The Cricket Association of Nebraska (CAN) and Simply Play Cricket (SPC) co-hosted the 2019 Invitational Hefflinger Cup in August 2019. Nine teams were divided into three groups with the top 4 teams making the knockout. Here are the exploits of the Nebraska Cricket Club (NCC).
2019 Invitational Hefflinger Cup
Group C game: Nebraska Cricket Club versus Titans
Venue: Hefflinger Park, North ground, Omaha, Nebraska
Nebraska CC Players: Anoop Reddy, Ashish Sathyan, Asif Iqbal, C S Manish (wk), Dikshant Saini, Mojib Afghan, Phillip Blake, Saumil Patel, Sriram Surapaneni, Suresh Gorantla (C), Vijay Reddy
Titans Players: Abdul Khaliq Shaik (wk), Akash Vemulapalli, Amarendra Dasari, Avinash Gurram, Hiren Tummala (C), Jithin Pavuluri, Ravi Teja Gadde, Rohit Kashyap, Sampras Manpoor, Sandeep Reddy Palle, Vishnu Gude
Overnight showers had left behind a damp carpet and the NCC captain, Suresh Gorantla, had no hesitation in asking Titans to bat first. Ashish Sathyan, trundling in off a shortened run-up took his time getting his radar organized, with 4 wides in the first 3 balls. His third legitimate ball was the stuff of which fast bowler's dreams are made, a rapidly climbing delivery that forced the batsman to flinch and turn away, resulting in a simple, loopy catch next to the square-leg umpire. Practice catches don't come easier than that and Suresh Gorantla made no mistake.
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Sandeep Reddy Palle c Suresh Gorantla b Ashish Sathyan 0 (2b, 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
3 for 1 in 0.3 overs
In walked the titan of the Titans batting line-up - Avinash Gurram. Avinash began as if he were batting on a different pitch - unruffled, untroubled, and looking in ominous touch. Dikshant Singh Saini bowled a spell filled with impeccable outswingers that kept the batsmen quiet. At the other end, Ashish mixed in the wide balls with unhittable bumpers to keep the scoreboard and the batsmen hopping around. Dikshant was bowling a great line and length and had the batsmen reaching for his outswingers when Suresh removed the cover fielder and moved him to midwicket. Dikshant immediately lost his line and gave two wides and a four in the next 3 balls. Avinash hit a trademark boundary to extra-cover and decided to pay heed to Ravi Shastri's sensible advice by taking a single off the next ball. The only mistake he made was to hit it straight to point. Ignoring his partner's cries, Avinash raced to the non-striker end. Unfortunately, his partner did not make is safely as Anoop rifled in a throw that detonated the stumps.
Ravi Teja Gadde run out (Anoop Reddy) 6 (9b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
29 for 2 in 3.5 overs
Avinash continued on while his partner, Abdul Khaliq, was less composed but still managed to pull Dikshant to the midwicket fence to bring a frown on the fielder's faces. That frown was quickly transformed into a smile when Abdul swung hard at Ashish and managed to connect only with air.
Abdul Khaliq Shaik b Ashish Sathyan 9 (12b 1 Fours, 0 Sixers)
41 for 3 in 6.1 overs
Ashish Sathyan bowled his 4 overs in one spell (4-0-26-2) and at the other end Dikshant stopped after 3. In the 8th over, Suresh brought himself on to control the flow of the increasingly dangerous-looking Gurram. The fourth ball was pitched fuller, inviting the drive, but moved enough to take the edge for a regulation catch at first slip by Phil Blake. The Big Fish had been snared!
Avinash Gurram c Phillip Blake b Suresh Gorantla 19 (19b 1 Fours, 0 Sixers)
48 for 4 in 7.4 overs
NCC suddenly felt like the match was in their hands. All season long the fate of the Titans was linked with Gurram's scores. A low score meant a certain defeat for the Titans. But no one seemed to have told Rohit Kashyap and Vishnu Gude that. The duo mixed defense (by Rohit) with aggressive hitting (by Vishnu) to keep scoring runs at a steady pace through the 10 over drinks break. 62 for 4 in 10 overs.
After bowling 2 overs for 11 runs and the all-important wicket of Gurram, Suresh inexplicably took himself off and gave Vijay Reddy the ball in the 12th over. The need to get the 5th bowler's overs out of the way is an over-powering one for captains at any level of the game, it seems. The first ball was a dipping full-toss that was called a no-ball, a marginal call but understandable. Unfortunately, Vishnu pulled it hard and flat into Ashish's hands at square-leg. It could have been a wicket but instead it was a free hit. The next three balls were bludgeoned for 4,4, and 6 and the momentum was back with the Titans. Asif Iqbal, threatening with every ball he bowled, brought some control back with a 3 run over.
Suresh then turned to Anoop Reddy's off-spin and, barring one 6 off an errant delivery, the off-spinnershowed he'd be a threat on the pitch. However, Suresh decided to bring himself back for his own brand of dibbly-dobblers. Those who have not played Gorantla are often fooled by his doe-like gait and short run-up. The mistake they make is to underestimate the accuracy and control that he has. With the big hits getting increasingly difficult to come by, Vishnu swung really hard and was horrified to find his stumps all over the place.
Vishnu Gude b Suresh Gorantla 32 (20b 3 Fours, 2 Sixers)
103 for 5 in 14.4 overs
With just 32 balls left, the gameplan for both teams became simple. Rohit Kashyap had been batting sedately, content to swim along in Vishnu's wake during the 55 run partnership. But with time running out, he attempted an extravagant drive off Anoop, only to give C.S. Manish a chance to take a sharp catch standing up to the wicket.
Rohit Kashyap c †C S Manish b Anoop Reddy 18 (29b 1 Fours, 0 Sixers)
104 for 6 in 15.1 overs
Hiren Tummala does not waste time or do anything in half-measures. The first ball he faced was bludgeoned to deep square leg, where Mojib Afghan made a valiant effort to take the catch but just missed it for a boundary. The follow up ball was short and flat coming from Anoop and short and flat going to deep square-leg for a thundering six. The next over was Gorantla's last and he got a wicket off the first ball when a mistimed hit went only as far as Phillip Blake waiting for it at the boundary. Phil turned an easy catch into an exciting one by bobbling it three times before collecting it.
Akash Vemulapalli c Phillip Blake b Suresh Gorantla 0 (4b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
116 for 7 in 16.1 overs
Suresh should have had another wicket in the over but a carbon copy of the previous dismissal was botched by Phil who, this time, could not collect the rebound and Tummala survived. But not for long. In the next over, Tummala's hopes of hitting a six off Asif only cost his team a wicket.
Hiren Tummala b Asif Iqbal 15 (8b 1 Fours, 1 Sixer)
123 for 8 in 17.2 overs
Jithin Pavuluri is a hustling, bustling batsman who hares between the wickets and converts ones into two and threes. He began to do just that when, unfortunately for the Titans, the other batsmen decided to take matters into their own hands. First Amarendra Dasari's eyes lit up when Anoop flighted one. Had the zing bails been used here they would have lit up, too.
Amarendra Dasari b Anoop Reddy 2 (5b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
130 for 9 in 18.4 overs
And two balls later, Anoop completed a good day on the field by pinning Sampras LBW when the batsman went back and across and missed a straight ball.
Sampras Manpoor lbw b Anoop R 0 (2b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
Jithin Pavuluri not out 8 ( b, 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
130 all out in 19 overs
Ashish Sathyan: 4-0-26-2
Dikshant Saini: 3-0-19-0
Suresh Gorantla: 4-0-20-3
Asif Iqbal: 4-0-21-1
Vijay Reddy: 1-0-19-0
Anoop Reddy: 3-0-24-3
A good start is half the job, they say, and getting the Titans all-out for 130 definitely buoyed the NCC hopes immensely. Anoop Reddy and Vijay Reddy began in enterprising manner, thumping away good and bad balls with a straight bat and a high elbow. Jithin, Vishnu, and Avinash bowled different lines and lengths but did not trouble the two batsmen. Both of them hit boundaries over and past long-off and after 4 overs the target was brought down to double digits and the NCC bench began to relax. It appears, so did the batsmen.
Hiren Tummala is a bowler who would have been deemed aggressive no matter which era he bowled in. Coming in off a long run-up he likes to bowl really fast and focuses mainly on smashing the stumps or the batsman's head. The greater pace he bowls at, compared to Jithin or Vishnu, was accentuated by the low bounce of the pitch which made short-length balls not rise above the stumps. The pace also caused batsmen to stay on their back foot when the bounce required them to move forward. Vijay paid the price of that folly, being pinned on the thigh in front of the stumps. And the first breach had been made.
Vijay Reddy lbw b Hiren Tummala 8 (16b 1 Fours, 0 Sixers)
33 for 1 in 4.5 overs
Mojib Afghan, on NCC debut, came in with a burgeoning reputation as the new wunderkid in the Heartland Cricket League (of Iowa). On this day, his exuberance got the better of him. Eager to make an immediate impression, he tried to launch the first ball he faced straight over the bowler's head. On a normal day, on a normal pitch, against a normal bowler, he'd probably have connected. But on this day, he was batting on the North pitch at Hefflinger Park whose much lower bounce was compounded by the damp pitch. On top of it, he was up against the faster pace of Tummala. In two balls, Hiren had changed the complexion of the match!
Mojib Afghan b Hiren Tummala 0 (1b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
33 for 2 in 5 overs
98 runs needed in 15.0 overs (90 balls) with 8 wickets remaining.
The situation called for a calm and clear mind and, generally, you'd expect NCC's senior citizen - C.S. Manish - to provide plenty of both. But he went in to bat with a mind cluttered by off-field incidents of the previous week, determined to not let the opposition get the better of him. The first legitimate ball he faced from Amarendra hit him flush on the pads but was definitely missing leg stump. Unfortunately for Manish, it wasn't missing the middle stump. LBWs are rarely more clear cut than that.
C S Manish lbw b Amarendra Dasari 0 (1b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
37 for 3 in 5.2 overs
The Titans had not only pried open the door to victory, they were now threatening to blow it away. The rest of the over went by without much incident as Saumil Patel calmed some nerves with a straight bat to Amarandra's increasingly pacy offerings.
93 runs needed in 14.0 overs (84 balls) with 7 wickets remaining.
Hiren continued breathing fire at the other end and the Saumil-Anoop combine gently eased their way to 4 singles in the over. But this was just a prelude to the carnage that was to follow.
89 runs needed in 13.0 overs (78 balls) with 7 wickets remaining.
All game long, Saumil Patel had been talking about the low bounce being generated on the pitch. Unfortunately, he appeared to have let that get into his head but did not heed his own advice, getting comprehensively bowled by Amarendra who, by this time, was bowling as fast as anyone has bowled in Omaha this year.
Saumil Patel b Amarendra Dasari 3 (9b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
44 for 4 in 7.3 overs
Anoop Reddy is an enigma. As a batsman he has no discernible weakness and his preferred hitting area is the V but oddly, with a tennis forehand-like shot that is not a crossbatted slog. All through the season, he has settled in, gotten a start and then thrown it away in an effort to manufacture a boundary where none existed. Having watched Saumil perish, Anoop took the fight to Amarendra's doorstep, smashing him to the boundary when the bowler overpitched. But, in his enthusiasm to dominate, he overlooked the danger of playing loosely, and lost his stumps. The Titans were in the driver's seat and in no mood to let up.
Anoop Reddy b Amarendra Dasari 22 (20b 2 Fours, 1 Sixers)
49 for 5 in 8 overs
82 runs needed in 12.0 overs (72 balls) with 5 wickets remaining
The noose was tightening and the NCC batsmen were not helping matters by choking. Both teams knew that while 5 wickets were down, the Universe Boss of NCC - Phil Blake - was still at the crease. The Titans needed his wicket and needed it badly. Four balls into his third over, Hiren stuck pay dirt in the form of the Jamaican's pads. The collapse was well and truly underway. Iceberg!!
Phillip Blake lbw b Hiren Tummala 1 (4b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
50 for 6 in 8.4 overs
At the end of the over, Hiren's analysis was a mind-boggling 3-0-5-3 while Amarendra's 2-0-12-3 was not too shabby either.
81 runs needed in 11.0 overs (66 balls) with 4 wickets remaining
Suresh held back his last trumpcard, Asif Iqbal, and sent in NCC's most improved batsman -Sriram Surapaneni. Sriram and Dikshant applied the breaks and carefully played out Amarendra's thunderbolts.
80 runs needed in 10.0 overs (60 balls) with 4 wickets remaining
Hiren then took himself off to save an over of his (presumably) for Asif Iqbal. His replacement, Akash Vemulapalli needed just one ball to make an impact - castling a laden-footed Sriram.
Sriram Surapaneni b Akash Vemulapalli 2 (5b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
51 for 7 in 10.1 overs
Suresh Gorantla promoted himself up the order, reminiscent of MSD's move to come on ahead of Yuvraj Singh in 2011. The end result was just a few runs different. Three balls later Suresh played outside the line of a ball that cut back into his pads and NCC was on the brink of an ignominious defeat.
Suresh Gorantla lbw b Akash Vemulapalli 0 (3b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
51 for 8 in 10.4 overs
Many teams have collapsed spectacularly over the years but this one has to rank right up there with them. 18 for 8 in 6 overs in a T20 game with no fielders involved has got to be something special.
80 runs needed in 9.0 overs (54 balls) with 2 wickets remaining
The margin for error was almost non-existent. Two mistakes by NCC and the match (and tournament hopes) were done.
What followed was a period of exceptional batting and bowling. Bowler after bowler targeted the stumps and the batsman. With around 9 runs required per over, conventional wisdom (i.e. MSD school of finishing wisdom) says you tap around for ones and twos before launching the big shots in the last couple of overs. Dikshant Singh Saini and Asif Iqbal adopted a very different template.
In the 48 balls the pair faced, they played 21 dot balls. Any ball that remotely looked like a wicket-taking one was patted back to the Titans, In the 48 balls the pair faced, they hit 3 fours and 6 sixes. In the 48 balls the pair faced, they hit 48 runs in boundaries. Aided by singles and a few wides that leaked as the Titans got increasingly desperate to get them out, the pair added 70 runs in just 8 overs for the 9th wicket.
While the previous paragraph says a lot of things it does not do justice to the counter attack launched by Asif and Dikshant. Each six that was hit would have been a six on any ground anywhere. All of them were hit with a straight bat. In fact, in both innings, this narrator is hard-pressed to recall a single slog or cross-batted hoick. But even then, the quality of the hitting by this pair was breath-taking.The arc from cover to long-on was the target, and with no room for error the duo did not miss.
When Hiren came back to try to get Asif out, the response was a straight six so long, it stopped the match on the South ground as the fielder in the other game had to scurry to fetch the ball. That shot, of all the shots hit on the day, suddenly made everyone at the ground realize that something special might be possible after all.
The progression of the scores will tell you the tale....
77 runs needed in 8.0 overs (48 balls) with 2 wickets remaining
69 runs needed in 7.0 overs (42 balls) with 2 wickets remaining
59 runs needed in 6.0 overs (36 balls) with 2 wickets remaining
49 runs needed in 5.0 overs (30 balls) with 2 wickets remaining
*****
28 runs needed in 4.0 overs (24 balls) with 2 wickets remaining
22 runs needed in 3.0 overs (18 balls) with 2 wickets remaining
11 runs needed in 2.0 overs (12 balls) with 2 wickets remaining
***** The key over in the midst of all that was the 16th over, bowled by Avinash Gurram, that Asif took for 21 runs with 3 sixes, each one sending a deeper strike into the Titans hopes.
Suddenly, the scales had tilted in NCC's favor. Just 11 runs needed in 12 balls with the two marauders at the crease. Jithin took it upon himself to bowl the pivotal 19th over. He began with a nervous wide (1 runs in 12 balls) and then, after a couple of dot balls, got Asif adjudged caught behind off the 3rd ball of the over. The Titans were BACK!
Asif Iqbal c †Abdul Khaliq Shaik b Jithin Pavuluri 35 (27b 1 Fours, 4 Sixers)
10 runs needed in 1.3 overs (9 balls) with 1 wicket remaining
Ashish Sathyan walked up to the crease with a thousand instructions ringing in his ears, the foremost among them being - don't get out. A nervous waft off the first ball had a hundred heartbeats being skipped on both sides. The second ball he faced deserves it own paragraph.
Players from both sides, including the batsman himself, must have imagined, wished, prayed, begged, and hoped for a particular result to happen. No one, in their wildest imagination, would have predicted what actually transpired. The North ground is the graveyard of the technically classical batsman, the tall grass and the uneven ground serving to stop any groundshot from travelling beyond the 30 yard line. Jithin bowled a slightly fuller ball just outside the off-stump - the perfect ball for any batsman from 1 to 11. Ashish Sathyan turned out to be the joker that no one accounted for in the deck of cards, unfurling the most vicious and picture-perfect extra-cover drive that I have seen in my 9 years of watching cricket on the North ground. I still find it hard to believe that the ball was hit so hard that it went all the way, all along the ground, past the (imaginary) fence for the most important four of Ashish's life so far!
6 runs needed in 1.1 overs (7 balls) with 1 wicket remaining
Jithin was rattled enough to bowl a leg-side wide next ball.
5 runs needed in 1.1 overs (7 balls) with 1 wicket remaining
The last ball beat the batsman, thudded into the keeper's gloves, resulting in a celebrappeal from Jithin that was turned down by the umpire.
5 runs needed in 1.0 overs (6 balls) with 1 wicket remaining
The other ace in the NCC deck - Dikshant Saini - was still at the crease and (unbeknownst to the audience) had decided that he would play all 6 remaining balls. After all, expecting Ashish's lightning bolts to strike twice was expecting too much of him!
The first ball from Vishnu was calmly tapped back to the bowler. 5 runs needed in 5 balls.
The next ball was short of good length, outside the off-stump and Dijshant exploded into his favorite shot - the square-drive, high over the gully fielder's head, a couple of bounces later crossing the flags that make up the boundary at Hefflinger Park! 1 run needed in 4 balls. Scores tied!
The way the tournament is set up - a tied game actually worked in the Titans favor so NCC needed a win and nothing else from the game.
Since the previous ball that pitched outside the off-stump had been thumped away, Vishnu overcompensated and bowled a wide down the leg-side and, just like that, anticlimactically, NCC had pulled off the heist!
Ashish Sathyan 4 not out (3 balls, 1 four, 0 sixers)
Dikshant Singh Saini 33 not our (27 balls, 3 fours, 2 sixers)
NCC 131 for 9 in 19.2 overs
Special mention needs to be made of the heroic bowling analyses of these Titans:
Hiren Tummala: 4-0-15-3
Amarendra Dasari: 4-0-16-3
Akash Vemulapalli: 3-1-18-2
In 11 combined overs, they took 8 for 49. In the remaining 8.2 overs (50 balls) NCC picked up 82 runs for 1 wicket. And therein lies the whole tale.
The death defying heist was pulled off by two talented all-rounders. For his spectacular hitting, and incisive bowling Asif Iqbal was adjudged the man of the match. An honor he shares with Dikshant Saini, in my opinion. Each player's contribution was just as vital to the other's success.
All season long, Asif has been searching for a defining inning - one that can launch him into the conversation about the elite of Omaha's all-rounders. Hopefully, this is that inning. It certainly has the pedigree and result to be a launch pad. Dikshant is a proven performer, having established himself as as one of the pillars of the HCL. We have high hopes of the duo for the rest of the season.
Days later the NCC players still talk about the match in hushed tones unable to believe that they actually pulled it off. A tournament that appeared to be done and dusted within just 10 overs of the chase is still well and truly alive. Next up - the second and last league match against the Riders, who are fresh off a victorious, championship winning Nebraksa Cup (T14 hard tennis ball) campaign.
2019 Invitational Hefflinger Cup
Group C game: Nebraska Cricket Club versus Titans
Venue: Hefflinger Park, North ground, Omaha, Nebraska
Nebraska CC Players: Anoop Reddy, Ashish Sathyan, Asif Iqbal, C S Manish (wk), Dikshant Saini, Mojib Afghan, Phillip Blake, Saumil Patel, Sriram Surapaneni, Suresh Gorantla (C), Vijay Reddy
Titans Players: Abdul Khaliq Shaik (wk), Akash Vemulapalli, Amarendra Dasari, Avinash Gurram, Hiren Tummala (C), Jithin Pavuluri, Ravi Teja Gadde, Rohit Kashyap, Sampras Manpoor, Sandeep Reddy Palle, Vishnu Gude
Overnight showers had left behind a damp carpet and the NCC captain, Suresh Gorantla, had no hesitation in asking Titans to bat first. Ashish Sathyan, trundling in off a shortened run-up took his time getting his radar organized, with 4 wides in the first 3 balls. His third legitimate ball was the stuff of which fast bowler's dreams are made, a rapidly climbing delivery that forced the batsman to flinch and turn away, resulting in a simple, loopy catch next to the square-leg umpire. Practice catches don't come easier than that and Suresh Gorantla made no mistake.
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Sandeep Reddy Palle c Suresh Gorantla b Ashish Sathyan 0 (2b, 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
3 for 1 in 0.3 overs
In walked the titan of the Titans batting line-up - Avinash Gurram. Avinash began as if he were batting on a different pitch - unruffled, untroubled, and looking in ominous touch. Dikshant Singh Saini bowled a spell filled with impeccable outswingers that kept the batsmen quiet. At the other end, Ashish mixed in the wide balls with unhittable bumpers to keep the scoreboard and the batsmen hopping around. Dikshant was bowling a great line and length and had the batsmen reaching for his outswingers when Suresh removed the cover fielder and moved him to midwicket. Dikshant immediately lost his line and gave two wides and a four in the next 3 balls. Avinash hit a trademark boundary to extra-cover and decided to pay heed to Ravi Shastri's sensible advice by taking a single off the next ball. The only mistake he made was to hit it straight to point. Ignoring his partner's cries, Avinash raced to the non-striker end. Unfortunately, his partner did not make is safely as Anoop rifled in a throw that detonated the stumps.
Ravi Teja Gadde run out (Anoop Reddy) 6 (9b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
29 for 2 in 3.5 overs
Avinash continued on while his partner, Abdul Khaliq, was less composed but still managed to pull Dikshant to the midwicket fence to bring a frown on the fielder's faces. That frown was quickly transformed into a smile when Abdul swung hard at Ashish and managed to connect only with air.
Abdul Khaliq Shaik b Ashish Sathyan 9 (12b 1 Fours, 0 Sixers)
41 for 3 in 6.1 overs
Ashish Sathyan bowled his 4 overs in one spell (4-0-26-2) and at the other end Dikshant stopped after 3. In the 8th over, Suresh brought himself on to control the flow of the increasingly dangerous-looking Gurram. The fourth ball was pitched fuller, inviting the drive, but moved enough to take the edge for a regulation catch at first slip by Phil Blake. The Big Fish had been snared!
Avinash Gurram c Phillip Blake b Suresh Gorantla 19 (19b 1 Fours, 0 Sixers)
48 for 4 in 7.4 overs
NCC suddenly felt like the match was in their hands. All season long the fate of the Titans was linked with Gurram's scores. A low score meant a certain defeat for the Titans. But no one seemed to have told Rohit Kashyap and Vishnu Gude that. The duo mixed defense (by Rohit) with aggressive hitting (by Vishnu) to keep scoring runs at a steady pace through the 10 over drinks break. 62 for 4 in 10 overs.
After bowling 2 overs for 11 runs and the all-important wicket of Gurram, Suresh inexplicably took himself off and gave Vijay Reddy the ball in the 12th over. The need to get the 5th bowler's overs out of the way is an over-powering one for captains at any level of the game, it seems. The first ball was a dipping full-toss that was called a no-ball, a marginal call but understandable. Unfortunately, Vishnu pulled it hard and flat into Ashish's hands at square-leg. It could have been a wicket but instead it was a free hit. The next three balls were bludgeoned for 4,4, and 6 and the momentum was back with the Titans. Asif Iqbal, threatening with every ball he bowled, brought some control back with a 3 run over.
Suresh then turned to Anoop Reddy's off-spin and, barring one 6 off an errant delivery, the off-spinnershowed he'd be a threat on the pitch. However, Suresh decided to bring himself back for his own brand of dibbly-dobblers. Those who have not played Gorantla are often fooled by his doe-like gait and short run-up. The mistake they make is to underestimate the accuracy and control that he has. With the big hits getting increasingly difficult to come by, Vishnu swung really hard and was horrified to find his stumps all over the place.
Vishnu Gude b Suresh Gorantla 32 (20b 3 Fours, 2 Sixers)
103 for 5 in 14.4 overs
With just 32 balls left, the gameplan for both teams became simple. Rohit Kashyap had been batting sedately, content to swim along in Vishnu's wake during the 55 run partnership. But with time running out, he attempted an extravagant drive off Anoop, only to give C.S. Manish a chance to take a sharp catch standing up to the wicket.
Rohit Kashyap c †C S Manish b Anoop Reddy 18 (29b 1 Fours, 0 Sixers)
104 for 6 in 15.1 overs
Hiren Tummala does not waste time or do anything in half-measures. The first ball he faced was bludgeoned to deep square leg, where Mojib Afghan made a valiant effort to take the catch but just missed it for a boundary. The follow up ball was short and flat coming from Anoop and short and flat going to deep square-leg for a thundering six. The next over was Gorantla's last and he got a wicket off the first ball when a mistimed hit went only as far as Phillip Blake waiting for it at the boundary. Phil turned an easy catch into an exciting one by bobbling it three times before collecting it.
Akash Vemulapalli c Phillip Blake b Suresh Gorantla 0 (4b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
116 for 7 in 16.1 overs
Suresh should have had another wicket in the over but a carbon copy of the previous dismissal was botched by Phil who, this time, could not collect the rebound and Tummala survived. But not for long. In the next over, Tummala's hopes of hitting a six off Asif only cost his team a wicket.
Hiren Tummala b Asif Iqbal 15 (8b 1 Fours, 1 Sixer)
123 for 8 in 17.2 overs
Jithin Pavuluri is a hustling, bustling batsman who hares between the wickets and converts ones into two and threes. He began to do just that when, unfortunately for the Titans, the other batsmen decided to take matters into their own hands. First Amarendra Dasari's eyes lit up when Anoop flighted one. Had the zing bails been used here they would have lit up, too.
Amarendra Dasari b Anoop Reddy 2 (5b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
130 for 9 in 18.4 overs
And two balls later, Anoop completed a good day on the field by pinning Sampras LBW when the batsman went back and across and missed a straight ball.
Sampras Manpoor lbw b Anoop R 0 (2b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
Jithin Pavuluri not out 8 ( b, 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
130 all out in 19 overs
Ashish Sathyan: 4-0-26-2
Dikshant Saini: 3-0-19-0
Suresh Gorantla: 4-0-20-3
Asif Iqbal: 4-0-21-1
Vijay Reddy: 1-0-19-0
Anoop Reddy: 3-0-24-3
A good start is half the job, they say, and getting the Titans all-out for 130 definitely buoyed the NCC hopes immensely. Anoop Reddy and Vijay Reddy began in enterprising manner, thumping away good and bad balls with a straight bat and a high elbow. Jithin, Vishnu, and Avinash bowled different lines and lengths but did not trouble the two batsmen. Both of them hit boundaries over and past long-off and after 4 overs the target was brought down to double digits and the NCC bench began to relax. It appears, so did the batsmen.
Hiren Tummala is a bowler who would have been deemed aggressive no matter which era he bowled in. Coming in off a long run-up he likes to bowl really fast and focuses mainly on smashing the stumps or the batsman's head. The greater pace he bowls at, compared to Jithin or Vishnu, was accentuated by the low bounce of the pitch which made short-length balls not rise above the stumps. The pace also caused batsmen to stay on their back foot when the bounce required them to move forward. Vijay paid the price of that folly, being pinned on the thigh in front of the stumps. And the first breach had been made.
Vijay Reddy lbw b Hiren Tummala 8 (16b 1 Fours, 0 Sixers)
33 for 1 in 4.5 overs
Mojib Afghan, on NCC debut, came in with a burgeoning reputation as the new wunderkid in the Heartland Cricket League (of Iowa). On this day, his exuberance got the better of him. Eager to make an immediate impression, he tried to launch the first ball he faced straight over the bowler's head. On a normal day, on a normal pitch, against a normal bowler, he'd probably have connected. But on this day, he was batting on the North pitch at Hefflinger Park whose much lower bounce was compounded by the damp pitch. On top of it, he was up against the faster pace of Tummala. In two balls, Hiren had changed the complexion of the match!
Mojib Afghan b Hiren Tummala 0 (1b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
33 for 2 in 5 overs
98 runs needed in 15.0 overs (90 balls) with 8 wickets remaining.
The situation called for a calm and clear mind and, generally, you'd expect NCC's senior citizen - C.S. Manish - to provide plenty of both. But he went in to bat with a mind cluttered by off-field incidents of the previous week, determined to not let the opposition get the better of him. The first legitimate ball he faced from Amarendra hit him flush on the pads but was definitely missing leg stump. Unfortunately for Manish, it wasn't missing the middle stump. LBWs are rarely more clear cut than that.
C S Manish lbw b Amarendra Dasari 0 (1b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
37 for 3 in 5.2 overs
The Titans had not only pried open the door to victory, they were now threatening to blow it away. The rest of the over went by without much incident as Saumil Patel calmed some nerves with a straight bat to Amarandra's increasingly pacy offerings.
93 runs needed in 14.0 overs (84 balls) with 7 wickets remaining.
Hiren continued breathing fire at the other end and the Saumil-Anoop combine gently eased their way to 4 singles in the over. But this was just a prelude to the carnage that was to follow.
89 runs needed in 13.0 overs (78 balls) with 7 wickets remaining.
All game long, Saumil Patel had been talking about the low bounce being generated on the pitch. Unfortunately, he appeared to have let that get into his head but did not heed his own advice, getting comprehensively bowled by Amarendra who, by this time, was bowling as fast as anyone has bowled in Omaha this year.
Saumil Patel b Amarendra Dasari 3 (9b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
44 for 4 in 7.3 overs
Anoop Reddy is an enigma. As a batsman he has no discernible weakness and his preferred hitting area is the V but oddly, with a tennis forehand-like shot that is not a crossbatted slog. All through the season, he has settled in, gotten a start and then thrown it away in an effort to manufacture a boundary where none existed. Having watched Saumil perish, Anoop took the fight to Amarendra's doorstep, smashing him to the boundary when the bowler overpitched. But, in his enthusiasm to dominate, he overlooked the danger of playing loosely, and lost his stumps. The Titans were in the driver's seat and in no mood to let up.
Anoop Reddy b Amarendra Dasari 22 (20b 2 Fours, 1 Sixers)
49 for 5 in 8 overs
82 runs needed in 12.0 overs (72 balls) with 5 wickets remaining
The noose was tightening and the NCC batsmen were not helping matters by choking. Both teams knew that while 5 wickets were down, the Universe Boss of NCC - Phil Blake - was still at the crease. The Titans needed his wicket and needed it badly. Four balls into his third over, Hiren stuck pay dirt in the form of the Jamaican's pads. The collapse was well and truly underway. Iceberg!!
Phillip Blake lbw b Hiren Tummala 1 (4b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
50 for 6 in 8.4 overs
At the end of the over, Hiren's analysis was a mind-boggling 3-0-5-3 while Amarendra's 2-0-12-3 was not too shabby either.
81 runs needed in 11.0 overs (66 balls) with 4 wickets remaining
Suresh held back his last trumpcard, Asif Iqbal, and sent in NCC's most improved batsman -Sriram Surapaneni. Sriram and Dikshant applied the breaks and carefully played out Amarendra's thunderbolts.
80 runs needed in 10.0 overs (60 balls) with 4 wickets remaining
Hiren then took himself off to save an over of his (presumably) for Asif Iqbal. His replacement, Akash Vemulapalli needed just one ball to make an impact - castling a laden-footed Sriram.
Sriram Surapaneni b Akash Vemulapalli 2 (5b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
51 for 7 in 10.1 overs
Suresh Gorantla promoted himself up the order, reminiscent of MSD's move to come on ahead of Yuvraj Singh in 2011. The end result was just a few runs different. Three balls later Suresh played outside the line of a ball that cut back into his pads and NCC was on the brink of an ignominious defeat.
Suresh Gorantla lbw b Akash Vemulapalli 0 (3b 0 Fours, 0 Sixers)
51 for 8 in 10.4 overs
Many teams have collapsed spectacularly over the years but this one has to rank right up there with them. 18 for 8 in 6 overs in a T20 game with no fielders involved has got to be something special.
80 runs needed in 9.0 overs (54 balls) with 2 wickets remaining
The margin for error was almost non-existent. Two mistakes by NCC and the match (and tournament hopes) were done.
What followed was a period of exceptional batting and bowling. Bowler after bowler targeted the stumps and the batsman. With around 9 runs required per over, conventional wisdom (i.e. MSD school of finishing wisdom) says you tap around for ones and twos before launching the big shots in the last couple of overs. Dikshant Singh Saini and Asif Iqbal adopted a very different template.
In the 48 balls the pair faced, they played 21 dot balls. Any ball that remotely looked like a wicket-taking one was patted back to the Titans, In the 48 balls the pair faced, they hit 3 fours and 6 sixes. In the 48 balls the pair faced, they hit 48 runs in boundaries. Aided by singles and a few wides that leaked as the Titans got increasingly desperate to get them out, the pair added 70 runs in just 8 overs for the 9th wicket.
While the previous paragraph says a lot of things it does not do justice to the counter attack launched by Asif and Dikshant. Each six that was hit would have been a six on any ground anywhere. All of them were hit with a straight bat. In fact, in both innings, this narrator is hard-pressed to recall a single slog or cross-batted hoick. But even then, the quality of the hitting by this pair was breath-taking.The arc from cover to long-on was the target, and with no room for error the duo did not miss.
When Hiren came back to try to get Asif out, the response was a straight six so long, it stopped the match on the South ground as the fielder in the other game had to scurry to fetch the ball. That shot, of all the shots hit on the day, suddenly made everyone at the ground realize that something special might be possible after all.
The progression of the scores will tell you the tale....
77 runs needed in 8.0 overs (48 balls) with 2 wickets remaining
69 runs needed in 7.0 overs (42 balls) with 2 wickets remaining
59 runs needed in 6.0 overs (36 balls) with 2 wickets remaining
49 runs needed in 5.0 overs (30 balls) with 2 wickets remaining
*****
28 runs needed in 4.0 overs (24 balls) with 2 wickets remaining
22 runs needed in 3.0 overs (18 balls) with 2 wickets remaining
11 runs needed in 2.0 overs (12 balls) with 2 wickets remaining
***** The key over in the midst of all that was the 16th over, bowled by Avinash Gurram, that Asif took for 21 runs with 3 sixes, each one sending a deeper strike into the Titans hopes.
Suddenly, the scales had tilted in NCC's favor. Just 11 runs needed in 12 balls with the two marauders at the crease. Jithin took it upon himself to bowl the pivotal 19th over. He began with a nervous wide (1 runs in 12 balls) and then, after a couple of dot balls, got Asif adjudged caught behind off the 3rd ball of the over. The Titans were BACK!
Asif Iqbal c †Abdul Khaliq Shaik b Jithin Pavuluri 35 (27b 1 Fours, 4 Sixers)
10 runs needed in 1.3 overs (9 balls) with 1 wicket remaining
Ashish Sathyan walked up to the crease with a thousand instructions ringing in his ears, the foremost among them being - don't get out. A nervous waft off the first ball had a hundred heartbeats being skipped on both sides. The second ball he faced deserves it own paragraph.
Players from both sides, including the batsman himself, must have imagined, wished, prayed, begged, and hoped for a particular result to happen. No one, in their wildest imagination, would have predicted what actually transpired. The North ground is the graveyard of the technically classical batsman, the tall grass and the uneven ground serving to stop any groundshot from travelling beyond the 30 yard line. Jithin bowled a slightly fuller ball just outside the off-stump - the perfect ball for any batsman from 1 to 11. Ashish Sathyan turned out to be the joker that no one accounted for in the deck of cards, unfurling the most vicious and picture-perfect extra-cover drive that I have seen in my 9 years of watching cricket on the North ground. I still find it hard to believe that the ball was hit so hard that it went all the way, all along the ground, past the (imaginary) fence for the most important four of Ashish's life so far!
6 runs needed in 1.1 overs (7 balls) with 1 wicket remaining
Jithin was rattled enough to bowl a leg-side wide next ball.
5 runs needed in 1.1 overs (7 balls) with 1 wicket remaining
The last ball beat the batsman, thudded into the keeper's gloves, resulting in a celebrappeal from Jithin that was turned down by the umpire.
5 runs needed in 1.0 overs (6 balls) with 1 wicket remaining
The other ace in the NCC deck - Dikshant Saini - was still at the crease and (unbeknownst to the audience) had decided that he would play all 6 remaining balls. After all, expecting Ashish's lightning bolts to strike twice was expecting too much of him!
The first ball from Vishnu was calmly tapped back to the bowler. 5 runs needed in 5 balls.
The next ball was short of good length, outside the off-stump and Dijshant exploded into his favorite shot - the square-drive, high over the gully fielder's head, a couple of bounces later crossing the flags that make up the boundary at Hefflinger Park! 1 run needed in 4 balls. Scores tied!
The way the tournament is set up - a tied game actually worked in the Titans favor so NCC needed a win and nothing else from the game.
Since the previous ball that pitched outside the off-stump had been thumped away, Vishnu overcompensated and bowled a wide down the leg-side and, just like that, anticlimactically, NCC had pulled off the heist!
Ashish Sathyan 4 not out (3 balls, 1 four, 0 sixers)
Dikshant Singh Saini 33 not our (27 balls, 3 fours, 2 sixers)
NCC 131 for 9 in 19.2 overs
Special mention needs to be made of the heroic bowling analyses of these Titans:
Hiren Tummala: 4-0-15-3
Amarendra Dasari: 4-0-16-3
Akash Vemulapalli: 3-1-18-2
In 11 combined overs, they took 8 for 49. In the remaining 8.2 overs (50 balls) NCC picked up 82 runs for 1 wicket. And therein lies the whole tale.
The death defying heist was pulled off by two talented all-rounders. For his spectacular hitting, and incisive bowling Asif Iqbal was adjudged the man of the match. An honor he shares with Dikshant Saini, in my opinion. Each player's contribution was just as vital to the other's success.
All season long, Asif has been searching for a defining inning - one that can launch him into the conversation about the elite of Omaha's all-rounders. Hopefully, this is that inning. It certainly has the pedigree and result to be a launch pad. Dikshant is a proven performer, having established himself as as one of the pillars of the HCL. We have high hopes of the duo for the rest of the season.
Days later the NCC players still talk about the match in hushed tones unable to believe that they actually pulled it off. A tournament that appeared to be done and dusted within just 10 overs of the chase is still well and truly alive. Next up - the second and last league match against the Riders, who are fresh off a victorious, championship winning Nebraksa Cup (T14 hard tennis ball) campaign.
3 comments:
Nicely Narrated and kept me spellbound all through it. Hope to see more coming...
Very well described game details in depth,emotions,skills involving everyone in the game....thank you taking time to write!! Enjoyed reading as always!!
Remember dikshant six of Akash bowling over wide long off was a turning point to me(may be) since that ball was lost in water and had to change it...that hit, Asif hit of Hiren and Ashish off drive....all 3 will be remembered for some time...
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