KCC Match Summaries 06-07 season

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.

posted by Anand @ 12:13 AM