Team Spirit leads to this Victory

A finely contested cricket was played where we defeated Bay Area Titans after a hard struggle by the narrow margin of 5 run. The excitement toward the end of the game was intense.

They won the toss and decided to field first and it was a decision that was immediately rewarded when we lost Bipin of the very first ball of second over to a stunning catch by the keeper when the score was 3 and two balls later Sandeep was also caught behind the stumps pulling a short delivery. Our Opening woe continues.

Manish walked in at the fall of first wicket and looked solid from the very first ball. He played a well timed cover drive which just got him started. Vikas and Manish had a good partnership going before Manish was bowled to a fairly straight ball which he could have played anywhere. Stand in captain Abhisek walked in but was caught behind while playing his favorite flick shot. Out of the first four wickets to fall three were caught behind.

Walked in the ever destructive Vijay and he showed what he can do with his power by making 22 of just 17 balls.Vikas and Vijay had a wonderful partnership and the best thing about their partnership was they kept rotating the strike with some good running between the wickets. They even ran four of one ball which is quite uncommon to see. In that scorching heat to run four of a single delivery was just amazing and no words to describe it.

After 10 over the score was 34/4. Vijay just got into the 11 th over and we got 10 runs of it with a huge six over midwicket and the score read 44 after 11 overs.They brought their best bowler to bowl the 12 th over and he got the break through and getting rid of well settled Vikas for 17 of 28 balls. Rajesh was sent at the fall of Vikas wicket but he was not able to play the inning which was expected of him.Amit walked in at the fall of his wicket, it took a while for him to get started but once he got started he made quick fire 7 of 13 balls. Vijay kept playing his shot and he has really improved his running between the wickets.He played an awesome inning before being dismissed.

At 68/6 in the 16th over, it looked all like the final assault was only round the corner with Vijay and Amit at crease but we lost Vijay which started the collapse and we fell short by 10 to 15 runs on the final target.
We ended up making 79/9in 20 over’s.

In the absence of Buland, Amit and Ajit have been doing a good job.Though there batsman has something else in mind. They really started aggressively and to add to our worries it was a right and left hand combination. After 5 over’s they had 19 runs with no wickets.

It was a stage of the game where nothing was going our way and we needed a moment of inspiration. We were not sure where it was coming from but we can’t keep Manish out of the game. It was an unbelievable bit of wicket keeping which set us in motion. That is the value of having such a wicket keeper who can collect the ball cleanly and stump the batsman out in just a few seconds.

We got our first wicket and that brought the team back in hunt. After getting the first wicket we thought we will be able to restrict them from scoring free runs but it turned the other way and they scored 46 of first 10 over’s for the loss of only 1 wicket. Srikant took a great catch of my bowling to get rid of their highest scorer who was looking dangerous to take this one away from us.

From 10 to 15 over’s we were able to restrict them and just gave away 12 runs and got 3 crucial wickets. The panic could be seen in the batting team with 20 needed of last 5.Abhisek did a good job by maneuvering the bowler and some good aggressive field set up.

Vijay was brought to ball the 16th over and he gave only 4 runs. Amit did a great job bowling the 17th over as he got two crucial wickets and just conceded 4 runs. Vijay bowled his final over of his spell where he looked a little tired and conceded 5 runs.

2 over’s left and 7 to get, I bowled the 19th over and gave away 1 run with two wickets falling. Captain led us from front by bowling the last over where he conceded no runs and took a hat trick.

For me there this was a complete team performance with some outstanding individual performance.

To start with it has to be Manish, the way he batted even though we had lost 2 quick wickets but still he was aggressive. But the best thing was the stumping he did to get rid of their best batsman of Abhisek.He has been a revolution behind the stump this whole tournament. Being a bowler it gives me immense confidence to see him behind the stumps as I know he won’t let go the ball through him.

I think Vikas is the best all rounder in our team and he showed that again. He had been shadowed by some good performance by others. First when the team needed him to bat he made a crisp 17 and when it came to bowl, he bowled 4 tight over’s and that was not all he caught 2 difficult catch and took the most crucial position while fielding. With Niloy not there Vikas only looked the player to replace him.

Vijay the name only suggests it. He looked in good touch with bat and the way he was running between it was just terrific. He also bowled a marvelous spell and caught a good catch without juggling the ball.

Abhisek the highest wicket taker for our team and just 8 wickets away from his 100 wickets.He only didn’t had a hat trick to his feather which he got in today’s match which sealed the match for us.

Bipin Bitla had been having a torrid time with bat but he has been good in the field as he took two crucial catches. The first one was a skier which he really took well.

Though I was the MOM it could have been given to anyone, especially Abhisek for his hat trick .It was the umpire who wanted me to be the MOM but the team wanted it to be given to Abhisek.Because i was sent down the batting order so he agreed to give it to me.

JUST KIDDING.

It doesn’t make a difference who is the MOM; the thing is that we won the game with team effort with every one contributing.

This was the 98 th match for Maharaja’s and with just two to go for the three figure let’s do it in style.


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50th win for Maharaja's

Victory is always sweet. It has an encouraging and electrifying effect on the winning team and with revenge in mind for two previous loses to RCPC it was even more exhilarating. To add cherry to cake it was our 50th win. I think we learn from our past games and we move on and face newer teams, different combinations every single time we go out and still the motivation to win every time makes us even more hungry to win more games. It’s hurting that we are not playing in the top league but past is past.

It was a perfect weather to play cricket and to make it even more grand we won the toss and did best, what we do.Amit and Ajit opened the bowling attack in absence of Buland who has been the star of our bowling attack but the way they were bowling we never missed buland.In the very first over Abishek took a splendid one handed catch at point which had to be one of the best reflex catches ever taken. After 4 over’s the score was 11/1.

Vikas was brought in the 5th over and he bowled a maiden. It would have been a maiden wicket if Abishek would have held to a difficult catch at point diving forward. Our Captain was determined to try all the alternatives and it paid off.

Milind was brought in as the second change and he gave us the breakthrough in his very first over with me taking the catch at long off.In his very next over he gave us another break through with Vijay taking a good catch at long on with no juggling and the very next over Vikas gave us another wicket with Amit taking the catch.Abishek was introduced in the 10th over which just conceded 1 run.

After 10 over’s the score was 21/5.

I and Vijay bowled a tight spell to wrap up the inning with Manish being awesome behind the stumps as he took two splendid catches and a breathtaking stumping of Amit. Amit got 2 wickets in his 3 rd over with Vijay taking a good juggling catch at long on.

It was a good batting performance by Bipin, Manish and Milind.Bipin looked in good touch with his positive approach before playing a ball back to his stumps.Milind looked calm and composed before perishing to long off.

However the show was completely stolen by Manish. He looked in good touch and presented the team this win by hitting a four.

This was a compensable win as we outplayed them in every department.