Cricket match review - Rockers Vs Royals

Great victory today! Some excellent bowling and fielding saw us through victorious at the end.

After winning the toss Feroz opted to bat. Gautam and Shanky started off well with quick running between the wickets. Gautam lost his wicket in 3rd over when he tried to glance a ball down to fine leg, mistimed it, got caught in short square leg. We were 19 by the end of 3 overs. Shanky continued to connect well with Sitaram on the other side of wicket. First change of bowlers put a significant break to the flow of runs. Too many extras from Royals and catch drops helped keep our runs ticking. At the end of our innings, we were 89 in 20 overs. Shanky was the highest scorer with 19 runs followed by Srini at 14. Sitaram, Gautam, Senthil, Paul, Feroz, Ram and I chipped in.

Gautam opened our bowling and struggled a bit to get his rhythm in the first over. The pitch kept deteriorating as it lost moisture due to the heat. It didnt help the cause either causing a number of no balls due to the extraordinary bounce. Srini and gautam bowled next 4 overs conceding only 6 RUNS!!! Both the bowlers got couple of wickets. Senthil and I came as first change in bowling. I struggled a bit with the extra bounce resulting in no-balls. With my slower balls, the batsmen managed to rotate strike. Senthil's balling was controlled and he got a few wickets in his first spell. Ram came in as the fifth bowler. The unpredictable pitch didn't help him get good line and length. Batsmen exploited it. At the end of 14 overs, Royals needed 19 runs to win with 4 batsmen remaining. I don't remember the exact over by over details, but I, Senthil and Srini bowled the next 3 overs. I wasn't successful in getting wickets. Senthil got a few in his last over. It was 17th over with 9 runs to win and 2 wickets remaining. Srini struck again and got both the wickets!!!!

Some of the other highlights were extra-ordinary catches by Paul and a clever stumping by Sitaram. Prasad missed being the claimant of winning wicket when his throw missed the non striker end just by and inch. Batsman was yards away. A high jump catch by Senthil kept the pressure on.

On retrospection, we should have won this match convincingly as we boast of a good bowling line up and 90 run in 20 overs is a good defend-able target. And that too against the team which is not the among the strongest in the league.........but hey a victory is a victory!!!!!