Won against Agarwal Sr.s team

Yesterday's match was with Agrawal Sr.s team in Acharya NG Ranga University grounds. We reached there in time but umpire did not turn up. We waited for a while and decided to play a 40 over a side match with our team players as umpires. Again they won the toss and elected to bat first. Moinder this time somehow did not find his rhythm and started scratchily. I on the other hand started reasonably well for my standards but did not find any wicket until the 3rd over when batsman played on to the stumps. With their players acting as umpires we did not get any close LBW calls in our favour. Our first change bowlers did well and Moinder's second spell of 2 wickets in the same over kept them under checks as the score card read 65+ for 6. We thought we are in for early finish. Then there was a partnership, those 2 blokes played really well all the shots along the ground and they managed a lot of boundaries, thanks to small boundaries and scratchy outfield. Finally they managed a competitive total of 203 in 40 overs. My figures are 6-0-34-1.

We started off aggressively with Satyoday and Sridhar opening the innings. We breezed of to 50+ for no loss in 6 overs. But then there was a twist, we lost both the openers and Chaitanya in quick succession and scorecard reads 55/3 in around 9 overs. With we desperately needing a partnership, Sarma and Susheel did just what we needed. Their partnership was a mammoth and match winning one . It's like watching two pro's batting together. Susheel wanted to occupy the crease and Sarma playing his natural stroke play. Susheel joined him later matching stroke to stroke and duo just batted on and on. They offered no chances to the opposition with all the shots, except one or two, along the ground, playing the ball on its merit...playing the good balls defensively and not missing out on any of the bad balls. Two of their shots will be remembered for a long time, one very good pull from Sarma for 6 over the deep mid-wicket and one very good sweep all along the ground by Susheel. They brought us with in 12 runs of the victory with 9+overs to spare. Then there was a hiccup, we lost another 3 quick wickets in a heap and suddenly everyone in the camp are nervous. But it is too late for the opposition to stage a comeback as we snatched the victory with good 6 overs to spare. I remained n.o. on 4 with the winning shot to the boundary (which i am not used to).

I remember this match for 2 reasons. One for the outstanding partnership between Sarma and Susheel, secondly this is the match where i bowled most number of overs, 6, in a match.