2009/08/30: Dazzlers

Dazzlers won the toss and decided to bat first. To our dislike, we were now set to chase in the first game of our playoffs. In Gokul's absence, Abhi was going to lead the side. Anand and Sreeram were going to open the bowling for us. Anand, whom I expected to be a bit rusty, but to my and everyone's else's surprise he produced a perfect first over, no runs scored, each ball hitting the right areas and Gane could hardly do much. So it was great start for us, Dazzlers 0/0 after the 1st over. Sreeram didn't bowl a great first over conceding 5 runs. But soon both Anand and Sreeram tightened up the screws and at the end of 4 overs Dazzlers were 7/0. Anand's first 2 overs just conceded a wide. Nimish was introduced in the 5th over and bowled a decent first over, barring a no-ball which provided Dazzlers with a free-hit, but luckily not much damage was done by that. (actually Gane was bowled of the free-hit)

Anand, came back for his third over from the other end, conceding 4 singles. Dazzlers now, 14/0 at the end of 6 overs. We were still searching for our first wicket. Next 2 overs were the worst for us, I gave 9 runs in the 7th over and Karan gave 10 in his first over (Guru hitting a clean strike for 6 over mid-wicket). All of a sudden, all the hard work done so far was lost and Dazzlers were cruising along at 33/0 at the end of 8 overs. Of course we need to make some changes at this point, in came Kunal. As always right on the money, almost instantly he could have had both Gane and Guru out, but luckily the ball fell in no-man's land. Abhi turned to MohitL for the 10th over of the game and what a great move it was. I think this over was the most crucial over of the match, MohitL, ever so energetic, accurate, straight and fast, immediately provided the first breakthrough (Gane gone) and it was the beginning of the slide for Dazzlers. We went into the break with Dazzlers at 37/1 and knew that there is a lot of work to be done in the next 10 if we want to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Kunal and Mohit continued to bowl after the break. After 12.5 overs Dazzlers were 52/1, with Kunal conceding 8 of the over, Sandeep hitting an exquisite cover drive along the ground for four. Next ball was another big moment in this game, Kunal bowled Sandeep out and all of a sudden we sniffed that the gates were open to force a collapse. Karan came back into the attack and he bowled a maiden over where he also claimed the wicket of dangerous Sreekanta. Karan was back with a bang and so was Champs. I was brought back into the attack, and got a wicket because of Nagesh's brilliant field placing were he pushed Karan out at extra cover, were the ball followed him for a simple catch. At the end of 15 overs, Dazzlers were 55/4, wickets starting to tumble. Karan continued his great spell of fierce fast bowling and claimed another important wicket, that of Guru who was the only set batsman left. With Guru, gone Dazzlers were now starting to feel the heat at 55/5. Sreeram came back into the attack for the 17th over and got a wicket too (bowled out). We got another wicket in the same over, with batsman trying to take a suicide single, Andy/Puneet joining the action. Karan bowled the 20th over and claimed 2 more wickets to finish with a match tally of 4/13 of which 10 runs where taken in his first.

It was an amazing turnaround in the last 7.1 over overs, were we gave just 11 runs and took 9 wickets. The ground fielding today was amazing, no dropped catches, no missed runouts.

Champs were happy to restrict Dazzlers to 63, but knew well that with the kindof chasing record that we have, we couldn't relax just yet. Andy and Kunal went and provided a solid start. We were 8 after 5 overs, runs coming a tad slowly then we would have liked, but important thing was we had all of our wickets intact. Runs continued to come in 1s and 2s, Kunal was starting to get in his groove, he got 3 2's in an over, all on the off-side. Andy was also looking in good touch, he was middling everything when playing straight down the ground. At the end of 7 overs, we were 17/0. I would be lying if I said all was going well at that point, everyone in the camp was starting to get a little nervous. At the break, we were 27/0, with 37 to get in the last ten. We now needed to force the momentum.

Immediately after break, Kunal was out runout due to a misunderstanding, which brought MohitL in. There were talks to send Abhi in to push the scoring. But the way Mohit batted was beyond words, right from the first ball he got the singles, was hitting the ball all around the park. He also played a reverse sweep for 2 which put further doubt in the mind of the opposition team with tegards to what kinda field to set for him. Andy on the other end was starting to play his big shots, he hit a 4 down the ground, which the fielder could not stop because of the immense power with which that ball was hit. Mohit continued to pick the singles and 2's on the other end, and soon we reached 50 in the 14th over.

Next up, Andy hit a glorious six over long-on which the fielder did catch but was 10 steps outside the boundary, with that six the game was pretty much sealed. Andy got out the next ball, he scored a brilliant 24(39) which was a very crucial hand, given how nervous we get when chasing. Abhi came in and finished the job along with Mohit. Mohit made 15(16) which was amazing, because not only he scored the runs, but scored them at a fantastic rate for the team.

Truly an amazing victory for us. MoM was rightly declared to be Karan, but only by a whisker as Andy had produced a great all-round performance in the game. Last but not the least, I would like to mention that it was a special performance from Mohit which I believe was also extremely crucial to the final outcome of this came. It wasn't just about his batting and bowling, but it is about the energy that he brings to this highly-passionate team.

Composed by: Nimish!