Team Shindagha's valiant battle against the Dubai summer waged on at the Mr. Baker ground. 16 diehard cricketers took the field at 630AM, and by 930AM, Friday was effectively over for them as the sapping heat took its toll on tired bodies. However those three hours were witness to a seesaw battle, in which both bowlers and batsmen had their moments, but was ultimately decided by a few stellar individual performances.
The captains this week were Faisal and Rohit. Faisal's team were put into bat, with the opposition hoping to use the early morning bowling conditions. Their plan seemed to be working after a quiet first few overs, keeping the dangerous Nandish in check with some tight swing bowling by Jameel, Pratik and Abhay. However the openers kept their wickets, and once the shine of the ball had been negated, Nandish upped a gear and unleashed some brutal straight hits. The first wicket fell for 64 in the 7th over as Nikhil skied one to Jamil at long on.
Nandish's carnage continued in spite of wickets falling at the other end, he carried the score to 151-3 in the 13th over. The Jagad-naut, as he has come to be known, looked set for his second century in 4 matches (to go with a 98* as well), but against the run of play, was dismissed fourteen short of the figure by Abhay. The innings ended at 180 for 6 from 17 overs.
Faisal, sensing that the dangerous batsmen in Rohit's team could make light of even such a daunting target, proactively set strategy from ball one, earmarking each individual batsman's strengths and weaknesses in his precise field settings. His bowlers executed the plan well, and the big-hitting Sumit was dismissed in the second over with the score on 17. Gagan and Pratik consolidated to 76 by the 8th over, but the pressure of an ever-mounting run rate told as Gagan was dismissed by Karthik, who was in the midst of a remarkable spell of 3-1-8-2. Pratik followed soon after and at the end of 10 overs, a 100 runs were still needed with only 4 wickets in the shed.
The effort was then galvanized by a rapid 50 run partnership in just 5 overs between Abhay and Sahil but just when it appeared they might have got themselves back into the game, both set batsmen were dismissed with the score on 138, and in spite of some last over heroics by captain Rohit, the innings ended at 159, as Faisal's team notched up an ultimately comfortable win by 21 runs.
The captains this week were Faisal and Rohit. Faisal's team were put into bat, with the opposition hoping to use the early morning bowling conditions. Their plan seemed to be working after a quiet first few overs, keeping the dangerous Nandish in check with some tight swing bowling by Jameel, Pratik and Abhay. However the openers kept their wickets, and once the shine of the ball had been negated, Nandish upped a gear and unleashed some brutal straight hits. The first wicket fell for 64 in the 7th over as Nikhil skied one to Jamil at long on.
Nandish's carnage continued in spite of wickets falling at the other end, he carried the score to 151-3 in the 13th over. The Jagad-naut, as he has come to be known, looked set for his second century in 4 matches (to go with a 98* as well), but against the run of play, was dismissed fourteen short of the figure by Abhay. The innings ended at 180 for 6 from 17 overs.
Faisal, sensing that the dangerous batsmen in Rohit's team could make light of even such a daunting target, proactively set strategy from ball one, earmarking each individual batsman's strengths and weaknesses in his precise field settings. His bowlers executed the plan well, and the big-hitting Sumit was dismissed in the second over with the score on 17. Gagan and Pratik consolidated to 76 by the 8th over, but the pressure of an ever-mounting run rate told as Gagan was dismissed by Karthik, who was in the midst of a remarkable spell of 3-1-8-2. Pratik followed soon after and at the end of 10 overs, a 100 runs were still needed with only 4 wickets in the shed.
The effort was then galvanized by a rapid 50 run partnership in just 5 overs between Abhay and Sahil but just when it appeared they might have got themselves back into the game, both set batsmen were dismissed with the score on 138, and in spite of some last over heroics by captain Rohit, the innings ended at 159, as Faisal's team notched up an ultimately comfortable win by 21 runs.
Great work Nikhil. Loved it :)
ReplyDeleteSuperb writing there. I felt i was present on the ground. this better be happening every week now. Kudos Nikhil :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, will keep rolling them out...watch out for the July 1 edition, the Zabeel supermatch!
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