KCCB Vs JGR Summary
KCC B team bats first and gets bundled out for a meager 89 just before the break in 19.4 overs. This was one of the worst performances so far by KCC-B batters. So what chances would you give KCC-B team in this game against JGR given that only Rahul was the regular bowler in our team today? On paper this was the weakest team KCC-B have fielded this season so far. If you think the obvious then hold on and take a deep breath. To the surprise of all, showing great commitment, tremendous team effort and the so called killer instinct, KCC-B gets JGR bowled out for a meager 60 within 16 overs, thanks to a relatively long and arduous spells from Rahul and Bharath for whom this game was a debut as a bowler.
We might have heard that the probability of winning the toss for any team is 50% but I as a captain seem to prove this simple fact wrong yet again. We lost the toss but again happened to be in a win-win situation as JGR asked us to BAT. They were 8 players in total and they were still waiting for one of their teammates to join. Given this, their choice to field was rather illogical. We didn’t mind it though. Bharath opened the innings with Anurag and was looking well determined for a big one. Sometimes too much caution might play negatively to your plan and this is what happened with Bharath. He wanted to offer no shot to a delivery, which had pitched way outside the off stump but ended up finding his off stump uprooted. Perhaps this was the best bowl that JGR team had in their armory. So much was the swing of the ball that it was hard to believe what happened and if it were possible I would have loved to watch a replay of this ball a few times. We were 3/1 within first overs, a situation very unusual to which we have not been in the recent past. Rahul goes in to replace Bharath and he starts well with Anurag. Anurag on the other hand keeps playing his defensive and cautious shots in an effort to hold the other end. Rahul tries to accelerate the innings and in the process ends up giving a catch at mid on. Going by the standards of the fielding display that we usually see, it looked like a catch almost dropped but the fielder, Zahid, had enough time to take it comfortable at the end. Soon we were tottering at 14/2 in 3 overs and didn’t look an auspicious start by any means given the way we have batted in the previous two games at least. Sumit joins Anurag and both of them try to repair the damage cautiously. They looked for singles and doubles and waited for loose deliveries. Sumit hit 2 beautiful boundaries, which happened to be the only boundaries from KCC side at the end. They looked like all set for a big partnership before Anurag misread a middle stump ball which hit him right in front of the stump. The score was 62/3. Thanks to Anurag’s consistency, the damage at the top of the order was slightly repaired. He has been doing well as an opener but after starting well and being well set, he has not been quite able to convert those starts to a big one. He scored 18 of 28 balls. Nonetheless, given the duration and the outcome of the game, this was a class inning. Anand goes in to replace Sumit. If we remember, Sumit was battling with his 6th overs woes at the start of the season for the first two games, it seems like Anand is not battling with something which could be called 6th balls woes on the similar lines. This was the third time he got out of the 6th ball in the last 4 games. He played a cross bat shot to a ball, which was on middle and leg stump only to be adjudged LBW. Score read, 70/4. Hari was the new batsman in and he looked in good touch and determined perhaps drawing some inspiration from the last game against SPT that he played in the same ground scoring a fighting fifty. Sumit and Hair seemed to consolidate the innings and save KCC from blushes before Sumit did something, which at best was hara-kiri. He plays a shot direct to the short mid on fielder and calls Hari for a single and get out of a direct throw rather cheaply. He scored the highest from the KCC side, which would go on to become the highest from the match. 31 run off 39 balls. It was an inning typical of Sumit and he was the only batsman apart from Anurag who was able to handle those swings and pace deliveries from the JGR bowlers rather comfortably. If I look like praising him too much then, the praise from the JGR bowlers and the fielders alike is a testimony to the same. Score was 78/5 and the blushes didn’t look too far for us. I would not blame to anyone to what happened after this. Last 5 wickets were lost for 11 runs and we were bundled out for 89 in 19.4 overs. After scoring 304 runs playing 40 overs, just a week ago, it was like falling from sky to the land reality. Everyone looked down and a little frustrated with oneself for not doing the basic things. A lunch break was called for which was so uncalled for in nature.
During the break I happened to go and meet JGR players just to acquaint myself with all of them. They looked extremely happy with that they had done and they deserved it, after all they had also lost two of their games this season and the victory looked so close to them as if they were standing on the Kashmir border almost to enter into it. They praised a few players from our side and Sumit was a deserving candidate for the same. Apart from them they pointed our lots of weaknesses in our side and a few of them are obvious to us too. Perhaps the sight of a possible victory made them so confident that they passed on some comments, which were rather irritating. A few of them were:
I had heard a lot about KCC team.
It is hard to believe that the same team can score 300+ runs
The main problem with your batsmen was they missed the basic things. They didn’t apply themselves and went for big shots.
And an interesting one was, please have the lunch after the game is finished because it won’t take more than 12-14 overs for us to finish the game, so why waste time now?I am not sure about the first three but the they did tried best to prove the last one albeit not to their likings. We did not take lunch as they were cribbing for time and all and we decided to take it after the WIN. Yes, we decided it in a light manner but there was some resolution hidden behind it. The boys looked all charged up when we set up our field and I was NOT required to do anything extra ordinary to motivate them. Rahul was the only regular bowler for us and he opened the innings for us and gave KCC its first breakthrough in the second ball itself when Imran hit it straight to Sumit at mid off and this time Sumit made sure of not getting blamed. A fantastic catch to give a much-deserved start to KCC. Sumit was tried to partner with Rahul but he didn’t look in good touch and proved costly in his first over going for 9 runs with as many as 4 wides. I replaced him with Bharath in the next over and this was a decision I would cherish for a long time. I had seen bowling Bharath during the practice and somehow I felt confident giving bowl to him even though I knew he didn’t have the pace as we desire. He started off well and soon gave us a breakthrough in his second over when he got Miaz out. It was a well-set plan as he had a tendency to hit the ball over the gully region. Thanks to Rahul and Sumit, I was right at the place to take the catch comfortable. Just before the ball, Rahul had asked me to move a little squarer and Sumit had suggested me to go at point in place of Mani. It worked and gave results. JGR captain Asad looked aggressive and in a mood to finish the game quickly played some good shots, which were a little discouraging for us as they were about 30 in four overs at one time. That was the only time they looked in command thanks to Rahul who intimidated them with his pace and bounce and Bharath who happened to beat them on quite a few occasions with his good line and length. Asad went on to play a lofted shot down the ground but ended up giving a very high catch to Anand again at the gully and point region. “Catch it” followed by “It’s mine” was the only words people heard before going into a pin drop silence and waiting for the ball to be comfortable caught. The danger man was gone and it really charged us and made us more positive. After that Rahul had his share to contribute and compete with his partner. He bowled the next two batsmen rather cleanly and attacked on their backbone. They were soon tottering at 45/4 and we knew just 4 more wickets, as they were only 9. This made us positive and we attacked them. Rahul and Bharath bowled as many as 13 overs continuously between them giving us crucial breakthroughs whenever a need was arisen and without showing any sign of getting tired. We bundled them out for 60 in 15.2 overs and won by 29 runs which is a huge margin given the paltry target that we had set for them.
Every win is special but this one is undoubtedly the best given the way we defended the paltry total of 89 to be chased in 40 overs and most importantly supposedly the weakest team fielded by KCC this season. I didn’t have many options in terms of bowling today and was mainly dependent on Rahul and Sumit. Since Sumit didn’t look good, my gut feeling went for Bharath who delivered to the best of my likings. They were hungry for wickets without showing any sign of fatigue or discomfort balling almost full of their quotas in a single spell. I knew that there would never be a second spell for any bowler so I had no other option too. I had options in Rana and Hari, but they haven’t been so regular in the past as far as bowling in a match situation in concerned so was also a little reluctant to give them a chance.
Well, Rahul and Bharath did win the game for us but this was equally backed up by a kind of strong and charged up fielding which was something new for us in this game. Singles were saved, catches were taken and they were made to run even for this paltry target. A few important contributions apart from the obvious ones, I would like to mention are:
1. Fielding was excellent. Vikram and Rana doing the job in the best possible manner at third man and the deep fine square leg boundary respectively. Bhanu did a good job in the square leg region with impressive throws. Initially Mani was a little shaky in the mid wicket region but he did a good job at the end saving a few singles. Sumit deserves a rather unusual mention in this department for a change who was quick and fiery in the long off region. No boundaries whatsoever even though the balls were hit with strong power, it was not sufficient enough to pierce through him.
2. Krishna missed a simple chance in the first over but he recovered from it and got one later on. He did superb stuff towards the end by saving us a few runs behind the stumps, which were not easy given the variations with which the boys were bowling.
3. Self-motivation was the key. Trust me, I didn’t do anything to motivate anyone in this game. When the boys become self-motivated and start applying themselves like this, the job of the captain is nothing. I really wish we had the same determination and attitude in the games to come and in all the departments.
We would have next weekend off because of thanks giving and in the mean time I would think something about the practice so that we give players like Hari, Bhanu, Vikram and Mani a lot more chances during the practice. Hari and Bhanu are the two guys in my mind right now who would be given chances to be groomed as regular bowler for KCC-B. Anyways that will happen after the break. For the time being everyone deserves a big hand for this win.
KCCB Vs SCC Game 2 Summary
This was a great game for KCC-B wherein we must have broken a few records. The margin of the win tells the story, a huge margin of 188 runs.
SCC won the toss and asked KCC-B to bat. KCC-B had the same plans if they had won the toss, so it was a win-win situation as far as the outcome of the toss goes. KCC-B started batting and a few major contributions towards the huge total of 304/9 in 40 overs were:
Gopi: 63 off 57 balls (4x10)
Karan: 49 off 42 balls (4x4, 6x2)
Bharath: 42 off 47 balls (4x7)
Sumit: 26 off 41 balls (4x5)
Krishna: 22 off 18 balls (4x3)
Srinivas: 21 off 12 balls (4x1, 6x2)
Srujal: 16 off 12 balls (4x1, 6x1)
In absence of Anurag, Bharath was asked to open the innings with other regular opener Sumit. This was second consecutive game for KCC-B where the openers played excellent. Sumit and Bharath put up 70 runs off 82 balls and laid the solid foundation for a huge total. Sumit played an innings slower than his normal style but was very crucial. Bharath, opening the innings for the first time, played some aggressive straight bat shots which were extremely pleasing to the eyes at the level we are playing cricket. First wicket fell as Sumit when he got caught for 26. This time Srujal was the number 3 bet and he joined Bharath at the middle but Bharath immediately followed his another opener in an attempt to hit a huge one. He was clean bowled off a beautiful Yorker length ball for 42. That was a well-made 42. Gopi was the new batsman in and Srujal played well and looked well and aggressive. He got clean bowled after hitting a huge six straight over the bowler’s head. Rahul was the new batsman in but had to be caught by the law of averages this time. He was adjudged LBW for 1 and KCC were seemingly tottering at 113/4 yet again after a very good start by the openers when Karan joined Gopi at the middle. Karan showed his maturity and experience while Gopi showed his astute determination. They played well, rotating the strikes for singles and doubles and inching towards a partnership, which at the end would prove crucial. Once they were set, there were a flurry of boundaries by both batsmen and 2 towering sixes by Karan. Gopi hit as many as 10 boundaries in his inning of 62 before he got out off a very good catch by Vibert. It looked almost impossible and perhaps that was the only way Gopi would have been out that day. It surely looked by the way he was playing his shots. Karan and Gopi put up 116 runs for the 5th wicket off just 70 balls. Hari went in to replace Gopi but was soon out. Then Anand went in to Join Karan and started with a boundary of the very first ball. In an attempt to further accelerate the innings, Karan missed his half-century and nicked a ball way outside the off stump. This might have been a doubtful decision though. Nevertheless, respecting umpire’s decision, he walked off. Srinivas was the new batsman in and soon enough Anand got out off a almost Yorker length ball yet again. The scorecard read 250/8 at the end of 35th over and it looked like the hard work put up by the openers and in middle overs by Karan and Gopi would not be cashed in by the KCC batsmen before Krishna joined Srinivas in the middle. They played what at best could be called one of the best slog overs assault on the opposition and put up 48 runs in just 26 balls. Srinivas hit tow huge and towering sixes before he was unluckily run out in the last over. He scored 21 off just 12 balls. Krishna and Mahesh made sure, they are not awarding another bonus point to SCC by remaining not out. Krishna remained not out for 22 off 18 balls and Mahesh for 1. The target set was 305 in 40 overs which was discouraging and massive for the SCC. The overall assault was distributed equally among all the SCC bowlers and the attached scorecard is a proof of the same.
SCC started their chase with Vibert and Ketan. Both looked good and danger to KCC but Srinivas did the job and justified his inclusion to play for team B in this important encounter with SCC. He got Ketan caught behind only in his 2nd over. He took another tow important wickets and overall 3 in his first spell of 4 overs. The next 2 wickets were clean bowled and would easily qualify for a sight worth seeing by any cricket lover. Gopi supported Srinivas well in the opening overs keeping the pressure tight at both the ends which was extremely crucial as Vibert was looking dangerous and determined. Srujal and Rahul were the replacement for the opening bowlers and they bowled well in tandem maintaining good line and length and further tightening the screw on both the batsmen. Since Vibert was looking to play most of his shots on the on side, the on side field was strengthened and he was restricted in his runs. This did play to his mind and he ended up lofting a ball by Srujal to Rahul at mid off. That was perhaps the end of the hope for SCC. The last time century maker Fawad who had ended up giving 23 off his 2 overs earlier, didn’t make any impact this time. The field was set in a way to restrict him play his off side cover drives. Mahesh and Karan did the rest of the job bowling almost 7 overs between them in tandem and sharing 4 wickets between them, 3 to Mahesh and 1 to Karan. Last wicket was unnecessarily lasting for two long so the front line killer was asked to make a kill in his second spell and he did that only in his 3rd ball of the over. This was 4th for Srinivas. SCC were all out for 116 in 25th over and KCC won by 188 runs. The wickets taken by KCC bowlers were:
Srinivas: 4
Mahesh: 3
Srujal: 1
Karan: 1The fielding was improved this time and so was the field setting. The bowlers also justified the field settings by bowling a tight line and length. The only area of concerns was a few wides delivered towards the end, which we must need to rectify as soon as possible. 304/9 in 40 overs is the highest score for this season in both the divisions and that is something which will make this win special. KCC has definitely avenged the last defeat.
Karan’s father was there to cheer for us and watched the full game, which was something special. At the end of the game, he has pointed a few areas of concerns, which we should be targeting to rectify before the next game. He might also turn up during the practice as Greg Chappel in an effort to help us improve our game and I am sure every one of us would be looking forward to that.
I would like to thank Karan and Srinivas from A team to play for us and do their best to ensure that KCB gets a handsome win. This should inspire all the B team members to carry forward the winning momentum in the next games to come.
That’s all I have from my side. Signing off till the next game VS JGR at SCC on Saturday, 18th November.
KCCB Vs CVB Summary
This was our third game of the league and for a change the final result was different. We registered our first win of the tournament and that too it was a comprehensive one. KCC B beat CVB by a huge margin of 84 runs. A detailed score card is attached.
We lost the toss and were asked to BAT. This game saw the best opening partnership for us when Sumit and Anurag opened the innings for us and they played cautiously and responsibly. They got us to a flying start with about 61 runs in 11 overs. Anurag continued from where he had left in the previous game and re-enforced the belief of KCB getting a good opener. Anurag scored 16 runs off 42 balls, which in my opinion is very good at the start of the innings. He together with Sumit laid the basic foundation of a huge total for KCB. Finally Sumit proved his much talked talent by overcoming his sixth over blues. He looked determined from the start for a big one and played a superb innings responsibly. After Anurag’s fall, Mahesh was tried at number 3. Sumit then became aggressive and hit a few wonderful and unbelievable boundaries. But Mahesh didn’t last long in an attempt to accelerate the innings further. Perhaps some lollypops bowling at the middle were a little too inviting for him that he went down the crease only to get stumped. Sumit was joined by Gopi in the middle who started in a big bang fashion hitting a huge SIX over backward square leg boundary off the very first ball. A lack of patience and a few drops of over confidence again proved to be fatal for Gopi when he tried to go down the track for a big one but only ended up being caught at mid wicket boundary. Anand joined Sumit in the middle but played on to his middle stump off an absolute Yorker off the very first ball. This left KCC-B tottering at 110/4 and what looked a very good start till now was soon looking like another middle overs debacle. Rahul, the vice captain then joined Sumit in the middle and in spite of so many wickets fallen recently, he started butchering the attack in Dhoni style. At one time he was 21 off just 7 balls and it looked like he is aiming for some world record (or at least AZ cricket record). Sumit continued the same cautious approach mixed with aggression at times till the drinks were called for. After the drinks, Sumit reached his well deserved half-century off as many balls but he soon departed. Score read 139/5 at the end of 21.5 overs. Shivaji, who was a replacement to Sandeep at the very last moment and a very short notice, thanks to the late night masti of Sandeep, joined Rahul at the middle. He was also bowled off an absolute Yorker off the very first ball in much the same fashion as Anand was. Till now, KCC was scoring at a reasonable rate but it looked like they would finish much before the allotted 40 overs. KCC scorecard soon read 139/6 in 21.6 overs. Mr. Bhagwaan then joined Rahul in the middle and started cautiously. Rahul kept playing his aggressive innings and made his intentions clear for a big one provided KCC lower order existed there to support him. Krishna supported Rahul well and was doing fine but I guess he would never get away with his well devised kill me shot. He was out in his own fashion for 13 off 21 balls with KCC at 185/7 in 27.3 overs. The best part of this partnership was 46 runs off 35 balls and needless to say a major contribution came from Rahul who hit a few wonderful sixes over the shortest boundary fence at chandler-2 ground. I guess this was a perfect example of making most of the prevalent situation and conditions. Bharath who was a debut in this match replaced Krishna. Bharath was comfortable at the middle given his first match and looked a decent prospect for future. He supported Rahul well and played some aggressive shots too, which allowed Rahul too to play his aggressive shots. Bharath and Rahul together added 41 runs off 36 balls before Bharath was out for 26 off 24 balls. It was a very good innings lower down the order. Srujal and Gunjan followed one by one. Gunjan tried to give as much chances as possible to Rahul so that he could complete his well-deserved century but Rahul was adjudged LBW in the 38th over after making 96 off just 62 deliveries. Absolutely wonderful innings but unfortunate on missing out a century, which would have been first for KCC this season. KCC scored 269/10 in 37.2 overs thereby setting a target of 270 in 40 overs for CVB.
CVB started their chase in a big bang fashion and Gunjan was hammered all over in his first over itself. His rhythm was missing and he was struggling. Gopi did a fine job from the other end but was very unlucky on not getting a wicket. A change in bowling did the trick when Rahul replaced Gunjan in 5th over and clean bowled one of the openers. It felt, this was Rahul’s day. Gopi and Rahul maintained the pressure. Srujal replaced Gopi and continued his superb form. His line and length were accurate and was very miser in terms of runs. Rahul was replaced with Shivaji who proved his worth by bowling a splendid spell. The pressure was mounting on the CVB batsman and it was never going to be easy from there. Sumit gave us 2 successive break through in the same over and it was like the final nail in the CVB’s coffin. Finally CVB were all out for 185 in 33.5 overs.
This win has come from a few top class individual performances, which have been listed down:
Rahul: 96 off 62 balls and 2/24
Sumit: 54 off 57 balls and 2/ 20
Bharath: 26 off 24 balls
Krishna: Good work behind the wickets and 13 useful runs
Anurag: 15 off 40 balls at the start of the innings
Gopi, Srujal and Shivaji: Tight bowling to death.
Needless to say, rests of the guys have to learn from the above ones and raise their games in an order to contribute towards to victory in the upcoming matches. We have to understand that Rahul will not score a 50 in every game and we will not have a very good opening partnership like this in every game. The key is to accept the responsibility, enjoy the game and contribute to win. The new way of doing practice might not have contributed positively in this game but I believe this is a long-term process and will take time. Please be patient. We definitely looked like improved from previous few games as far as fielding placements and bowling changes are concerned. We still have to work on fielding and especially on the catches. As many as 3 absolute sitters were dropped they might cost us the game if we do not enjoy to have a big total.
This season, this was the first win for KCC as a club and me as a captain. This will be special for me always. What could have been a better occasion to buy a new car for me than this one? J.
I would like to thank everyone involved in this game and special thanks must go to Shivaji for coming there at a very short notice as a replacement for Sandeep.
Let us continue in the same vein guys.
KCCB Vs SCC Summary
This was our second game of the league. The final result might look the same as for the opening game but we definitely looked improved barring a few aspects, which we have to address making full use of 2 weeks break before we move on to our 3rd game.
We won the toss and decided to field. A few players wanted to bat but we were not sure about the kind of bounce etc this pitch would offer so final call went to field. We started off well with Sandeep and Rahul opening the bowling for KCC and Sandeep gave us a breakthrough soon in the game. But their second wicket played really well and a wicket looked elusive to us. Lots of bowling changes were done in a desperate attempt to get a break through. KCCB Bowlers bowled well, but thanks to the way Ketan and Fahad from SCC batted coupled with a few chances that they got early on, they went on to score heavily against us. A major contributing factor in favor of SCC was the size and the form of the ground and perhaps they were aware of it more than we were, so they made most of it. Rana was the man who got rid of Ketan in his 2nd over (14th over of the game) and we looked like coming back. But Fahad rode on a few bold strokes as well as his share of luck and went of to finally score a nice century. At the end of 40th over they set us a target of 257.
Bowling performance from KCB were (Based on my memory):Rana: - (1/33 in 6 overs)
Sandeep: - (2 in 8 overs)
Mahesh: - 1 wicket
Sumit Garg: -1 wicket.Most of the bowlers bowled well in bits of pieces but the consistency was lacking. The field placement has been a big concern mainly after being hammered for a few runs. We hope to improve on this account before the next game.
We started off our chase at a pace, which could be called the best I have seen in recent times, and for a moment it seemed anything was possible. The positive start from Anurag and Sumit garg produced 31 runs in 3 overs. But then we lost both of our openers in quick succession. Anand and Himanshu Pal looked well but the continuously mounting run rate took a toll on them and they also fell in quick succession and KCB was found tottering at 49/4 in 10 overs. After this, Rana and Rahul batted well with full responsibility. Rahul did not hesitate in attacking the bowler now and then while Rana believed in holding one end to the best of his capability. They added 75 runs for the fifth wicket between then and tried to put KCCB back in the game. In the process Rahul played an aggressive innings bringing his fifty off 47 balls. In most part of this partnership Rana played a second fiddle yet crucial role. Finally Rahul was out at 53 in a manner he perhaps didn’t deserve. Nonetheless a beautiful counter-attacking inning came to an end. Sandeep at the middle joined Rana and again 31 runs were added for 6th wicket before Rana went on to give a simple catch at the square leg boundary. Rana scored 14 runs of 38 balls. It might look a very slow innings on paper but given the conditions, it was a class act. In a 40 over game, chasing over 6 runs per over, there needs to be someone who is responsible to hold one end like the WALL. Rana exactly did that. Sandeep looked good right from the start. His feet movement was really good and so was his running between the wickets, occasionally hitting a few boundaries now and then and keeping the scorecard moving at a decent run rate.
After Rana, Sandeep was joined by Krishna who looked good for the time he lasted but perhaps was in a hurry to score quickly and lost his wicket. This brought Srujal in the middle and he with Sandeep tried to bring some life to the game and they were quite successful. Sandeep was already a set batsman and he was making most of the loose deliveries they will bowl to him. Srujal partnered with him aggressively and they took us close to the final score. Sandeep did give up finally to the tiredness but at the end, it was a master class. He ended up scoring 59 off 60 balls. He together with Srujal added run a ball 50 for the 8th wicket. Srujal was not out on 27 off 23 balls and Vikram on 2. We managed not to lose all of our wickets and gave them some fight at the end reaching 227/8 in 40 overs reducing the margin of defeat by just 29 runs in a match where close to 500 runs were scored.
A few batting contributions from KCCB:Anurag 11 off 14 balls
Sumit 18 off 12 balls
Pal 10 off 20 balls
Rahul 53 off 48 balls
Rana 15 off 38 balls
Sandeep 59 off 60 balls
Srujal 27 off 23 ballsI believe we have learnt a lot of things from this game. The positive point is a few different players have got runs under their belts this time and this augurs well for the future games. We understand that we have some problems as far as setting field placement is concerned and we would utilize the break of two weeks in correcting that. This break is an opportunity for us to think about our individual games at times we are free and be ready for the next one.
I would also like to thank all the 11 players who did their bit given a chance and a special thanks to MANI, a new addition to our B team who turned up as 12th man and fielded to his strength and gave us some breaks and options in between.
KCCB Vs SPT Summary
This was the first game for KCC-B team this season and more importantly their debut in the longer version of the game. At the end of the day, we lost it to SPT by 57 runs but it was a great learning experience for all the new comers and the new part of KCC.
KCC-B lost the toss and SPT elected to BAT first. Had we won the toss, the decision would have been the same, so the toss didn't matter really as far as the start of the game goes. Since this was the first game and as many as 5-6 players were playing 40 overs game for the first time, it was a bit tricky to decide the bowling as well as batting order later on the day. Hari and Rahul, opened bowling for us and they did pretty well, however lack of practice was evident on quite a few occassion. Their opener, Maggi and Vinit ruled the roost for most part of the first 20 overs and we were at the recieving end. KCC-B tried hard to manage the elusive breakthrough by trying out as many as 6 bowlers within first 20 overs in Rahul, Hari, Srujal, Sumit, Mahesh and Rana but it remained elusive to them. Srujal was the pick of the bowlers which maintained a tight line and length and kept the run rate under manageable limits. Inspite of all this, the positive part was the enthusiasm and the committment shown by all the KCC-B members on the field. They fielded aggressively and tried their best within their limits.
After the break, was perhaps the break time for SPT openers as well. Anand came as 7th bowler and got vineet right in front of the wicket. The score card read 133/1 at the end of 22.3 overs. After that KCC-B managed to get a few more wickets on a regular interval putting the run rate a lil down. Anand bowled full share of 8 overs at a stretch in an attempt to accelerate the bowling rate. Mahesh was also utilized spread over 3 spells and did a good job. Srujal also did speldid and got the dangerman, Maggi, LBW when he was on 80. At the end of their innings they scored 222/ 6 in 40 overs. Bowling summury for KCC-B:
Anand: 3/35
Srujal: 2/ 36
Mahesh: 1/41 Had KCC been successful in taking the first break through much earlier, we believe the course of the game might have been different, as the batsman who came later on never seem to match the class and the temperament of their opening partners. But that is IF and ELSE. Blame it to the lack of inexperince of the side or over enthusiasm at times, KCC ended up losing 5 overs because of slow over rate. So the target was 223 in 35 overs.
At the break, we decided to play full 35 overs and see how it goes. Krishna and Sumit opened the innings and Maggi and Bala opened the bowling. O boy, it was a nice example of fast bowling what Krishna and Sumit encountered at the start of the innings. At the moment they seem to be settling down, Krishna seemed to be in hurry and tried to play a lofted shot but couldn't connect to it. We were one down for 15 on only 3rd over. Sumit looked in touch and was playing good but didn't quite convert it into a big one. He also was hit on his hand above the wrist which was unfortunate. 27/2 in 5.1 overs and Anand was at the crease. Anand, Rahul and Hari batted well in patches scoring 13, 42 and 57 runs respectively. Anand's inning was more of helding the innings together while Hari coming at number 7 was at his best. He hit some clean shots and blame it to the ground being BIG, he wouldn't get those boundaries nevertheless he did get runs on the board for his team thanks to his nice judgement as far as running between the wickets goes. He was simply excellent. Full confidence and anything lose was being smashed. Anand and Hari shared a nice partnership of about 40 runs before Anand foolishly ran himself out of a direct through. It was a stupid moment. The batsmen to come did their job whatever they could and finally KCB ended scoring 165/10 in 32.3 overs loosing the game by 57 runs. Few good performances were:
Sumit 13 off 17 balls
Rahul 13 off 24 balls
Anand 42 off 62 balls
Hari 57 off 54 balls. The detailed Scorecard is attached for your reference.
Well the result might show it differently, but the game was good given the experience of the players in the longer version of the game. This game is surely going to give us a lot of learning when we go into the next game this weekend. We would try to implement those things and plug a few loopholes and we feel we could do better. Now we are aware about some of our limits. Atleast we closely felt that we could get past 200 if we bat full 40 overs. We will not be scared next time. We would try to carry this experience forward and develop ourself into an experienced side over the time. Krishna's Wicketkeeping has surely improved although he has to improve in certain aspects. Bhanu, Vikram, Anurag, Hari and Rahul were perhaps playing such a long game for the first time, but they were upbeat about it, trying hard at times. This must have been a great learning experience for them as far as fitness and committment goes. I am sure this is going to be a good indication for the B team.
Well, Looking forward to the next game more enthusiastically.
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