was scoring runs but in general played with caution. Boundaries were hard to come by as Anil and Bhanu reduced their pace drastically. Parag hit few shots well behind the stumps on the off side as well as square of the wicket and behind the wicket on the leg side. A loose ball from Anil was hit a couple of yards away from the fielder standing inside the circle at short fine leg to bring only the second boundary of the inning. Runs did not come in a flurry and soon the asking rate moved up from 6 an over to almost 8 an over over a period of 4 overs starting at the 14th over.

31 runs were required in 24 balls, that then changed to 21 in 18 balls. Gopal made way for Santosh to join Parag who by now was exhausted. 3 runs came on a no-ball, and Santosh took a single off Sanjay. Parag hit a full toss, with no great power to mid-off standing about 50 yards away. Giresh held the catch with ease and that brought Shekhar in to the crease. Parag had scored 43 (58b, 2*4) but fell just when the final 17 runs were required. Shekhar and Sam were dismissed in the search for runs with no time to get their eye-in. 13 runs were required in 2 overs. Bhanu conceeded 9 runs in the 19th over. Santosh hit five of those with a three followed by a two and Hari K hit a three. The second ball of the 20th over was hit by Hari K towards an open mid-wicket for a boundary.

We thus won with four balls to spare and with six wickets in hand. Rahul B did a fine job utilizing the bowlers well and encouraging players on the field. It's our second win on the trot against Real Panthers who were without a couple of tough players but certainly need to be taken on with might. It was a fantastic performance over a 40 over period with the game not slipping past our grips at any moment of time. Well done all !

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