KCC Match Summaries 06-07 season

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 balls

I 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.

posted by Anand @ 12:10 AM