Game 6: WVUCC versus Steelzags
The regular season powerhouses of the '06-'07 season met for the second time in a match up that featured a lot of friendly banter between the two sides. The Mountaineers enjoy playing against the Steelzags (and the Blitzers) the most in the PCA league, because there is a constant chatter (some may call it sledging) that goes on relentlessly between the two sides but never descends to nastiness (that is a report for another game).
For all their chattering, WVUCC had never defeated the 'Zags in 4 tries and were eager to correct that trend. The day got off to a bad start when C.S. Manish, gimpy leg and all, had to play since the Mountaineers were struggling to get 11 players on the field. To compound matters, Ram Paluri won the toss and promptly decided to test the Mountaineer bowlers.
Venkata Sathi bowled a dream spell (5-1-12-0), tying up Srugun Sreepurum and Verma Sagi. Harshesh Patel was also on line but a little more prodigal with the wides. Srugun began the 2006 season with a 50 but has overwhelmingly underachieved as a batsman since then. He likes to hit the ball through mid-wicket and, if denied those easy runs, gets very itchy-fingered at the crease. He is one of a handful of batsmen in the league who are like that (Mukesh Patel, Ferdinand Justus, Raj Gopal, and Abishek Muralidharan are a few names that quickly come to mind). The book on him is to keep the ball outside the off-stump and wait for him to self-destruct. With the score going nowhere, sure enough he did, lofting Harshesh to mid-on. The wicket calmed Harshesh's nerves and he soon had Swadhin Saurabh caught behind by Ashok, who would have a typically outstanding day behind the stumps. Verma belongs to the Manish school of batting - preserving his wickets while rotating the strike to the other batsmen. He played out Venkat's spell and then relaxed a little when Sohail Chaudhry came on. Big mistake! In his first over, Sohail had Verma snagged by Ashok and the 'Zags were in trouble at 48 for 3.
Srinivas Mandava (MS to all of us) is more of a bowler than a batsman, though you would not know it if you watched him bat. In 2006, he was the first person in the PCA league to take a hat-trick, and the Mountaineers were not exactly worried about his skills with the bat. Sure enough, in the next over, he was caught and bowled by Amol Bhavsar, who followed up the good work with a wicket-maiden. 48 for 4.
Sridhar Lingam and Ram then set about repairing the damage with some enterprising batting. Sridhar looked in ominous touch initially, striking three boundaries to various parts of the leg-side off Amol, who started looking for more pace and lost his line. Sridhar, however, was very smartly run out by Ashok when he took off for a run but could not scamper back in time when sent back by Ram. 75 for 4.
Sumanth Dommaraju came into the attack, and what followed was an incandescent innings by Ram. Scenting a kill, the Mountaineers crowded around the bat and Ram's response was breath-taking. Without slogging or hitting uncultured shots, Ram effortlessly cleared the fence, time after time, with lightning-quick flicks and cover drives. He hit 1 four and 7 sixes, reaching 50 in just 15 balls (but not a PCA record for the fasted 50, mind you), before Suman had the last (very, very belated) laugh having him caught behind by Ashok off an attempted cover drive. 139 for 6.
The rest of the batsmen put together a few runs here and there and WVUCC felt that they had escaped a real leather-hunt when the Steelzags finished at a managable 171 for 8 in 25 overs. If you remove Ram's blitzkrieg, the 'Zags scored 121 runs in about 22 overs - respectable, but definitely under par for Edgebrook Field.
Cliche' time: Cricket is supposed to be a great leveller, and it proved to be just that on this day. In his first game for WVUCC, Abhijit Bhagavatula had taken 4 wickets, conceeding just 1 run in one over, including a hat-trick. In this, his second game, his solitary over went for 28 runs as Ram waded into him in what seemed like a pre-meditated and calculated assault. Abhijit's bowling would never be the same again for the rest of the tournament, but he would go on to display another card of tricks that still made him an integral part of the team...but I am getting ahead of myself.
The old firm of Manish and Arvind (Thiruvengadam) were back at it again, but could not get anything going. In a surprise move, Ram, who in 24 previous regular season games had bowled a total of just 11 overs, shared the new ball with Krishna Konduru. In his very first over, he hurried Arvind into a drive and pulled off a stunning caught and bowled. 2 for 1. Three balls later he had a bigger prize - Sohail. Getting the ball to jag back off the seam, Ram got the ball to cut into Sohail, and crash onto the stumps off his pads. 6 for 2 and deep trouble for the 'Eers.
Abishek and Manish then calmly went about repairing the damage. The 'Zags had decided that Manish's weakness was in being unable to keep a flick down, and so they targeted his legs. In doing so they played into his hands. Manish has probably never scored a run in the point to mid-off region in all his years in the PCA (some would say he'd be lousy at baseball!) and yet the 'Zags fed him on the leg-side. Krishna bowled a horrible first spell and was hit to the boundary multiple times by both Abishek and Manish and the pressure began to ease. Against the grain, however, Ram managed to slip a ball by Manish's patented forward defensive push and rattled the stumps. 47 for 3. One run later, he did the same to Abishek, too. 48 for 4. In the next over, Sumanth overbalanced in trying to flick a wide ball down the leg-side and Verma smartly stumped him. 48 for 5.
This brought Ashok and Abhijit to the crease. The duo then set about taking quick singles and defending anything on the stumps, furstrating the 'Zags. Ashok played a steady hand, increasingly showing a prowess for hitting to the cover region that was heartening to watch (and a portent of big things to come). But the revelation on the day was Abhijit. Those of you that had the pleasure of watching Santhosh Balla bat will have no difficulty in picturing Abhijit's batting style. The similarities are there - the tendency to nudge and push and find the gaps, the ability to quickly step forward and square-drive to cover, or flick to midwicket when the ball is overpitched, the hustle between the stumps, and the internalized aggressive approach to the task at hand. In an impressive performance, Abhijit and Ashok took the score forward with a 50 run partnership without looking like getting out (until, of course, they did).
Ashok's weakness is spin bowling (used to be spin bowling, I should add, now that more time has passed since the day of this match) and the 'Zags kept a spinner at one end until Srugun finally managed to slip one by him and a crucial breakthrough had been made. 98 for 6.
Ajay Nayak and Abhijit continued in the same vein but the asking rate was mounting and something had to give. Quite unexpectedly, it was Abhijit who was trapped in front of the stumps, playing on the backfoot to Krishna, who redeemed himself for a lousy first spell by bowling a brilliant second one. The rest of the batsmen could not keep Ajay company and in the end the Mountaineers were all out for 140, losing by 31 runs. The unfortunate part was that they had another 41 balls to get them in but no batsmen left - a waste of resources that rankled the players for a long time.
Each time the Mountaineers played the 'Zags, they have found them just a little harder to defeat. The baggage is piling up and all the 'Eers can hope for is a chance at redemption in the playoffs.
But first things first, with this defeat the 'Eers fell to 4-2 but next up, to heal the wounds of this match, were the snake-bitten Lumberjacks!
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