Match Report: JECC vs Legions @ Far Hills - 08/09/2015

Match Report
by
Chinmay Bhat

Batting first, Legions were all out for 98 in 25.3 overs and JECC easily chased the target in 14 overs losing 2 wickets.

Coming into the game, we had a hatrick of wins under our belts and were sitting at the 6^th position on the point’s table but we weren’t sure of our spot in the playoff. The point’s table is very crowded and seven closely matched teams are vying for the bottom four spots for a chance in playoff. This was a tricky game for us. A win would make sure that we were in the playoff and a loss would mean that a lot of other results had to go in our favor to make it to the playoffs. A loss would mean that we would be at the mercy of others to book our spot and we didn’t want to be in that position. Considering the background, we had some pressure going into the game and didn’t want to end up loosing. Moreover, we hadn’t played legions in the last couple of years making them an unknown. Everything considered it was a pressure game for both the teams with an assured playoff spot for the winner. 

Most of our players made it to the ground on time and a catching session had started when I reached the ground. People were taking catches, diving and having general fun to warm up. Grass was cut, Sun was out and both the teams were ready to roll except the umpire was nowhere to be seen. Dilip and the captain from Legions decided to go for the toss without the umpire.

Score Card: http://www.dreamcricket.com/clnj/scorecarddisplay.aspx?gameid=9884

TOSS:In my previous reports, I have gone into details on why toss might play an important factor during mid season games. Obviously we wanted to win the toss and bat first but unfortunately we ended up loosing the toss and the opposition opted to bat first. In hindsight it wasn’t a bad toss to loose and field first. We have been batting first and scoring big runs but testing ourselves with a run chase wasn’t a bad proposition.

Man of the Match: Bhasker for a scintillating half century in a crucial chase being very patient and scoring at a run a ball. His innings took the match away from Legions in the first 5 overs.

Bowling: Over the last week our players had poured over the score sheet and had realized that legions were a top-heavy team. Their openers had scored a lot of runs but the middle hadn’t performed at all and we were hoping to exploit that. We also had some information on the field settings required for the openers. The bowling plan was to take early wickets and build pressure on the rest of the batsman to force a collapse.

            Venki opened the bowling for us and we had a deep cover from the first ball. The batsman went after the first ball and the ball almost carried to the deep cover fielder. Both of the openers played aggressively and went after the bowling resulting in constant run scoring. Dhanu started from the other end and kept things relatively tight. 

During the fourth over of our bowling, their opening batsman Ravi sliced a wide ball that flew all the way to cover boundary. I was at the boundary and saw the ball cleanly; the ball was slightly swerving to my left. For a slight second I took the eye off the ball to assess the distance between me and the boundary line and that turned out to be a fatal mistake. The ball hit my hand, fell to the ground and ran outside the boundary line for a four. It was the second catch I dropped off Dhanu’s bowling in consecutive weeks. I haven’t returned the favor since he took a brilliant catch to get me a hatrick. Every time Dhanushka takes the field for JECC he does everything he can to win us the game, I hope to return his favor before the season ends.

            The runs continued to flow thanks to few good shots by the opening batsmen. They managed to score 5-6 runs off every over. At the end of the sixth over Dilip replaced Venki with me. He asked me to vary the pace to coerce a mishit from their batsman. It’s very rare that I get to bowl this early in the innings. I was surprised to find good amount of swing on the newish ball. The ball was swinging both ways, making it quite difficult to control. In my second over the opening batsman tried to push at an outside off stump delivery and poked a catch to short 3^rd man. Nitin grabbed a sharp chance. In the very next over Dhanu took the wicket of the new batsman. It was an essential Dhanu delivery. After pitching, the ball moved out with the angle, kissed the edge and nestled into Ananth’s safe hands at slip. We took the break with Legions at 54/2 at 10 overs.

            During the break we felt that Legions had scored few more runs than we hoped. We still were happy to get rid of one of their dangerous openers and were quite confident of restricting them to a smaller total. Throughout my spell, the remaining opener was getting into a staring contest with me. He scored couple of boundaries of my bowling and continued to stare me down. I badly wanted to get him out and had a backward point, deep point and a regular point, trying to entice him into an aerial cut shot. It was the fuller ball that did the trick. The 5^th ball of the 11^th over was fuller and was as perfect out-swinger as I can bowl in my life. The ball moved out in the air, continued to move out after pitching, took the edge before slowly nestling into Wicketkeepers gloves. We had broken in.

            Right after that wicket, Dilip replaced Dhanu with Manoj. Manoj is the “Rajini” of our team. As per most players, Manoj is the true superstar.  Manoj struck as soon as he was introduced. Batsman giving Avi his second catch behind the wicket. Manoj bowled the next batsman through the gate and claimed his 3^rd wicket thanks to a filthy full toss down the leg side that took the leading edge to be caught at covers. Only the superstar could take a wicket of that ball J. During this period the runs weren’t flowing as freely as before but there were enough extras to keep the scorecard moving. Manoj was unlucky to be turned down a plumb LBW towards the end of the session. We went into the break with Legions at 92/6 off 21 overs. 

During the break we discussed the need to wrap the Legions innings at the earliest. Several times, we have had opposition for 80-90/6 only letting them get out of the situation. We didn’t want to entertain any such possibilities during this important game. Bhanu operated after the break and provided the breakthrough right away. The batsman tried to cut a fuller ball and inside edged it onto the stumps. Dilip started on the other end got his first wicket through an LBW. Bhanu took his second wicket in his second over by bowling the batsman through the gate. Within three over of the break, we had taken three more wickets and in no time legions were 9 down. The last wicket partnership hung around to score few more runs but soon Bhanu wrapped the innings with by taking his 3^rd wicket. Bhanu bowled an excellent spell of 2.3 overs taking 3 wickets for 1 run. Bhanu, the quintessential team man steps up every time the team requires him to do anything. He has had an impressive debut this year.

A special mention should also go to Dilip for excellent captaincy and field placements. At all times he looked to be in control and a step ahead of the game. Timely bowling changes constantly pegged Legions back to a below par score. He was not afraid of making necessary bowling changes to move the game ahead rather than hanging back, letting the tired bowler continue and waiting for things to happen.

Batting: At the break we were quite pleased with out effort in the field. We had managed to restrict Legions for 98 and were quite confident of chasing the score down and booking our place in the playoffs. These middling scores can be tricky to chase depending on which team gains the momentum when the second innings starts. We had been burned by a low chase this season and didn’t want to repeat our mistakes. When our batsmen went into bat, the captain’s instructions were simple. To play defensive but not let go of any scoring opportunities. To play like we are batting in the first. 

The opening partnership of Nitin and Bhaskar was going to lay the groundwork for the chase to unravel. They delivered in an excellent fashion. Good balls were defended and loose balls were dispatched for boundaries. They peppered the offside boundary with beautiful cuts and drives. Nitin pulled couple of boundaries on the leg side as well. Nitin hadn’t recovered from his muscle injury and was struggling to run between the wickets but he didn’t let that affect his batting and put away any loose ball that was on offer. Legions were guilty of bowling too many short and wide balls as well. Nitin got carried away and got out LBW trying hit a full straight ball. Nitin and Baskar had put on an excellent 50+ run partnership at an almost 6 RPO to set up the match for us. We went into the first break at 51/1 after 9 overs. Nitin looks to be an excellent opener and has scored runs almost every time he has batted. We hope that couple of weeks of rest will allow him time to recover completely and be ready for the playoffs.  

Soon after the break Ananth had a rare failure and got out trying to run the ball down to the 3^rd man. Dilip went in and pulled a boundary to start his innings but soon was caught and bowled while trying to punch a ball. We had lost couple of quick wickets after the break. I went into bat and discussed with Bhaskar the need to finish the match without loosing any additional wickets.  Bhaskar is in ferocious form. He soon square drove couple of boundaries to bring us close to the victory. In the same over he completed an excellent half-century as well. His innings was a pleasure to watch. He cashed in on every loose ball and ended up scoring 9 boundaries, settling the match in our favor. He has grown in confidence at every innings that he has played at the opening spot and has made a huge contribution to our run of four consecutive wins. Soon after Bhaskar’s half century, I scored the winning boundary to wrap up a comfortable victory for us. We chased down the total in 14 overs. The wagon wheel below depicts the dominance we displayed.

It would be a tragedy if this match report were concluded without acknowledging the effort and passion of Ravi. A man I have always admired. Going into the match, we knew Nitin was carrying a niggle and may not be able to field all the 40 overs. Ravi volunteered to carry out the 12^th man duties and was at the ground throughout the day to help the team and substitute for Srini in a crucial phase of our bowling. He fielded under the hot sun and provided his invaluable guidance to help us get through the line. Ravi has had to battle weak eyesight throughout this year resulting in a bad-batting form but his resilience to fight through all the difficult times should be a model for us. It must have been hard for him not to get a game during these last few matches but his ability to put personal disappointment behind him to help the team cannot be appreciated enough. We at JECC are lucky to have an amazing bunch of senior players who have always shown the right way and have helped maintain the correct team spirit.

With this win we have booked our spot in the play off. We have had to fight hard and win 4 consecutive games to make it to the playoff. The fact that the team was able to pull off such a feat is a commendable effort but we shouldn’t forget the mistakes we made during the first half of the season that got us into this situation. I have always felt that, we are one of the 3 top teams in this division and anything less than that doesn’t justify the talent we have amongst us.

With the playoff’s looming on the horizon, our difficult games lay ahead of us. We will face stronger and better opponents with each passing game and need to be on top of our game to beat them. JECC is in the best possible shape in recent years to make a strong run into the deep end of the tournament. Let’s use our momentum, execute our plans, play to our potential and beat every team that stands in our way.

 

GooooooooooooooooooooEagles….

- Chinmay

Match Report: JECC vs Edison @ Thomas Jefferson - 08/09/2015

Match Report 
by

Chinmay Bhat

JECC bt Edison by 20 runs. Batting first, JECC scored 209/9 in 40 overs & Edison got all out for 189 in the last over.

After our strong showing in our last game, we were coming into the match with a lot of momentum. Taking on one of the top teams in the competition was something we were looking forward to. Edison has played solid, yet defensive cricket this year and is one of the teams that are vying to move to the first division. Although we recognized their strength and standing, we knew that there were certain chinks in their armor that we could exploit. For the few years I have been part of JECC, I have noticed that we tend to play well when we have a momentum. In 2013 we had a string of wins towards the end of the season and surprised few table toppers with our execution. In 2014, we had a run of 6/7 consecutive wins. This was a match to look forward to between a team that was gathering momentum with a playoff spot on the line (JECC) and a team that had occupied the top of the charts (Edison).

ScoreCard: CLNJ scorecard to be posted.

Cricket HQ scorecard for our batting: https://www.crichq.com/#matches/286190/1st_innings

TOSS:  Toss plays an important factor in a lot of matches that happen during the middle of the season, when the temperature soars. I think this has mostly to do with the fitness level of the non-professional players. Its tough to bowl and field in the sun and maintain the intensity throughout the course of the match. The team bowling first either gives away too many runs towards the end of the innings or tends to collapse while batting second. This doesn’t seem to be a huge factor during the beginning or end of the season when the sun mellows down in this part of the world. It would be interesting to see the win % of the teams that bat first across the league, especially during the middle of the season.

Just like all the other teams, we wanted to win the toss and bat first but Dilip’s form at the toss didn’t inspire much confidence. Like an unspoken rule, the team started catching practice before the toss J.  Given the background, it would be an understatement to say that the team was thrilled to see Dilip win the toss and bat first. We were off to a great start even before a ball was bowled and we didn’t want to concede this head start.

Man of the Match: Ananth for a valuable 39 runs and a great bowling spell which got us 2 wkts. A brilliant catch at first slip was the highlight of the day.

Batting: Over the past week our players had poured over the statistics and figured out that Edison’s strength lay in bowling. They had very good opening bowlers and were able to restrict the opposition for lesser scores. During the pre-match huddle, our agreed upon goal was to start cautiously and accelerate towards the end of the innings with wickets in hand.

Dhanu and Bhaskar opened and spent the next few overs assessing the pitch and the bowlers. For the first 5 overs we scored only 10 runs without loosing any wickets. Just when it looked like Dhanu was getting his groove back, he got a peach that pitched on leg stump and took the top off. Sometimes as an opening batsman you have to look at the sky and ask “why me?”

Srini joined Bhaskar in the middle and took the job on. Srini and Bhaskar have done extremely well since the last few games. They team dugout is happy and calm when they bat together. The batting is adequate without being aggressive. They seem to know how to defend good balls while milking the strike on anything that is overpitched or pitched on leg stump. I remember looking across the dugout and watching Sid and Ananth (padded up) taking pictures, posting on Facebook. I think that moment captures the serenity at the dug out when Srini and Bhaskar were batting.

In the middle, we were executing our plans of not giving wickets to the opening bowlers. At one point the opening bowler for Edison had 4 maidens out of the 5 overs he bowled. After ten overs the bowlers changed and our batsman adjusted accordingly. Srini drove two beautiful boundaries to cover point. Bhaskar cashed in on his hard work with a square drive and cover drive as well. Runs were staring to flow and we went into the first break at 44/1.

Constant run scoring continued after the break with an occasional boundary. Against the run of the play, Bhaskar got out caught. The very next over Srini got out LBW to a full toss on the leg stump that deserved a four. Srini should feel missed out on a half century, twice in consecutive games. Bhaskar and Srini had put on a 50+ partnership to get us to 78/3 at the end of 20^th over. It was time for Calvin and Hobbes show.

Ananth and Sid started from where they had left on from the last innings. Ananth hit the first ball he faced to the straight boundary. He has such grace and elegance that it’s impossible for him to hit a mistimed shot. It was the phase of the game that would define whether we end up with above or below par first innings score. Sid and Ananth made sure that it was the former. Strike was constantly rotated while singles were converted into two and two’s were converted to threes. Bowlers were guilty of conceding a lot of extras as well. Couple of boundaries off the sweep shots were a treat to watch. We went into the second break at 119/3 of 27 overs. Game was nicely setup for the late flurry.

Sid got out on the 29^th over after putting in another 50+ partnership with Ananth. Sid is batted beautifully and his batting will be crucial to our middle order for the reminder of the games. Dilip joined Ananth in the middle and took the score to 145 when Ananth perished LBW. Ananth played a crucial innings of 39.

I joined Dilip in the middle and unfortunately Dilip got out the very next over caught at the midwicket boundary. The score was 150/6 at 33^rd over and we had lost 3 wickets in a span of 5 overs.  When Avi joined me in the middle, we decided to recalibrate our target to make sure that we don’t take too many unnecessary risks. We didn’t want to end up with a score below 200 while trying to over reach for 230. Avi hasn’t played too many games this year due to a finger injury and was very determined to play well against Edison. It was hot and tiring but boundaries were not easy to come. With the help of copious amount of Gatorade, We ran hard between the wickets and were able to fetch 8-9 runs per over without many risks. Couple of boundaries thanks to a short arm pull by Avi and a back foot square drive by me gave us a moment to breathe. Avi got out on the 38^th overs trying to accelerate. We had put on a 40 runs partnership within 5 overs. Sekhar and Dinesh helped to get the score to a respectable 209/8. I remained not out on 27 off 22 balls.

We could have gotten additional 10-15 runs had we not missed dispatching couple of full tosses to the boundary. While walking off the field, I felt that we had an above par score. We were slightly happy knowing the fact that Edison hadn’t chased 200+ score this season. The team had executed on the perfect batting template. Cautious openers, steady middle order and frantic finish. We were the happier camp of the two.

Also,  Edison panicked at the calm and confident approach of our batsmen resulting in a lot of extras and confusion in their fielding. They gave up 43 extras for which we kept thanking while scoring in addition to a number of overthrows.  We easily got about 20 runs in overthrows itself which made a winning difference in the end.

Bowling: Batsman had done their job. Our plan for the bowling unit was simple; bowl a tight line and length without many extras. We wanted the batsmen to take the additional risk to maintain the required run rate.

The effects of Biryani are very obvious during the first few overs of the bowling. J All our fielders looked ready to fall asleep as soon as we stepped onto the field. The batsman nicked the first ball of the innings and we promptly dropped the catch. I am going to blame the Biryani for that J. After the first over, we were back to our bowling self and Dinesh got rid of the opener thanks to a sharp catch by Srini. Shortly, Sid removed the other opener thanks to the ever-reliable Ananth at slip. Ananth jumped up, knocked the ball up and caught the catch one handed while falling down. Dinesh was impeccable during his 5 over spell. He bowled few unplayable balls, which turned the opposition batsman over. He was a constant threat to the batsman and was unlucky not to get another wicket. There were few close LBW shouts that should have gone our way. Dhanu and I replaced the opening bowlers and kept it tight. Edison went into the first break at 40/2 off 14 overs.

After the break, Dhanu and I continued to probe away outside the batsman’s off stump. The required run rate soon climbed over 6 runs an over. Dhanu was unlucky to not get a LBW off a Yorker. Occasional boundaries kept Edison in the hunt. Off my 4^th over, batsman hit the ball to cover and ran hard. The non-striker wanted two runs and the striker turned him down late. An accurate throw by Dhanu and a relay by me to Bhaskar resulted in an easy run out. Soon Ananth and Dilip were introduced into the attack. The Edison batsmen started taking few chances. Their batsman Laxman hit couple of sixes to keep up with the run rate. Ananth had one batsman caught at deep midwicket, thank to an excellent catch by Sid. We went into the break with Edison on 96/4.

Soon after the break, Dilip introduced the Manoj into the attack. Manoj had copious amounts of Banana, Chicken and Egg biryani during lunch so it was time for Manoj to deliver J. Manoj is a true team player and has an unenviable role in the bowling unit as he gets the ball when the ball has lost its zip. He looks very innocuous while running into to bowl, but he can make the ball talk. He has slight variations and almost always moves the ball off the pitch. As soon as Manoj was introduced, he had their set batsman in all kinds of problems. Batsmen were not able to time the ball, were getting beaten consistently. He removed the set batsman, Laxman by getting him caught at short midwicket. He had his second wicket in the same over as well. Manoj bowled an excellent spell of 5 overs for 16 runs while taking two wickets. In the context of the match, the spell was exactly what the captain needed.

Just when we appeared to be closing out the match, we were guilty of dropping couple of easy catches. The second one at deep log off hit Dinesh on the fingers and by the sound of it, we knew something was wrong. The ball hit his finger near the nails and had dislocated his finger. It was a difficult sight to watch and Dinesh rushed off to the hospital. JECC really appreciates Mr. Chirag Patel from Edison CC for taking Dinesh to ER and staying with him. I visited Dinesh at the hospital (after the match) and was glad to see him doing better. He bowled really well and was unfortunate to end up injured. We wish him speedy recovery.

As soon as we resumed, Edison CC hit Ananth for couple of sixes and a four. Our earlier drops were starting to haunt us and Ananth was unlucky to be the recipient of it. He could have had couple of wickets instead he was taking a hit and suddenly the match was getting closer.  Edison needed 68 off 54 balls with 4 wickets in hand.

At JECC, when we need someone to bowl in a crunch or need wickets, the captain tends to turn to Dhanu. His slingy bowling action makes it difficult for the batsman to hit and he can land those Yorkers. Dhanu right away took a wicket and put the breaks on Edison’s plan to chase down the target. Sid operated from the other end and kept things tight as well. We were fielding with 10 players and it was very difficult to manage the fielding positions. Dilip did an excellent job to get the positions correct. Runs were not easy to score with Dhanu and Sid bowling and soon the run rate climbed over 9. Sid got the hard-hitting batsman bowled and got another wicket the same over to an LBW.  Edison CC were 9 down and still needed almost 40 runs.

We all thought we wrapped the match up when a combo of Shaky and Dhanu resulted a run out. To our disbelief, the umpire turned down the run out. The batsman was miles out. We were frustrated with the blatant misjudgment by the league umpire. The very next over a slightly difficult catch came my way, which I was unable to hold on to. It was frustrating to let these opportunities pass by.

During these close matches its more important to put in that extra effort to wrap up the match, as you never know which way the game could turn. I was personally very disappointed with the drop. The very same over Dhanu got the batsman to mishit again and this time the catch was an easy one. Catches probably don’t come easier than that. I went with hard hands at the catch, the ball hit my hands popped out and hit the ground. I still cannot fathom the second drop. Dhanu’s words of “Are you kidding me” will be ringing in my ears for years to come. I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me as a whole.

Dhanu finished an excellent but unlucky second spell and Edison needed 22 off the last over. Sid didn’t let the antics on the field distract him and bowled a tight final over and we closed out the game thanks to a run out.

It was a match filled with lot of drama and we should have closed out the match lot earlier, may be around 150 runs had we caught the catches that came our way. Atleast 7-8 easy catches were dropped by all of us resulting in the close match at the end.

It was difficult towards the end to field with 10 players but we were happy to win and claim 2 points. Our batting set up the match beautifully with our bowling stepping up at crucial times. We were a step ahead of the opposition at all times. It feels good to beat a top ranked team and have a hatrick of wins under our belts. Just goes on to show that we can beat anyone when we play to our strengths and execute our plans.

Go………………..……………………….Eagles..

Cheers

Chinmay

Match Report : JECC vs Indus @ Far hills, 08/02/2015

Match report
By
Chinmay Bhat

JECC beat Indus by 70 runs.

Scorecard: http://www.dreamcricket.com/clnj/scorecarddisplay.aspx?gameid=9834

The match against Indus was an exciting prospect. Both teams have been playing in CLNJ for a long time and there is a lot of friendship between the teams. Indus has always played a fair but a competitive game without a hint of ugliness, something that resonates with JECC principles. I was tensed the whole weekend thinking of the game, as we are coming towards the end of league stage, unsure of our place in the playoff. The fact that both the teams are closely matched and the win would go a long way towards the playoff didn’t help as well.

The reporting time at the ground was at 10:15, but even at 10:20 we only had 2 players on the field. At 10:40, we had 6 players on the ground and the ground was not ready for hosting. We barely managed to have the ground ready by 10:45. A stricter umpire could have awarded the toss to Indus. I have seen us being late to the ground (myself included), but I don’t remember the last time, we were as vulnerable as this game. I remember looking at the street every few seconds to sight a car of one of our players, so that we don’t loose the toss. It’s not a situation we should be putting ourselves in. I think it’s time to make a collective pact to be on time at the ground. It’s finally time to take stricter measure to avoid such situation in future.


TOSS: At the toss time, Indus had only 5 players on the field and JECC could have claimed the toss. But considering that we were late in setting up the field and the friendships we have with Indus, we decided to wait additional 10 minutes, by which Indus had 9 players and we were ready for the toss.

It was an important toss and we have been unlucky to be on the wrong side of too many calls. Luckily, Billu called wrong and we had won the toss. Finally it felt like cricketing Gods were smiling on us. We promptly opted to bat.

Man of the Match: Chinmay for a brilliant Hattrick which resulted in 6 total wickets and a quickfire 22 runs.






Batting: Before we went in to bat, I told the team that we want to bat 40 overs irrespective of the score we put up and make sure that Indus spends the full quota under the sun. We have been on the receiving end of this to understand the effects of batting second after spending 40 overs under the hot sun. Batsman tire, aren’t able to concentrate and the team ends up collapsing. It’s a familiar script and we were happy to be on the right side of things.

Bhaskar and Nitin opened, spent couple of uneventful overs with few singles and doubles and got off to a calm start. It was a soothing start with lot of defending and not much of a ball beating the bat. Nitin got bowled to a ball that came in and took the stumps. Srini joined Bhaskar in the middle. We decided to hold back Ananth as we were short of a batsman with Dilip being in India.

Srini and Bhaskar continued the form they exhibited in the prior match. Bhaskar, calmly defending the good balls and putting away the bad balls. Bhaskar is a versatile cricketer and brings a sense of calm to batting. He is a batsman with a lot of resolve and cannot be dismissed easily. He is willing to wait for the bowler to make mistake and take advantage of that. A back foot cover-drive along the ground for a boundary was a sight to watch. At this point Indus made couple of bowling changes, and Bhaskar got out to a miscued pull shot after scoring 20+. He did all the hard work and should feel missed out, after being set.

Ananth joined Srini. Srini continued his good nick and lofted cover drive for four was beautiful to watch. Srini is a natural stroke maker and it’s good to see him starting to find form. As we all know Ananth is the batting backbone of JECC. He is a versatile player that can play spin, pace and everything in the middle with equal authority. Also is a true team player that can understand the needs of the team. Ananth and Srini partnered well to get the team to 70 when Srini was given out LBW to a marginal decision. We felt it was a harsh call and Srini was unlucky to get out for 33.

Sid seemed to be angry that he didn’t get to bat in the last game. Within the first few balls he was there, he scored 2 sixes and a four to force the spin bowlers out of the attack before settling down. Sid and Ananth are the Calvin and Hobbes of our team. Both are good friends off the field and are stunning to watching on the field. They maintained constant run flow with quick running and frequent boundaries. Sid has been batting solidly this season to stabilize the middle order. Ananth and Sid are experienced members of the team and played their role to perfection. Only point I would add is that Sid needs to cut out the dab to 3rd man that involves a lot of risk.

We were at 108/2 at the second break (26th over). We were planning for a score of 200+ but didn’t want to explode too early and collapse for less. Ananth got out around 29th over having scored a well-made 39. I went in after the fall of Ananth and saw Sid complete a well deserved half-century. I got out at the start of power play after scoring 22. Dhanu continued where I left off and carted a six over the square leg, scoring another quick 20. Venki, Anirudh, and Murali chipped in and we scored 210 at the end of 40 overs. We felt that we did well and were just above the par score. The fact that we were able to almost double our score from second break made us feel that batsman had done their job; it was time for the bowlers to show up.

Bowling: Bowling has been one of our main strengths over the years. We are privileged to have multiple good bowlers in our team. We were confident of defending the total as long as we bowled tight lines (without too many extras) and force the batsman to take the extra risk to score at 5+ runs an over. Our opening Combo of Venki and Sid can be expected to deliver early wickets and are rightly the top two wicket takers of JECC this year. Venki started well in the first over but unfortunate break in the play seemed to affect his bowling. Sid on the other end was suffering from a side strain and wasn’t his usual bowling self. Still, Sid sneaked one through the gates to open the account for JECC. Indus kept up with the scoring at 5 runs an over with occasional boundary and a healthy dose of extras. Sid got another wicket having the batsman caught at cover point, just before the break. We went into the break at 55/2 of 14 overs.

During the break, we discussed the need to restrict the run rate and take additional wickets to put pressure on the opposition. None of us could imagine what was going to transpire in the next 3 overs after the break. I bowled the first over after the break. Second ball was short outside the off stump and batsman hit it straight to cover point to give me my first wicket. As I was running in for the next delivery, I had the intuition of getting a wicket of that ball. The ball was fast, full and angling in. Batsman missed the ball to get out LBW. Indus were 4 down for 50 odd runs within 3 balls after the break, and I was on a hatrick.

I have taken a lot of wickets of consecutive balls to know that hat-trick’s rarely happen (Never in my case). Generally the batsman expects a full ball and presents a dead bat or sees a ball outside off and leaves it alone. We had 5 slips, short cover, silly mid on, silly mid off and short leg to gobble up any edge. I ran in and bowled a rising ball outside off to hope that the batsman edges it to one of the 5 slip fielders, instead the batsman saw it as a scoring opportunity and tried to smash it over covers. Before I could shout catch it, Dhanushka jumped up high above the short covers and plucked the ball destined for a boundary. The ball was hit so hard that it was a blur to us, I still marvel on how Dhanu was able to catch that ball, but I am glad he did. After a long time, JECC had a hatrick. We all ran around trying to make sense of the turn of the events within an over after the break. It was a great moment. One I will cherish for a long time.

Dhanu bowled the next over and uprooted the middle stump with a pinpoint Yorker to get rid of dangerous Billu.  Vishal and Pavan perished in my next over. Within 3 overs of the break Indus went from 53/2 to 58/8.

We were well and truly on top of the game. But as it often happens in the game, a partnership is bound to develop, which is exactly what happened. Indus started playing more carefully and started to accumulate rather than explode. Few boundaries and sensible running helped Indus to advance the scoreboard. During this period, Bhanu, Murali and Ananth bowled consistently with some half chances falling short of players. Bhanu and Murali bowled exceptionally well and were unlucky not to get a wicket. Bhanu has improved consistently over each game and has taken up keeping, bowling and fielding with aplomb. He saved a lot of runs during keeping with leg side dives. I see a future-bowling all-rounder in him. An all around team man with irrefutable spirit.
Indus went into the second break at 115/8 from 26 overs with some momentum behind them. We knew that we had to be patient and need just one wicket to close the game.

Venki and Dhanushka opened straight after the break. This decidedly changed the momentum towards the JECC. Both bowled with intensity to restrict the run scoring while creating the chances. Both were unfortunate not to get wicket during this spell, but made sure that the required run rate climbed above 7 runs an over.  Ananth came into the attack and broke the threatening partnership with some smart bowling. Soon after Indus folded to hand a comfortable win to Eagles. It’s important to acknowledge three important catches from Anirudh and two important catches from Murali.


It was an important win for Eagles with the playoff’s coming up. It was a true team effort with everyone pitching in. Batting and Bowling form of key players augurs well for the next few games.


GoooooooooooooooooooooEagles………

- Chinmay