THIS GAME WAS PLAYED ON THE 29th of JUNE.....
SD3 had an outstanding day on the field today against Inland Empire. The week was a terrible week from personnel stand point as we had to recruit new blood to make up the team due to unavailabilities and injuries. We had 4 new players in the team and were without our captain Arshad, Sakthi stepped up to take the responsibility and did a wonderful job.
We won the toss and elected to bowl...as is usually the case with our side...better bowling team. Started off with a beautiful first over from Shiva with a wicket maiden....Fanil (new player) started off well too and complemented Shiva with some controlled and economical bowling, he was unlucky to not get any wickets (due to some dropped catches) but with Shiva leading the wicket taking effort all Fanil had to do was support him and he did a fabulous job. Shiva got another break through and by the end of their spell we had Inland Empire 10 overs..24/2....Suneel and Raju P (new player) came in as first change bowlers....Raju making his debut got a wicket with his third ball uprooting the middle stump....that was a treat to watch...little did we know that we were going to watch some exceptional stuff from him...he just took over the game and got a wicket almost in every over of his to finish with 7/17 in 6.2 overs....a stupendous effort for any level of cricket....beautiful piece of bowling from him...all of us were witness to a performance that is not a every day occurence on the cricket field. Ajay...the other new comer...didnt want to be left behind and added with a beautiful wicket of his own...he bowled the batsman with a peach...all in all we were able to get the opposition out for 58 runs !!!!!!!!!!!!! thats the lowest total in a game that I have been involved in (30 overs or more)......we got them out in 24 overs....a clinical performance on the field by SD3...
We didnt want to repeat the same mistakes that we made during our last low scoring loss against the same team in the season opener so Sakthi asked all the batsman to play positively. It was a great confidence booster to have the team's leading scorer, Raju S, back in the line up....the batting looks a lot more assured when he is in there....Ajay and he opened the innings and got us off to a good start before Ajay fell for a dubious decision. In walked Tejuswi..Another new recruit....he started playing some lovely drives and lofted the ball before perishing to a slower ball...all of a sudden it seemed to be a similar story of batting collapse when Vinit fell without scoring...and the bowlers bowling a tight line without giving anything away…..runs had dried up….Sakthi then made a smart move and sent Shiva up the order....Shiva played some attacking shots that brought the momentum back to SD with Raju playing steadily at the other end....they brought us home in 14 overs....for no more loss of wickets...all in all it was a well earned victory that the team has been waiting for....
August 07, 2008
August 06, 2008
SDCC3 registers a big win against Regal CC
The day started with the usual rolling of the pitch, laying of the match and running around to get supplies, it was a typical home game morning, with nothing out of the ordinary but turned events that unraveled from then on made the day special for the team. Arshad won the toss and as discussed prior to the game...elected to bat. He said that he wanted to challenge the team with the task of defending a total after it has failed to do that inspite of scoring 230 plus runs not once but twice and both the times against Brit & Dom. Coming off from the last ball thriller and morale killing last ball loss to Brit & Dom the team seemed all pepped to take on the captains challenge.
Arshad and Raju opened the innings for SD3....with Arshad looking more and more confident with each innings and Raju trying to make amends for a rare failure in the last game it was a perfect setting for a big score....Regal bowlers started off well by yielding only 19 runs in the first 6 overs with only 7 coming off t he bat....it was a slow but a steady start and the growing confidence in the strokes of both the players was apparent and it looked like a perfect platform for the two of then to launch....with the first bowling change brought the welcome relief that the bastmen were looking for an they turned around the scoring rate in an astonishing manner. Arshad was the first to up his scoring tempo with a brace of boundaries and Raju soon followed suit. In not time the score coasted towards fifty and at the first break the score was aorund 65 in 13 overs for no loss. Refreshed from the break the Arshad started scoring at a fast pace and started increasing the scoring gap between him and Raju...he was racing towards a well deserved fifty when he fell against the run of play for a slow bowler for 48. By then Arshad and Raju put together a Century partnership....thats was the first time I had seen a century stand for SDCC 3. It provided a perfect platform for the rest of the batsmen. With Raju playing the sheet anchor role Aman was sent in to hit some quick runs and he started off in a stylish manner with a couple of well timed boundaries but he perished to a slower bowler too...Raju on the other hand completed a well crafted fifty....Satish...our star from the last game....walked in confidently....he started playing himself in and runs started flowing at a brisk and steady pace...Raju perished trying to increase the scoring rate and fell for 61. Hari walked in confidently and it looked like a good setting for him to get back to scoring ways....the guys were rooting for him to strike form as he has been really unfortunate so far this season....but his bad seemed to continue as his lofted drive off the first ball he faced was plucked out of the air by the fielder....he stood there in disbelief....Suneel was sent in to stem the sudden fall of wickets....with Satish going great from the other end all Suneel had to do was stay at the crease....Satish was scoring runs at a brisk pace though not all from the middle of the bat....Suneel decided to go at the slow bowlers when they picthed the ball up and connected the first time for a four but the very next ball he persihed for trying to be over aggressive...he got LBW for completing his pull shot before even the ball reached him...yeah it was that slow....suddenly the 260-270 score started looking like a distant possibility....Tejuswi walked in and started off confidently driving down the ground and flicking the ball with ease....Satish was playing a composed innings and was begining to open out....Tejuswi fell in quest of quick runs for 10....in walked the man of the day...little did we know that Shiva was going to take charge of the game and dominate Regal. He started smashing the ball all over the place and that kind of even encouraged Satish for taking on the bowlers....score crossed 250...and was on path for a good score....when Satish played one lofted shot too many to fall for 49 runs to the surprise of all the SDCC players....Shiva finished with 22 runs off 9 balls...SDCC3 finished with 257/8 in 40 vers....seemed like a good score...but so did 237 in the previous game.
After the break, Shiva opened the bowling with Fanil....Neville...the opener for Regal CC started off well by pulling and cutting the ball with unbelievable power....after Shiva got the first break through with a swinging ball, the usually reliable Fanil was dispatched for a few runs mercilessly by Neville...which prompted Arshad to bring on Raju P...he was greeted by Neville with a monstrous six.... but Shiva kept pegging away from the other end and got wickets at regular intervals,....then Raju and Shiva settled into a rhythm and were working in tandem...and that paid dividends and Shiva teased Neville and forced him to play one shot too many.....Neville perished playing across the line...and with him the hope for Regal CC as well...as he seemed to be the only batsman that showed some sense of responsibility to stay at the wicket....Raju P joined the act and got a couple of wickets of his own....Shiva with 4 wickets was easily the pick of the bowlers... he could have had his fifth too but a misunderstanding between Fanil and Tejuswi resulted in a dropped catch....Renga and Suneel continued the restrictive bowling that Raju and Shiva had started....and were rewarded with wickets as well. Shiva was brought back into the attack and he struck straight away to grab his 5th wicket....in the mean time he also dropped a dollly...that even Boycott's mum could have caught.....all in all Regal was bowled out for 88 . The man of the moment Shiva was given the game ball and SDCC3 players finished day with a 171 run victory....now they have a well earned 2 week break before they head to Woodley grounds to take on Anaheim.
Arshad and Raju opened the innings for SD3....with Arshad looking more and more confident with each innings and Raju trying to make amends for a rare failure in the last game it was a perfect setting for a big score....Regal bowlers started off well by yielding only 19 runs in the first 6 overs with only 7 coming off t he bat....it was a slow but a steady start and the growing confidence in the strokes of both the players was apparent and it looked like a perfect platform for the two of then to launch....with the first bowling change brought the welcome relief that the bastmen were looking for an they turned around the scoring rate in an astonishing manner. Arshad was the first to up his scoring tempo with a brace of boundaries and Raju soon followed suit. In not time the score coasted towards fifty and at the first break the score was aorund 65 in 13 overs for no loss. Refreshed from the break the Arshad started scoring at a fast pace and started increasing the scoring gap between him and Raju...he was racing towards a well deserved fifty when he fell against the run of play for a slow bowler for 48. By then Arshad and Raju put together a Century partnership....thats was the first time I had seen a century stand for SDCC 3. It provided a perfect platform for the rest of the batsmen. With Raju playing the sheet anchor role Aman was sent in to hit some quick runs and he started off in a stylish manner with a couple of well timed boundaries but he perished to a slower bowler too...Raju on the other hand completed a well crafted fifty....Satish...our star from the last game....walked in confidently....he started playing himself in and runs started flowing at a brisk and steady pace...Raju perished trying to increase the scoring rate and fell for 61. Hari walked in confidently and it looked like a good setting for him to get back to scoring ways....the guys were rooting for him to strike form as he has been really unfortunate so far this season....but his bad seemed to continue as his lofted drive off the first ball he faced was plucked out of the air by the fielder....he stood there in disbelief....Suneel was sent in to stem the sudden fall of wickets....with Satish going great from the other end all Suneel had to do was stay at the crease....Satish was scoring runs at a brisk pace though not all from the middle of the bat....Suneel decided to go at the slow bowlers when they picthed the ball up and connected the first time for a four but the very next ball he persihed for trying to be over aggressive...he got LBW for completing his pull shot before even the ball reached him...yeah it was that slow....suddenly the 260-270 score started looking like a distant possibility....Tejuswi walked in and started off confidently driving down the ground and flicking the ball with ease....Satish was playing a composed innings and was begining to open out....Tejuswi fell in quest of quick runs for 10....in walked the man of the day...little did we know that Shiva was going to take charge of the game and dominate Regal. He started smashing the ball all over the place and that kind of even encouraged Satish for taking on the bowlers....score crossed 250...and was on path for a good score....when Satish played one lofted shot too many to fall for 49 runs to the surprise of all the SDCC players....Shiva finished with 22 runs off 9 balls...SDCC3 finished with 257/8 in 40 vers....seemed like a good score...but so did 237 in the previous game.
After the break, Shiva opened the bowling with Fanil....Neville...the opener for Regal CC started off well by pulling and cutting the ball with unbelievable power....after Shiva got the first break through with a swinging ball, the usually reliable Fanil was dispatched for a few runs mercilessly by Neville...which prompted Arshad to bring on Raju P...he was greeted by Neville with a monstrous six.... but Shiva kept pegging away from the other end and got wickets at regular intervals,....then Raju and Shiva settled into a rhythm and were working in tandem...and that paid dividends and Shiva teased Neville and forced him to play one shot too many.....Neville perished playing across the line...and with him the hope for Regal CC as well...as he seemed to be the only batsman that showed some sense of responsibility to stay at the wicket....Raju P joined the act and got a couple of wickets of his own....Shiva with 4 wickets was easily the pick of the bowlers... he could have had his fifth too but a misunderstanding between Fanil and Tejuswi resulted in a dropped catch....Renga and Suneel continued the restrictive bowling that Raju and Shiva had started....and were rewarded with wickets as well. Shiva was brought back into the attack and he struck straight away to grab his 5th wicket....in the mean time he also dropped a dollly...that even Boycott's mum could have caught.....all in all Regal was bowled out for 88 . The man of the moment Shiva was given the game ball and SDCC3 players finished day with a 171 run victory....now they have a well earned 2 week break before they head to Woodley grounds to take on Anaheim.
August 05, 2008
Olympics - India's eternal desire for a Gold...will it be fulfilled in 2008?
With the Beijing Olympics around the corner, only one thought is on most of the Indian people's minds....will we get a medal this time ?? (No...not a Gold...any medal would do). Thats been the sad story of the indian sports ever since Olympics have been established. The fact that India has never won an individual gold medal is surprising to believe when countries like Cuba, Jamaica, Israel & Saudi Arabia have managed to bag Gold medals. The fact the Rathore...who won a silver was considered pride of the country and was given a promotion in the indian army and was awarded all kinds of honors that take people a lifetime of excellence to achieve tells the sad tale of the current state of Indian sports. On the other end of the spectrum is USA...where they literally dominate the medals tally...what ever said about the competition from China, Russia, Australia etc....USA is the team to beat. Michael Phelps....the swimming sensation that won about 6 gold medals in the previous edition Olympics took a sabbatical because he couldnt achieve his goal of 8 GOLDS !!!!!! And he is back this year to take another shot at getting 8 Golds....1 more than Mark Spitz....and most of the people in the US wouldnt even know who Michael Phelps is....he has not been conferred with country's highest honor nor has been invited to every damn award ceremony organized in the country....and the most surpising thing is that he is not even 24 yrs old!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We as a nation cry or erupt in joy with the performance of the Indian Cricket Team...the "Alpha, Beta and the Gamma" of Indian sports. The kind of recognition, fame, money and media coverage that these cricketers get is envied by all the other sports men & women. People like Dhoni...who has not even achieved a lot in like is given Rajiv Khel Ratna award.....thats the highest honor given to a Indian sports person....was Kapil Dev awarded with that ? Sunil Gavaskar ? And ask any indian cricket fan....who has contributed more to Indian cricket (so far) Dhoni or Kapil/gavaskar/Dravid/Ganguly ? Dhoni has no doubt transformed the Indian ODI team but I think the government should have taken their time as they did in SACHIN's case....8 yrs !!!!!!! Same with Sania mirza....she is honored like crazy at all the award ceremonies and people turn a cold shoulder to Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati who actually win tournaments....Sania no doubt has brought Womens tennis into limelight in India but she has done little of note to be honored with lifetime achievement awards.
I think the we should stop idolizing & creating media publicized demi gods like our cricketers, Anju George, Sania mirza and start concentrating and encouraging the guys that go unnoticed....Indian Hocket team, shooter, boxers, chess players etc....
As somebody said "We did our part by participating, thats what counts...winning is only a bonus"...unfortunately thats been the kind of attitude that has been inculcated in us since we are kids.....what we see is what we learn.....
the Olympics is not only about participating...its about winning too....I think we have participated enough...its time to start winning...atleast take the right steps towards winning.....
The classic example of how things have gone to worse can be seen by the sheer lackluster performance of the mens hockey team...once the Badshah's of the world with a lot of Gold medals...we had come to a stage where we had to play the qualifiers...and now we have hit the rock bottom....we failed to qualify for the olympics.....that should serve as an eye opener to a lot of people that something needs to be done....
Some might say....."in India we concentrate on studies and not on sports"....I would say "why not" sports are a form of expression....we need to have some kind of exposure to sports as it gives you a different platform to excel....why should we only excel in studies....as such most of the schools in the indian system only require you to memorize things and mechanically solve the problems from the last "10 years" to pass the final exam. Are we blind to believe that only people of india study, and others dont ? Look at China, germany and other major countries....they are developing as a nation....in research, education, manufacturing, sports etc....
The basic flaw I think is in the system that is not being able to identify and nurture the talents at an early stage....people get into sports teams with influence, bribing, seniority etc....that is not the right way to build you infrastructure...and more over we are teaching the kids that you can get anything with influence, bribe etc....and that hardwork is just one of the ways to achieve the goal when on the contrary it should be preached that HARDWORK is the ONLY way to achieve your goals....
I can go on & on....now I can only hope that we win some medals to justify the 1 billion population tag that India has.....
We as a nation cry or erupt in joy with the performance of the Indian Cricket Team...the "Alpha, Beta and the Gamma" of Indian sports. The kind of recognition, fame, money and media coverage that these cricketers get is envied by all the other sports men & women. People like Dhoni...who has not even achieved a lot in like is given Rajiv Khel Ratna award.....thats the highest honor given to a Indian sports person....was Kapil Dev awarded with that ? Sunil Gavaskar ? And ask any indian cricket fan....who has contributed more to Indian cricket (so far) Dhoni or Kapil/gavaskar/Dravid/Ganguly ? Dhoni has no doubt transformed the Indian ODI team but I think the government should have taken their time as they did in SACHIN's case....8 yrs !!!!!!! Same with Sania mirza....she is honored like crazy at all the award ceremonies and people turn a cold shoulder to Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati who actually win tournaments....Sania no doubt has brought Womens tennis into limelight in India but she has done little of note to be honored with lifetime achievement awards.
I think the we should stop idolizing & creating media publicized demi gods like our cricketers, Anju George, Sania mirza and start concentrating and encouraging the guys that go unnoticed....Indian Hocket team, shooter, boxers, chess players etc....
As somebody said "We did our part by participating, thats what counts...winning is only a bonus"...unfortunately thats been the kind of attitude that has been inculcated in us since we are kids.....what we see is what we learn.....
the Olympics is not only about participating...its about winning too....I think we have participated enough...its time to start winning...atleast take the right steps towards winning.....
The classic example of how things have gone to worse can be seen by the sheer lackluster performance of the mens hockey team...once the Badshah's of the world with a lot of Gold medals...we had come to a stage where we had to play the qualifiers...and now we have hit the rock bottom....we failed to qualify for the olympics.....that should serve as an eye opener to a lot of people that something needs to be done....
Some might say....."in India we concentrate on studies and not on sports"....I would say "why not" sports are a form of expression....we need to have some kind of exposure to sports as it gives you a different platform to excel....why should we only excel in studies....as such most of the schools in the indian system only require you to memorize things and mechanically solve the problems from the last "10 years" to pass the final exam. Are we blind to believe that only people of india study, and others dont ? Look at China, germany and other major countries....they are developing as a nation....in research, education, manufacturing, sports etc....
The basic flaw I think is in the system that is not being able to identify and nurture the talents at an early stage....people get into sports teams with influence, bribing, seniority etc....that is not the right way to build you infrastructure...and more over we are teaching the kids that you can get anything with influence, bribe etc....and that hardwork is just one of the ways to achieve the goal when on the contrary it should be preached that HARDWORK is the ONLY way to achieve your goals....
I can go on & on....now I can only hope that we win some medals to justify the 1 billion population tag that India has.....
June 14, 2007
Compuware Game....
After that loss against NCC we headed to Nationwide ground to play the second half of our double header....the umpire was very very rude...we werent scheduled to leave the ground we played on earlier that morning but due to some conflict we had to move to another ground....we had 45 mins between the games on which we banked on to get some lunch....but becoz of the change in venue...we lost most of that time and the umpire wasnt even considerate enough to let us get some food...he said that we wil have to lose some overs if we went for food...thats rubbish....when our car got there the umpire was on the field already gesturing us to come for toss....we had 6 people at that point so when I won the toss i elected to bat....it was a forced decision...but turned out to be a good one....
Sham and Baji opened the innings and were hitting at will against the relatively weaker bowling team....both of them scored briskly....Baji was playing himself back into form by gradually increasing in confidence with each of his knocks....Sham was at his attacking best....both of them put in a quick 60-70 run partnership when against the run of the play.....Baji got out....then Uday was sent in....he too got out quickly...Guru was promoted to get some batting practice....but he got out for a duck.....too bad that he didnt utilize the opportunity....by that point the groupism in the team was brewing....we developed a group system and divided the team into 3 groups and each groups would be awarded with points based on the players performance...this was done to incorporate healthy competition within the team....little did we know that Raghav...would abuse it to the advantage of his group...hehehhehehe...well....Raghav and I kind of steadied the innings and took the score close to 170 when I got out...trying to get over aggressive...Vijay went in and started belting the ball to all parts of the field with neat hits....his hitting was so effective and outstanding that he outscored Raghav ( playing since the 9 or 10th over) in a 9-ball knock...we ended up with 210 odd runs....
their batting too wasnt that great....so Raghav decided to experiment with the bowling....which was a good idea....but he abused the system to give bowling only to the people in his group....result being that his group got about 7-8 wickets that fell that day....anyways....Gabroo bowled and over and so did Guru....Uday bowled a couple and Harsha bowled 3....then Rajni and Thimma bowled 4 each in which Rajni got 5 wickets....he was bowling very well....with a decent flight and good line.....he deserved the wickets he got....the best part was his celebration after each wicket....in panesar style....with pumping fists and running to the batsman...accompanied by a shriek of joy ( or heckling the batsman)....Rohit also joined the party with a couple of overs and wicket....my contribution on the field was just a catch....we got them out for 70 runs or so.....it was a relatively easy game after that close match against NCC...so we ended the league phase with 3-1 record and luckily for me...we topped the group...in spite of my terrible performance against NCC that brought some solace to me....
Sham and Baji opened the innings and were hitting at will against the relatively weaker bowling team....both of them scored briskly....Baji was playing himself back into form by gradually increasing in confidence with each of his knocks....Sham was at his attacking best....both of them put in a quick 60-70 run partnership when against the run of the play.....Baji got out....then Uday was sent in....he too got out quickly...Guru was promoted to get some batting practice....but he got out for a duck.....too bad that he didnt utilize the opportunity....by that point the groupism in the team was brewing....we developed a group system and divided the team into 3 groups and each groups would be awarded with points based on the players performance...this was done to incorporate healthy competition within the team....little did we know that Raghav...would abuse it to the advantage of his group...hehehhehehe...well....Raghav and I kind of steadied the innings and took the score close to 170 when I got out...trying to get over aggressive...Vijay went in and started belting the ball to all parts of the field with neat hits....his hitting was so effective and outstanding that he outscored Raghav ( playing since the 9 or 10th over) in a 9-ball knock...we ended up with 210 odd runs....
their batting too wasnt that great....so Raghav decided to experiment with the bowling....which was a good idea....but he abused the system to give bowling only to the people in his group....result being that his group got about 7-8 wickets that fell that day....anyways....Gabroo bowled and over and so did Guru....Uday bowled a couple and Harsha bowled 3....then Rajni and Thimma bowled 4 each in which Rajni got 5 wickets....he was bowling very well....with a decent flight and good line.....he deserved the wickets he got....the best part was his celebration after each wicket....in panesar style....with pumping fists and running to the batsman...accompanied by a shriek of joy ( or heckling the batsman)....Rohit also joined the party with a couple of overs and wicket....my contribution on the field was just a catch....we got them out for 70 runs or so.....it was a relatively easy game after that close match against NCC...so we ended the league phase with 3-1 record and luckily for me...we topped the group...in spite of my terrible performance against NCC that brought some solace to me....
June 06, 2007
Game against NCC (20-20)
Our next game was against Nationwide Cricket Club (NCC)....i know quite a few people on the team as I have been playing for quite some time with Akron CC....so it was nice to see some familiar faces...
The game started late as the NCC guys came late...the umpire rightly punished them for their tardiness by deducting 2 overs from their chase...there was lot of opposition to that....but we started the game finally....we were concerned becoz we had a double header that day and had to play two matches back-to-back....so we were banking on the break between the games to replenish our energy reserves....
Anyways...we started batting...Baji and Abhay started well....scored briskly....got a partnerhsip going...then Abhay got out against the run of the play....Sham walked in and tried hitting out from the first ball....bad strategy....well he got a life....then Baji went...he scored 15-20 runs...I went in with the hope of building some partnerships and keep the score board ticking....sham got out immediately....in walked Raghav....we decided to buckle down and get ones....dont know what got into Raghav....tried lofting the ball...not exactly his strength and got out....to a good catch....in walked the debutant....Vinay...we had a similar discussion in the middle....buckle up and run singles....he did the same things Raghav did and was caught at the same position....Guru came next....both of us are comfortable with each other as we can run our singles fast....so we had a nice little partnership going....then I had a rush of blood and was catch at short third man....we were in a little bit of trouble...as Vijay got out immediatelt and Guru after hitting a good six....thanks to rajni and Harsha...we played out the rest of the overs for 120 odd runs....
Well...we thought that it would be a god total as they had to chase it in 18 overs....Vijay and Guru started of well again...Vijay esp was brilliant...he was in a zone and bowled with good control....we got a few wickets but essentially kept the asking rate high.....Manpreet was introduced and he started with a brillinat yorker....we kept the scoring low and got wickets at regular intervals....I felt we were all good to go...little did I know that I was going to have a horrible day....first I dropped a catch on the boundary line....it was simple catch...that should have given me a hint as to what kind of a day I was going to have....Raghav threw me the ball in the hope of wrapping things up after the other debutant Harsha bowled well and got a couple of wickets...I was taken for 12 runs in my first over...with a six off my slower ball...its been a long time since I hadbeen hit for a six off my slower ball as I have been getting the ball spot on....but this time it didnt work....then harsha bowled another good over and I screwed it up again, i was taken for 12 more runs in the next over...with another six over deep sqaure....I asked raghav to stop me....he obliged....thank god....I dont know what would have happened had I continued....anyways...Gabroo and Guru brought us back into the game with some excellent bowling in the death....but we did give them some freebies by bowling fullish length....on Baji's and Sham's insistance raghav asked me to bowl the last over .....I was surprised ....I said "r u sure?? I am having a terrible day"....he said that he faith in me....I was encouraged....14 required of the last over....started off with runout from the first ball....but then i compenstaed with six of the next ball again....i was like...whats going on....why am I screwing up that bad...8 from 4.....they got 2....6 from 3....bowled a slower ball..that beat the batsman and the keeper all end s up....that went for a bye and another for unfortunate overthrow...4 from 2.....the ball slipped from my hand and I bowled a waist high full toss that went for a single...2 runs scrored....2 balls 2 runss... brilliant piece of fielding by sham...he shot the non striker end wickets down under pressure...1 ball 2 runs...we got the field up but I screwed up with a ball right in the slot that was hit for another six!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! end of the game and a disastrous performance from me....after all the effort from Vijay, Guru, Gabroo and harha....i gave up 42 in 3 overs!!!!! my worst ever performance....so we lost the game and fell to 2-1....we had to win the next game to top the group.....
The game started late as the NCC guys came late...the umpire rightly punished them for their tardiness by deducting 2 overs from their chase...there was lot of opposition to that....but we started the game finally....we were concerned becoz we had a double header that day and had to play two matches back-to-back....so we were banking on the break between the games to replenish our energy reserves....
Anyways...we started batting...Baji and Abhay started well....scored briskly....got a partnerhsip going...then Abhay got out against the run of the play....Sham walked in and tried hitting out from the first ball....bad strategy....well he got a life....then Baji went...he scored 15-20 runs...I went in with the hope of building some partnerships and keep the score board ticking....sham got out immediately....in walked Raghav....we decided to buckle down and get ones....dont know what got into Raghav....tried lofting the ball...not exactly his strength and got out....to a good catch....in walked the debutant....Vinay...we had a similar discussion in the middle....buckle up and run singles....he did the same things Raghav did and was caught at the same position....Guru came next....both of us are comfortable with each other as we can run our singles fast....so we had a nice little partnership going....then I had a rush of blood and was catch at short third man....we were in a little bit of trouble...as Vijay got out immediatelt and Guru after hitting a good six....thanks to rajni and Harsha...we played out the rest of the overs for 120 odd runs....
Well...we thought that it would be a god total as they had to chase it in 18 overs....Vijay and Guru started of well again...Vijay esp was brilliant...he was in a zone and bowled with good control....we got a few wickets but essentially kept the asking rate high.....Manpreet was introduced and he started with a brillinat yorker....we kept the scoring low and got wickets at regular intervals....I felt we were all good to go...little did I know that I was going to have a horrible day....first I dropped a catch on the boundary line....it was simple catch...that should have given me a hint as to what kind of a day I was going to have....Raghav threw me the ball in the hope of wrapping things up after the other debutant Harsha bowled well and got a couple of wickets...I was taken for 12 runs in my first over...with a six off my slower ball...its been a long time since I hadbeen hit for a six off my slower ball as I have been getting the ball spot on....but this time it didnt work....then harsha bowled another good over and I screwed it up again, i was taken for 12 more runs in the next over...with another six over deep sqaure....I asked raghav to stop me....he obliged....thank god....I dont know what would have happened had I continued....anyways...Gabroo and Guru brought us back into the game with some excellent bowling in the death....but we did give them some freebies by bowling fullish length....on Baji's and Sham's insistance raghav asked me to bowl the last over .....I was surprised ....I said "r u sure?? I am having a terrible day"....he said that he faith in me....I was encouraged....14 required of the last over....started off with runout from the first ball....but then i compenstaed with six of the next ball again....i was like...whats going on....why am I screwing up that bad...8 from 4.....they got 2....6 from 3....bowled a slower ball..that beat the batsman and the keeper all end s up....that went for a bye and another for unfortunate overthrow...4 from 2.....the ball slipped from my hand and I bowled a waist high full toss that went for a single...2 runs scrored....2 balls 2 runss... brilliant piece of fielding by sham...he shot the non striker end wickets down under pressure...1 ball 2 runs...we got the field up but I screwed up with a ball right in the slot that was hit for another six!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! end of the game and a disastrous performance from me....after all the effort from Vijay, Guru, Gabroo and harha....i gave up 42 in 3 overs!!!!! my worst ever performance....so we lost the game and fell to 2-1....we had to win the next game to top the group.....
June 04, 2007
Start of the 2007 cricket season
Cricket season is a much awaited season for a bunch of us who spend most of the time in winter discussing the previous seasons or the upcoming season or (worse) indian cricket team....heheheh
This year the season didnt start off with the customary practice games....we participated in a 20-20 tournament....a first of its kind in this region....13 teams participated...Akron CC had a few new faces....Vijay, Abhay,Rajni, Vinay, Aditya....but most of the team was comprised of players that had represented akron in the years prior....Sham, Avinash, Raghav, Praneeth, Manpreet, Gurpreet, Harsha, Uday, Rohit and myself.....Hari, Manas and Sri Harsha werent available for this tournament.
We started off well against UCC....restricted them to 108 odd runs in 20 overs...this being our first time in 20-20 and also being Raghav's first game as captain of Akron CC....it was quite an experience....Vijay making his debut bowled brilliantly and so did Sham,Uday and Gabroo...I managed to chip in with a few good overs. the only person that had a bad day was Guru...he was pretty deflated after that...he is the most energetic fielder on the team so his silence and drooping shoulders did have an effect on the team....but we bowled well for our first game...the only surprise was that the new ball was shared by Sham (spinner) with VIjay....it took most of our team and their team by surprise...
Our chase started disastrously losing Baji and Abhay in the first couple of overs....both of them caught off guard for playing attacking shots too early in the innings...that too in the first game of the season....but that didnt ditter Sham....he kept counter attacking and that worked for us....he hit some lusty blows but fell trying to be too aggressive...Raghav and I managed to see the side through to victory thanks to some horrendous fielding by UCC... i rode on my luck 5 times !!!!!!!! Yes they dropped 5 of my catches....I couldnt have given any more chances...hehehhe Raghav also was dropped a couple of times....but in the end we managed with Sham and me scoring in 30's and Raghav in 20's. All in all it was good start for the season..... I was chosen Man of the Match...i dont remember when I last won that honor....hehehe
Next we played GahannaCC....we batted first this time....Sham and Baji opened the innings and put up a fine show....it was good to see Baji among runs as he started the season with a duck....sham started from where he had stopped in his previous innings...he even bettered his previous effort....he was at his swashbuckling best....he swatted the attack to all parts of the field....some of the sixes that he hit were huge !!!!!!!! and he wasnt even trying to slog....they were all great looking cricketing shots....it was treat to watch him....we were expecting AkronCC's first century....little did we dream to see that...and we would not even have thought of that to be in a 20-20 game even in our wildest dreams......all of us were excited....but like in the past....AkronCC player threw his wicket when in sight of a 100 and when he had the bowlers at his mercy.....too bad that Sham missed his century but for me...he got one....he scored 92 !!!! and he got out in the 16th over.....cant even imagine what he would have achieved had he played the full 20 overs :):)....then our innings fell apart and suprisingly we ended up with 170 odd runs with only 20 runs to show in the last 5 overs....thanks to sham we managed that score...else it would have been around 120....
Guru and Vijay were on fire when we started our bowling....they had a competition going...and they managed to clean the top order in the first few overs....this despite Guru being hit for a six of t he first ball of the innings....the game was in our control.....Manpreet and I got a few more wickets and we thought we had wrapped it all up....but we were wrong....Raghav introduced Baji and Sham....Baji got a couple of wickets in his first over....but was clobbered in his next and Sham too was hit for a few sixes....so all of a sudden we were under pressure again....Raghav threw the ball to me and asked me to look to contain them....I had noticed that all the balls that were hit for sixes were short of length or in the driving length....so I decided to experiment with blockhole balls and slower ones....it worked and I managed to get a couple of wickets and we wrapped the game....so we were 2-0....it had been a long time since we had a winning start to the season...so all of us were happy and it was no surprise that Sham was chosen the MOM....
more to come.....
This year the season didnt start off with the customary practice games....we participated in a 20-20 tournament....a first of its kind in this region....13 teams participated...Akron CC had a few new faces....Vijay, Abhay,Rajni, Vinay, Aditya....but most of the team was comprised of players that had represented akron in the years prior....Sham, Avinash, Raghav, Praneeth, Manpreet, Gurpreet, Harsha, Uday, Rohit and myself.....Hari, Manas and Sri Harsha werent available for this tournament.
We started off well against UCC....restricted them to 108 odd runs in 20 overs...this being our first time in 20-20 and also being Raghav's first game as captain of Akron CC....it was quite an experience....Vijay making his debut bowled brilliantly and so did Sham,Uday and Gabroo...I managed to chip in with a few good overs. the only person that had a bad day was Guru...he was pretty deflated after that...he is the most energetic fielder on the team so his silence and drooping shoulders did have an effect on the team....but we bowled well for our first game...the only surprise was that the new ball was shared by Sham (spinner) with VIjay....it took most of our team and their team by surprise...
Our chase started disastrously losing Baji and Abhay in the first couple of overs....both of them caught off guard for playing attacking shots too early in the innings...that too in the first game of the season....but that didnt ditter Sham....he kept counter attacking and that worked for us....he hit some lusty blows but fell trying to be too aggressive...Raghav and I managed to see the side through to victory thanks to some horrendous fielding by UCC... i rode on my luck 5 times !!!!!!!! Yes they dropped 5 of my catches....I couldnt have given any more chances...hehehhe Raghav also was dropped a couple of times....but in the end we managed with Sham and me scoring in 30's and Raghav in 20's. All in all it was good start for the season..... I was chosen Man of the Match...i dont remember when I last won that honor....hehehe
Next we played GahannaCC....we batted first this time....Sham and Baji opened the innings and put up a fine show....it was good to see Baji among runs as he started the season with a duck....sham started from where he had stopped in his previous innings...he even bettered his previous effort....he was at his swashbuckling best....he swatted the attack to all parts of the field....some of the sixes that he hit were huge !!!!!!!! and he wasnt even trying to slog....they were all great looking cricketing shots....it was treat to watch him....we were expecting AkronCC's first century....little did we dream to see that...and we would not even have thought of that to be in a 20-20 game even in our wildest dreams......all of us were excited....but like in the past....AkronCC player threw his wicket when in sight of a 100 and when he had the bowlers at his mercy.....too bad that Sham missed his century but for me...he got one....he scored 92 !!!! and he got out in the 16th over.....cant even imagine what he would have achieved had he played the full 20 overs :):)....then our innings fell apart and suprisingly we ended up with 170 odd runs with only 20 runs to show in the last 5 overs....thanks to sham we managed that score...else it would have been around 120....
Guru and Vijay were on fire when we started our bowling....they had a competition going...and they managed to clean the top order in the first few overs....this despite Guru being hit for a six of t he first ball of the innings....the game was in our control.....Manpreet and I got a few more wickets and we thought we had wrapped it all up....but we were wrong....Raghav introduced Baji and Sham....Baji got a couple of wickets in his first over....but was clobbered in his next and Sham too was hit for a few sixes....so all of a sudden we were under pressure again....Raghav threw the ball to me and asked me to look to contain them....I had noticed that all the balls that were hit for sixes were short of length or in the driving length....so I decided to experiment with blockhole balls and slower ones....it worked and I managed to get a couple of wickets and we wrapped the game....so we were 2-0....it had been a long time since we had a winning start to the season...so all of us were happy and it was no surprise that Sham was chosen the MOM....
more to come.....
December 14, 2006
Asian Games.....no proper media coverage
I have been following the ongoing Asian Games for the past 10 days or so....they are being held in Doha, Qatar....the surprising thing is most of the media is not interested in the events unless we win a medal or dont win a medal in an event we were expected win....
It was kind of sad to see a couple of lines on these great atheletes that sweat it out for the country but dont get any news coverage...but people like aishwarya rai, SRK and Indian cricket team hog the news for every small thing they do...
Jaspal Rana, shooting ace, won 3 golds but wasnt the headline for that day..but Ash and Bacchan Jr doing puja at Vaishnav Devi is on the front page!!!!!!!!!! So much for the hard work of the atheletes....on times of india website Asian Games werent even on the front page well till we started winning medals...no lead up articles and how the atheletes prepared and stuff....but the failure of Indian cricket team is scrutinized to the minutest detail and every-tom-dick-and-harry thats played the sport will make a smart ass comment on how the team failed and that something has to be done....brilliant...everyone knows something has to be done and that the players need to regroup and play...thats called stating the obvious...
India though has a 1/3rd of Asian population is finishing a lowly 7th or 8th in the medals tally...thats very disappointing and kind of sad state of atheletics in the country....but the bright side is that we have won abt 52 medals so far...which is by far the largest haul at the Asian games...kudos to the medal winners and the others that tried...
Thanks to Rana (Shooting 3 Golds and a Silver), Sania( 1 Gold and 2 Silvers), Hampy(2 Golds),Paes (2 Golds), 4 x 400m Womens and mens relay teams ( 1 Gold 1 Silver), Advani (1 Gold, 1 Bronze) and other medal winners we have a respectable total for the event but compare that to 147 Gold medals (287 in all) by China and aby 60 Gold medals each by Korea and Japan!!!!!!!!!!! Its a slap in the face of Indian Atheletic Association...but they care less about such things....they will only see the rich haul from this year's edition compared to the previous one...but the difference in the class of athletes...is quite obvious....
Shooters got abt 14 medals...by far the best section of indian contingent but the coach resigned on return as he was disgusted and disappointed with the facilities provided by the administration...Rana minced no words and flayed the Indian Sports Asscoiation (SAI)...for not providing any ammunition in time for practice and stuff like that....he went a yard ahead and mentioned that the credit for his win doesnt go to SAI....but goes to the coach and team....
If you think about it...3 Golds by rana, 2 by Paes, 2 by Humpy, 1 by Advani...are all individual efforts from world class contenders...all these people compete in internatinoal tournamenst and have excelled on their own...so those golds are not due to SAI...so 8/10 golds are not due to SAI !!!!!!!!! Now that speaks volumes of the facilities provided and also about the training standards in India....
Track and field that brought home 6 Golds and 12 other medals in the last edition has 1 gold and 6 other medals to show here in Doha edition...thats like going backwardsrather than forward in progress....and there can be only 2 reason....one, SAI didnt provide enough facilities and exposure and two, athletes didnt perform...most of them gave a lame excuse of not feeling good and sore back and stuff like that...how ridiculous...you train for the whole year for this occasion and then you fall sick on the race day!!!!!!!!!!!!! How come only Indian athletes fall sick and not the Chinese, japs and Koreans???? Its not like we are playing in a cold place either...we are playing in the middle east that has a climate similar to India....if not worse....perfect example....Anju george...Gold medal hope in Long jump....skips lot of tournaments this year to participate and train for Asian games (god knows why you have to skip events when they could have been used as dress rehearsals)....gets a Silver with a below par performance and then complains of sore back and withdraws from triple jump!!!!!!!!!!! Now can anyone explain this to me????
The media doesnt help the cause either as they dont cover the performance of the athletes all thru the year and only cover them at the games and then glorify their failure...medial should reduce the coverage on the Indian cricket and Hockey teams which have been waaaaayyyyy below par in their performances....right now both of them have hit a rock bottom...hockey was even more disappointing as we finished 11th /12 teams at the world cup and didnt even make semi finals of Asian Games!!!!!!!! So much for a nation that won 8 Olympic Golds!!!!!!!!!
The other sad story is that of football...few years ago we are in the top 75 teams now we are ranked 147th in the world!!!!!!!!! How many countries are ranked???? we have been steadily declining but no-one wants to do anything about it...
One of the headlines kind of intrigued me...."Indian Shuttlers disappoint"....well...FYI..this is Asian Games and most of the World's top players are from Asia and Indians are not among them so they are bound to have failures...it would have been too much to expect medals from Indian shuttlers...may be one...thats it...but they did put up a commendable fight and made Pre and Quarterfinals in most of the events....Indian mens doubles team also caused an upset...so instead of showing their performance in positive light they are shown as a bunch of losers....
I can go on and on about this topic...will have to continue about this later...
It was kind of sad to see a couple of lines on these great atheletes that sweat it out for the country but dont get any news coverage...but people like aishwarya rai, SRK and Indian cricket team hog the news for every small thing they do...
Jaspal Rana, shooting ace, won 3 golds but wasnt the headline for that day..but Ash and Bacchan Jr doing puja at Vaishnav Devi is on the front page!!!!!!!!!! So much for the hard work of the atheletes....on times of india website Asian Games werent even on the front page well till we started winning medals...no lead up articles and how the atheletes prepared and stuff....but the failure of Indian cricket team is scrutinized to the minutest detail and every-tom-dick-and-harry thats played the sport will make a smart ass comment on how the team failed and that something has to be done....brilliant...everyone knows something has to be done and that the players need to regroup and play...thats called stating the obvious...
India though has a 1/3rd of Asian population is finishing a lowly 7th or 8th in the medals tally...thats very disappointing and kind of sad state of atheletics in the country....but the bright side is that we have won abt 52 medals so far...which is by far the largest haul at the Asian games...kudos to the medal winners and the others that tried...
Thanks to Rana (Shooting 3 Golds and a Silver), Sania( 1 Gold and 2 Silvers), Hampy(2 Golds),Paes (2 Golds), 4 x 400m Womens and mens relay teams ( 1 Gold 1 Silver), Advani (1 Gold, 1 Bronze) and other medal winners we have a respectable total for the event but compare that to 147 Gold medals (287 in all) by China and aby 60 Gold medals each by Korea and Japan!!!!!!!!!!! Its a slap in the face of Indian Atheletic Association...but they care less about such things....they will only see the rich haul from this year's edition compared to the previous one...but the difference in the class of athletes...is quite obvious....
Shooters got abt 14 medals...by far the best section of indian contingent but the coach resigned on return as he was disgusted and disappointed with the facilities provided by the administration...Rana minced no words and flayed the Indian Sports Asscoiation (SAI)...for not providing any ammunition in time for practice and stuff like that....he went a yard ahead and mentioned that the credit for his win doesnt go to SAI....but goes to the coach and team....
If you think about it...3 Golds by rana, 2 by Paes, 2 by Humpy, 1 by Advani...are all individual efforts from world class contenders...all these people compete in internatinoal tournamenst and have excelled on their own...so those golds are not due to SAI...so 8/10 golds are not due to SAI !!!!!!!!! Now that speaks volumes of the facilities provided and also about the training standards in India....
Track and field that brought home 6 Golds and 12 other medals in the last edition has 1 gold and 6 other medals to show here in Doha edition...thats like going backwardsrather than forward in progress....and there can be only 2 reason....one, SAI didnt provide enough facilities and exposure and two, athletes didnt perform...most of them gave a lame excuse of not feeling good and sore back and stuff like that...how ridiculous...you train for the whole year for this occasion and then you fall sick on the race day!!!!!!!!!!!!! How come only Indian athletes fall sick and not the Chinese, japs and Koreans???? Its not like we are playing in a cold place either...we are playing in the middle east that has a climate similar to India....if not worse....perfect example....Anju george...Gold medal hope in Long jump....skips lot of tournaments this year to participate and train for Asian games (god knows why you have to skip events when they could have been used as dress rehearsals)....gets a Silver with a below par performance and then complains of sore back and withdraws from triple jump!!!!!!!!!!! Now can anyone explain this to me????
The media doesnt help the cause either as they dont cover the performance of the athletes all thru the year and only cover them at the games and then glorify their failure...medial should reduce the coverage on the Indian cricket and Hockey teams which have been waaaaayyyyy below par in their performances....right now both of them have hit a rock bottom...hockey was even more disappointing as we finished 11th /12 teams at the world cup and didnt even make semi finals of Asian Games!!!!!!!! So much for a nation that won 8 Olympic Golds!!!!!!!!!
The other sad story is that of football...few years ago we are in the top 75 teams now we are ranked 147th in the world!!!!!!!!! How many countries are ranked???? we have been steadily declining but no-one wants to do anything about it...
One of the headlines kind of intrigued me...."Indian Shuttlers disappoint"....well...FYI..this is Asian Games and most of the World's top players are from Asia and Indians are not among them so they are bound to have failures...it would have been too much to expect medals from Indian shuttlers...may be one...thats it...but they did put up a commendable fight and made Pre and Quarterfinals in most of the events....Indian mens doubles team also caused an upset...so instead of showing their performance in positive light they are shown as a bunch of losers....
I can go on and on about this topic...will have to continue about this later...
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