Cricket in the 'Burgh - part 8: Serving a cold dish

The opinions expressed in this post are solely that of the author who, on occasion, had an out-of-body experience and was able to watch himself play.

Also, in order to keep some suspense about the 2007 season, when I provide a link to a player's page I shall link to the page that shows his 2006 stats.

Game 4: WVUCC versus PittsPunters

To say that there is little love lost between WVUCC and the PittsPunters is to put it mildly. On an individual basis, there are a few players who get along with each other. But, as a team, all rules of engagement go out the door. PittsPunters won the 2006 title with a frighteningly clutch performance by Sarav in the playoffs. The 2007 Punters squad was hit by the retirement or transfer of some players but it was still a dangerous team. Last year they had the measure of WVUCC, defeating them all 4 times they played, but the Mountaineers were eager to buck that trend.

A few players were unable to attend practice, so WVUCC once again went into the game with just 10 players in the line-up, not the best way to start off against a bitter rival.

Sohail won the toss and opted to bat first. The regular opener, Arvind Thiruvengadam, was in California and Ajay Nayak (as he would do many times in the season) stepped up and offered to open with C.S. Manish. Ajay endured a jittery start, nearly playing on, but was calmed down when reminded that preserving wickets was the credo for the first 5-10 overs. He took his time getting off the mark, and soon accelerated flicking (in Ajit Agarkar-high-backlift style) 3 effortless boundaries. The opening bowlers were easily dispatched, going for 44 runs in their combined 6 overs. Rajanikanth Jayaseelan, the captain, brought himself on and Ajay was suckered into edging one to the keeper. But the score was a healthy 57 for 1 and he had done his job. Sohail started with a first-ball four but looked out of sorts and got out relatively soon (64 for 2). Abishek Muralidharan and Manish were unruffled by any of the bowling and moved along serenely. A few minutes after Abishek joined him, Manish pulled up lame while attempting a sharp single (later diagnosed as a torn hamstring) and Sohail came back as a by-runner.

Abishek hit just 1 six as he and Manish (well, technically Sohail) ran hard converting 1's to 2's and 2's into 3's. Abishek's biggest weakness is a streak of overconfidence that comes into him when the going is good. With the score motoring along to 135 and none of the bowlers looking remotely close to taking his scalp, Abishek did not help himself by trying to clean the long boundary. If he can ever divest himself of this urge to clear the straight fence he'll probably score truckloads of runs in the PCA league (135 for 3).

Sumanth Dommaraju ensured that the damage wasn't severe with another calmly constructed innings, as only he can, flicking a six and running like a hare between the wickets. However, at the other end, with the score on 175, in the 24th over, Manish's long vigil came to an end. A tired hoick did not have enough power to clear the infield and the opener limped off having scored 64 runs in 60 balls with 6 fours and a six. The innings was typical Manish - full of carefully watched dot balls interspersed with the occasional nudge to the fence. The only shots hit in anger were when the bowlers pitched short and he pulled and hooked the majority of his boundaries. With no off-side game to speak of, Manish's score reflects how often the Punters erred by slipping the ball towards the leg stump.

WVUCC finished up at 189 for 5 in 25 overs. Ashok Varadarajan endured the disappointment of being shunted down the order but chipped in with 3 runs. Remember that contribution later....

Makarand Kulkarni (Mack to us) sent shivers down the Mountaineer's spines hitting Sohail for 4 boundaries in the first over - all the shots were from the copybook and the ball raced along the gound to the fence. Vineet Goyal, having suffered the ignominy of being hit for a six by the strokeless wonder (Manish) when he bowled, came out determined to make amends and the Punters score quickly crossed 50. Unlike some other teams in the past (or the football team in the near future), this Mountaineer side remained upbeat through it all. A slice of magic was needed and when Ajay's sharp throw found Vineet short of the crease, the first breakthrough was made. Prashant was greeted by a volley of chatter and was trapped in front, LBW, by Venkata Sathi, who bowled an unbroken 5 over spell from one end. (56 for 2). After the initial flurry, Mack found the going a little harder and got tied down by an impressive Amol Bhavsar. There was an air of inevitability about the way he tried to force the pace and was caught behind by Ashok. (82 for 3).

Rajani and D.S. Dileep came in guns blazing and took Ajay and Amol apart. Attacking at every opportunity, between them they scored 8 fours and 3 sixes, and the Punters crossed the 100 and then the 150 mark in no time. Sumanth had also been hit quite a bit but Sohail, in the absence of other options (remember the Mountaineers were down to 9 players with Manish just limping on the field), persisted with him. Needing just 30-odd runs and plenty of overs in hand the Punters, inexplicably, kept trying to finish the game with a big hit. Two swings of the bat, two misses, and Sumanth found the stumps both times!! Sohail then turned to Nikhil Burri. On debut, Nikhil, who embodies the WVUCC team spirit in the truest sense, did not let his captain down. Stemming the flow of runs into just singles, Nikhil's relentless stump to stump line was too much for Rao, who tried to make room to free his arms and only ended up adding to Ashok's tally behind the stumps. 152 for 3 had turned into 163 for 6 and a hard-fought battle was well and truly on.

In spite of having fewer fielders, the Mountaineers did not let up in the field. The Punters went from an attacking mode to a panicking mode in the twinkling of an eye. To add to their woes, an ill-advised attempt to take on Sumant's arm resulted in D. Joshi being run out by a mile (175 for 7; 14 runs to win).

Sohail brought himself back on and Vyas Sekar greeted him with a calmly struck six to the cover boundary. Trouble was brewing for the 'eers. But in the same over, Amit Raina was trapped flush in front of the stumps by Sohail (not surprisingly, Amit had an extravagant swing of the bat and missed). 184 for 8; 6 runs to win.

The very next ball was hit towards the midwicket boundary by Ravi Vasudevan, but he needlessly chanced a second run. Amol threw a rocket from the fence and Ravi was gone! 185 for 9; 5 runs to win.

N. Chankapure took a single to get Vyas back on strike. 2 balls to go, 3 runs to tie, 4 runs to win. Would Vyas look to save the game first by scoring at least 3 runs or would he look to be the hero? The Mountaineers were hoping he chose the latter option and he did.

Sohail bowled his normal slog over delivery, aimed at hitting the base of middle stump. Vyas cleared his feet and made solid contact with a full swing of the bat. He made one crucial mistake. Instead of trying to clear the shorter cover boundary, he opted for the longer one, towards mid-off. The ball hung in the air for a long time and Abishek charged in more than 25 m from long-off and caught the ball in mid-stride. WVUCC had won! By 3 runs, with 1 ball to spare. Ashok's 3 run contribution was the difference!

Of all the wins in the regular season this was the most rewarding. Beating the Punters is very high on the wish list and the circumstances made it even sweeter. WVUCC was now 3-1 and in 2nd place in the league with this win. Next up - the 2006 runners-up Strikers.