KCCB Vs SPT Game 2 Summary
Second consecutive time KCC-B was lucky to win the toss. However this time when, they won it, they decided to BAT looking at the history they themselves have created at their home ground, 3 wins out of 4 games batting first in all occasions. The only loss was against the PJB guys who they beat in their own den 2 weeks later and took a fitting revenge. Every time they batted here, their TOP order relished batting on the flat track and every time someone emerged as a big hero. The scorecard will definitely reveal this: 269/10 against CVB, 304/9 against SCC and 278/5 against PCC.
However not every day is the same and this time the match was a little different even though the end result was the same: A win over SPT by 24 runs. SPT was the first team, which KCB had played this season and was almost humiliated. This time around, the team looked much better and players more experienced.
KCB started off with Gopi and Bharath opening the innings. Gopi was promoted up the order because of the top bowling attack consisting off the likes of Balaji, Maggi and Shankar. They seemed to be getting a hold of the things but Balaji’s line, length and swing was perhaps too much at the start of the game and Gopi missed an incoming delivery completely that kept a little low and was clean bowled. Anand went at regular number 3 to consolidate for the damage but similar kind of delivery a couple of over later by Balaji, found his leg before the wicket and umpire had no hesitation whatsoever. Viral was the number 4 man this time and he started off cautiously and just when it looked that he was all set, he mistimed a ball, which was outside the leg stump and offered a simple catch at backward square leg. Rahul was the next man in and he started off with his natural strokes but Maggi’s pace was too much for him and he soon found his stumps uprooted. Bharath was cautiously batting at one end how-ever, SPT fielders were denying him every chance of scoring runs which was mounting pressure on him. The field placement by SPT was so perfect, coupled with a tight line and length provided by their batsmen according to the field, that it took 45+ balls for a player like Bharath to go into double digits. Soon he was also heading back to the pavilion after showing some fight to get KCB back into the game. Krishna and Asad didn’t do much as they should have done, with Krishna falling to a debatable LBW decision and Asad to a atrocious shot selection which was not the need of the hour. At the first innings break, KCB were tottering at 75/7 and sky looked too gloomy for them. This was then left to Hari and the tale Enders in Himanshu Pal, Parag and the energetic Mithil. Hari perhaps has a special likings of SPT boys and he proved that in the end. In the first game he had scored a fighting half-century to take KCB closer to the target while KCB chased a huge total of 222 in just 35 overs. This inning was different when he had to bat with all tales Enders. Himanshu Pal survived initial hiccups and was doing good when he ran himself out of contention because of a poor running and calling between the wickets. Then came Parag at number 10 and he looked confident at the crease. He never seemed to think about the runs being scored and just insured that he keeps the wicket at one end. He ran hard with Hari for singles and defended balls with great technique. This was enough to boost the confidence of Hari at the other end and he started playing a little freely. The 9th wicket partnership was reaching about 30 and SPT boys were getting frustrated for they had assumed an early finish of KCB innings. 16 overs were remaining when Parag had gone out to BAT. Parag was the man to head back to pavilion at the end when he missed a low fulltoss on his leg stump. Score read 115/9 at the end of 33rd over. 7 overs were still remaining and still an early lunch was well on card when Mithil joined Hari in the middle. But that was not the case to be, Mithil and Hari together accounted for about 50 runs in 7 overs scoring runs at a decent pace and ensuring they play full 40 overs. Hari had this idea in his mind from as early as 23rd over when he talked about their slow over rate and if KCB played full 40 overs, they would be docked a few for sure. Nobody knew this simple fact would cost SPT dearly at the end. Mithil drove a few fantastic boundaries and was unbeaten on 22 with Hari unbeaten on 45. Hari has now scored 57 and 45* against SPT with a bradmansque average of 102. The target for SPT was 167 in 38 overs.
The history spoke of little chances for KCB as this ground has been famous for high scoring games but a close look at the SPT’s run chase records made everyone believe that they are quite vulnerable while chasing. They had fallen to 37 all out against ACC and 107 all out against the PJBs chasing a small target of 107. KCB boys resumed the duties in a fiery and rejuvenated mood and SPT started their innings with their best batsman Maggi. Rahul and Gopi bowled a tight line and length and removed two early wickets one each, which showed some light at the end of the tunnel for KCB. Sreejit joined Maggi at the end and they started playing positive cricket. The field setting was immaculate and the fielders did their job with fire. The “Tomorrow birthday boy ” Asad was brought to ball in the 10th over and provided a vital breakthrough. Pressure started mounting on batsmen and they decided enough was enough. Sreejit mistimed an over pitched delivery from Asad and Rahul took a high catch running some 15-20 yards. 3rd wicket was down which was much needed and SPT were 49/3 at the end of 10th over. Maggi was still hanging in at the other end and this was the biggest roadblock for KCB. The young man, Mithil was given a chance to learn something against the best batsman of the opposition and the first ball he bowled was a big wide outside the off stump with next ball a short pitched one which was deservedly sent for boundary and the next one for a double. It seemed like a bad decision to everyone but then came the golden ball. Maggi tried to drive a ball from Mithil, which was fast and pitched outside the off stump, but only managed to slash it just before the point where Anand was standing. Anand, seeing the chance of a match decider wicket dived, to his front to take a stunning catch. Maggi couldn’t believe this while he headed back to pavilion. From there on, it was all over and it was all Mithil. He accounted for 2 wickets on as many balls the next over and 2 more, one each in his next 2 overs. His first 4 overs produced 5 wickets. Asad maintained a tight line and length at the other end and kept the pressure up on SPT guys. Mithil was perfect in line and length and the fiery pace was just too much for the new batsmen to adjust. They meekly surrendered to him. Soon they were tottering at 63/8 and KCB thought of an early finish. 5 overs before the break that Mithil and Asad bowled cost them just 4 runs. SPT became too defensive and their captain Shankar played cautiously with the number 10 batsman. Similar kind of story was scripted when they went on and on. As many as 8 bowlers were tried with Mithil, Asad and Rahul finishing their full quota, but the 9th wicket remained elusive. Last 6 overs and 36 runs were required and Shankar was at full swing by then. Gopi finally provided the second golden breakthrough by removing the bails of Shankar and also removing SPT’s last hope. KCB had to take 1 wicket to get full bowling points, but that was not the case to be. KCB attacked and they defended finally ensuring that SPT deprives KCB of at least one point.
Brief Score:
KCB: 166/9 in 40 overs (Hari 45*, Bharath 13 and Mithil 22*)
SPT: 142/9 in 38 overs
Result: KCB won by 24 runs.
This game totally belonged to the tail enders as far as the batting is concerned from both sides. Hari played an anchor role for KCB and ensured that he doesn’t happen to be throwing his wicket just like a few from the TOP orders. Mithil fireworks at the end took KCB to a fighting total. Mithil continued the same when he was given the ball with 5/11 in 8 overs. It would be tough to decide the MAN of the match, so KCB rather modifies the award to be MEN of the match, Hari and Mithil. Hari's innings is the testimony to the fact that patience and concentration pays at the end while the supportive role that was played by Parag and the end fireworks by Mithil proved that everyone has got enough chances to proove his worth and claim a spot but the need is to recognise this and grab it with grace.
Apart from these individual performances, the supplements came from the fiery fielding shown by KCB. None of the catches were dropped except a hard chance from Krishna and some breathtaking ones were taken proving that catches do win you games. Overall a very fighting performance by KCB.
However not every day is the same and this time the match was a little different even though the end result was the same: A win over SPT by 24 runs. SPT was the first team, which KCB had played this season and was almost humiliated. This time around, the team looked much better and players more experienced.
KCB started off with Gopi and Bharath opening the innings. Gopi was promoted up the order because of the top bowling attack consisting off the likes of Balaji, Maggi and Shankar. They seemed to be getting a hold of the things but Balaji’s line, length and swing was perhaps too much at the start of the game and Gopi missed an incoming delivery completely that kept a little low and was clean bowled. Anand went at regular number 3 to consolidate for the damage but similar kind of delivery a couple of over later by Balaji, found his leg before the wicket and umpire had no hesitation whatsoever. Viral was the number 4 man this time and he started off cautiously and just when it looked that he was all set, he mistimed a ball, which was outside the leg stump and offered a simple catch at backward square leg. Rahul was the next man in and he started off with his natural strokes but Maggi’s pace was too much for him and he soon found his stumps uprooted. Bharath was cautiously batting at one end how-ever, SPT fielders were denying him every chance of scoring runs which was mounting pressure on him. The field placement by SPT was so perfect, coupled with a tight line and length provided by their batsmen according to the field, that it took 45+ balls for a player like Bharath to go into double digits. Soon he was also heading back to the pavilion after showing some fight to get KCB back into the game. Krishna and Asad didn’t do much as they should have done, with Krishna falling to a debatable LBW decision and Asad to a atrocious shot selection which was not the need of the hour. At the first innings break, KCB were tottering at 75/7 and sky looked too gloomy for them. This was then left to Hari and the tale Enders in Himanshu Pal, Parag and the energetic Mithil. Hari perhaps has a special likings of SPT boys and he proved that in the end. In the first game he had scored a fighting half-century to take KCB closer to the target while KCB chased a huge total of 222 in just 35 overs. This inning was different when he had to bat with all tales Enders. Himanshu Pal survived initial hiccups and was doing good when he ran himself out of contention because of a poor running and calling between the wickets. Then came Parag at number 10 and he looked confident at the crease. He never seemed to think about the runs being scored and just insured that he keeps the wicket at one end. He ran hard with Hari for singles and defended balls with great technique. This was enough to boost the confidence of Hari at the other end and he started playing a little freely. The 9th wicket partnership was reaching about 30 and SPT boys were getting frustrated for they had assumed an early finish of KCB innings. 16 overs were remaining when Parag had gone out to BAT. Parag was the man to head back to pavilion at the end when he missed a low fulltoss on his leg stump. Score read 115/9 at the end of 33rd over. 7 overs were still remaining and still an early lunch was well on card when Mithil joined Hari in the middle. But that was not the case to be, Mithil and Hari together accounted for about 50 runs in 7 overs scoring runs at a decent pace and ensuring they play full 40 overs. Hari had this idea in his mind from as early as 23rd over when he talked about their slow over rate and if KCB played full 40 overs, they would be docked a few for sure. Nobody knew this simple fact would cost SPT dearly at the end. Mithil drove a few fantastic boundaries and was unbeaten on 22 with Hari unbeaten on 45. Hari has now scored 57 and 45* against SPT with a bradmansque average of 102. The target for SPT was 167 in 38 overs.
The history spoke of little chances for KCB as this ground has been famous for high scoring games but a close look at the SPT’s run chase records made everyone believe that they are quite vulnerable while chasing. They had fallen to 37 all out against ACC and 107 all out against the PJBs chasing a small target of 107. KCB boys resumed the duties in a fiery and rejuvenated mood and SPT started their innings with their best batsman Maggi. Rahul and Gopi bowled a tight line and length and removed two early wickets one each, which showed some light at the end of the tunnel for KCB. Sreejit joined Maggi at the end and they started playing positive cricket. The field setting was immaculate and the fielders did their job with fire. The “Tomorrow birthday boy ” Asad was brought to ball in the 10th over and provided a vital breakthrough. Pressure started mounting on batsmen and they decided enough was enough. Sreejit mistimed an over pitched delivery from Asad and Rahul took a high catch running some 15-20 yards. 3rd wicket was down which was much needed and SPT were 49/3 at the end of 10th over. Maggi was still hanging in at the other end and this was the biggest roadblock for KCB. The young man, Mithil was given a chance to learn something against the best batsman of the opposition and the first ball he bowled was a big wide outside the off stump with next ball a short pitched one which was deservedly sent for boundary and the next one for a double. It seemed like a bad decision to everyone but then came the golden ball. Maggi tried to drive a ball from Mithil, which was fast and pitched outside the off stump, but only managed to slash it just before the point where Anand was standing. Anand, seeing the chance of a match decider wicket dived, to his front to take a stunning catch. Maggi couldn’t believe this while he headed back to pavilion. From there on, it was all over and it was all Mithil. He accounted for 2 wickets on as many balls the next over and 2 more, one each in his next 2 overs. His first 4 overs produced 5 wickets. Asad maintained a tight line and length at the other end and kept the pressure up on SPT guys. Mithil was perfect in line and length and the fiery pace was just too much for the new batsmen to adjust. They meekly surrendered to him. Soon they were tottering at 63/8 and KCB thought of an early finish. 5 overs before the break that Mithil and Asad bowled cost them just 4 runs. SPT became too defensive and their captain Shankar played cautiously with the number 10 batsman. Similar kind of story was scripted when they went on and on. As many as 8 bowlers were tried with Mithil, Asad and Rahul finishing their full quota, but the 9th wicket remained elusive. Last 6 overs and 36 runs were required and Shankar was at full swing by then. Gopi finally provided the second golden breakthrough by removing the bails of Shankar and also removing SPT’s last hope. KCB had to take 1 wicket to get full bowling points, but that was not the case to be. KCB attacked and they defended finally ensuring that SPT deprives KCB of at least one point.
Brief Score:
KCB: 166/9 in 40 overs (Hari 45*, Bharath 13 and Mithil 22*)
SPT: 142/9 in 38 overs
Result: KCB won by 24 runs.
This game totally belonged to the tail enders as far as the batting is concerned from both sides. Hari played an anchor role for KCB and ensured that he doesn’t happen to be throwing his wicket just like a few from the TOP orders. Mithil fireworks at the end took KCB to a fighting total. Mithil continued the same when he was given the ball with 5/11 in 8 overs. It would be tough to decide the MAN of the match, so KCB rather modifies the award to be MEN of the match, Hari and Mithil. Hari's innings is the testimony to the fact that patience and concentration pays at the end while the supportive role that was played by Parag and the end fireworks by Mithil proved that everyone has got enough chances to proove his worth and claim a spot but the need is to recognise this and grab it with grace.
Apart from these individual performances, the supplements came from the fiery fielding shown by KCB. None of the catches were dropped except a hard chance from Krishna and some breathtaking ones were taken proving that catches do win you games. Overall a very fighting performance by KCB.
posted by Anand @ 11:39 PM
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