Two Amazing Catches Prove The Old Adage

I experienced a very surreal moment this past Sunday while driving to the ground. As you know it was quite foggy. Entering my car I cranked up the radio and was immediately treated to an Elton John rendition of ‘I guess that’s why they call it the blues’. All I needed now was a cup of hot coffee, with the windows rolled down and fresh morning air splashing across my face I would have been teleported to a different world. It was quite amazing … well maybe I am exaggerating a bit … but you get the idea. It felt awesome to drive down a near empty Culver Drive (which is a mini feat in itself) with fog covering the horizon and lights from the lamppost trying to burrow their way through the water laden air. Needless to say it was an ideal day for a game of cricket. Two Sundays in a row we are being treated to  some fabulous weather. 

Team A: Rajesh, Dharmendra, Partha, Abhijeet and Ramesh

Team B: Chandru, Pankaj, Amit, Rohin and Anand

Siddharth was the common player in first match and Abhijeet in the second.

Team B must have won the toss as they elected to bat. Rohin opened the innings and played a fine knock. He hit couple of good boundaries. Running quickly between the wickets he did not lose an opportunity to hit the ball and was not afraid to take chances. He along with his team-mate launched a savage attack on the bowlers and continued their dream run till the end of 4^th over, after which they retired. They were going at a rate of 7 per over. Please note this average down, as Team B did not scale such heights thereafter. Team A came back into the game with a bang displaying one of the best come backs we have seen in recent times. The chief architect of this turnaround was Dharmendra. Abhijeet was having a slightly off day due to his sprained neck but his line made it loud and clear, Team A was targeting the off-side denying the batsmen pleasure of a hook or a pull. Dharmendra was ably supported by Ramesh in keeping it tight. He pleasantly surprised me with his great line and length. Chandru and Pankaj found themselves in a quandary. Dharmendra even bowled a maiden over where the batsmen were left completely baffled, not able to figure out the line, length or the pace of the ball. To add to all this the pitch suddenly seemed to have a mind of its own as the occasional ball was rising making it all the more difficult. I vividly remember one particular delivery when Partha was batting. Gauging the ball he got himself into a position to play it down the pitch when he suddenly found it rising a bit too high than expected. He had to change his stance at the last minute only to miss it. Fortunately the ball continued the higher trajectory and landed safely in the keeper's gloves. Coming back to Team B’s woes, the middle order was at complete mercy of Team A’s bowlers. Even a batsman like Pankaj was finding it a bit difficult to get to the line of the ball. Dharmendra, especially was awesome. He was bowling on the off and making the ball rise. Your regular slog shot (which I tried couple of times) didn’t stand a chance. You had to see the ball till the last minute to connect.  As I said earlier Team  had scored 28 runs in 4 overs, the average then fell to 6 and then five and continued to hover around this number till the end of the match. To their credit though Team B did not throw away wickets. Though under pressure they continued to play sensibly. They waited for the odd lose ball and scored singles and twos wherever possible. Pankaj was able to connect well when he did and together he and Chandru put on a 52 run target for Team A.

Team A started off well. They showed great promise in the first over. I think they made 7 or 8 runs in the first over.  Team B was wondering if this would be a repeat of what happened in the first innings. They started to feel as if their middle order fiasco would come back to bite them. But they had nothing to worry as they had a trump card up their sleeve. Time and again this guy has rose to the occasion snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, be it batting or bowling. This time he cast his magic while fielding at mid-wicket. I am sure you must have guessed by now, who I am talking about. Pankaj single handedly gave his team a shot of adrenalin when he took two stupendous catches. I am torn between the two, but if I were to choose I would rate the second catch before the first. Coming back to the train of events. I am not sure whether it was Rajesh or Ramesh who got out first (I think it was Rajesh). Seeing a  short ball Rajesh took a wild shot and hit it in the mid-wicket region. My eyes were on the ball and from the comer of my eye I could see Pankaj running towards the ball. The ball appeared very distant and I was thinking, "no way he can make the ground … but great effort though". Even before I could finish that thought, I found myself leaning forward from where I was standing trying to aid Pankaj in his quest to desperately reach the ball. Not that I could reach him or he needed anybody’s help, for that matter. If anybody could, then he was the right man for the job. He must have covered at least 30-35 feet not taking his eyes off the ball even for a second while running along with it. Team B had got its first wicket and more than the bowler it belonged to Pankaj. Team B needed to stay focused and not let the batsmen settle down. The next ball was a good length delivery slightly slower, which the batsmen found very titillating and could not stop himself from sending it out of the park. Unfortunately it was a slower delivery and without that extra punch the ball refused to travel and it went high in the air in our favorite fielder’s direction. We thought this would be an easy one, as compared to the earlier catch. Pankaj had judged the ball well, he had got himself under the ball and was waiting for it to drop in his cupped palms while running underneath it. Just when the ball was about to fall in his outstretched hands, he slipped and started falling. This meant his judgement suddenly went awry and the ball started to go away from him. Falls like this would affect mere mortals like us, but Pankaj was in total control. He continued his hawk like view on the ball and did not let the fall affect his judgement. He went on to take the catch while falling down. That’s whey even though the first catch was an unbelievable one, I still rate the second one better because he took it while falling down ... not before or after but while falling down. Team A was in utter doldrums. They had to think fast, they had to send somebody reliable who could stem this downfall and steady the innings and for this they chose Dharmendra. As cool as a cucumber Dharmendra played the hat-trick delivery which was bowled in the block hole with a straight bat. This even prompted Rohin to comment … ‘kya re dar gaya kya’. Shrugging it off Dharmendra continued to play the rest of the over with a steady bat. This was a taste of things to come.

Partha and Dharmendra steadied the innings. They did not commit the mistakes of their predecessors and tried to play all ground shots. After gaining some confidence they tried to go for the big ones. I remember one particular shot when I was bowling. I thought I had bowled one in the block hole, but unfortunately the length was not proper and Partha made full use of this low lying full toss and edged it in the cover region for a flying four. A few more feet and it could have gone for a  six. Amit was very effective in the middle overs, bowling a near maiden (the lone run was a wide ball). He consistently bowled on the off and none of the Team A’s batsmen were able to score off him. He bowled marvelously. Just when Team B was feeling the pressure, Dharmendra succumbed to a full toss delivery which kind of surprised him. I think after his departure Siddharth joined forces with Partha. Surprisingly enough Team B, despite losing early wickets were still in the reckoning, thanks to a steady knock by Dharmendra, Partha and Siddharth.  Unfortunately they lost Siddharth (I think) in the second last over leaving it upto Partha to take is team across the finish line. Chandru gave the last over to Pankaj who had been quite effective in the earlier two. Everybody knew what he was going to do, it was left to see how Partha would react. Partha also knew that most if not all would be bowled on the off and gauging by Pankaj's pace he could expect them to rise. Partha had to score 9 off the last 6 deliveries. He was ale to score 2 off the first 3 balls. He needed 7 more off the last 3. It was difficult but not impossible. He was trying his best to heave the ball, but the last 3 too were bowled accurately then finally 7 were needed off the last ball ... Team A lost the match.

Both the teams played to their full potential, but special credit goes to Team A. They came back not once but twice in the same match. First when they were bowling, they were able to successfully contain Team B’s batsmen and keep the score to a manageable 52 and then while batting their middle order played a steady knock scoring runs at regular intervals. Team B also deserves credit for sticking to their game plan and maintain a vice like grip in the second innings. Overall it was an awesome match.

In the second game Team A batted first. As we lost 2 guys we were back to having only one batsman at the crease. This time around Team A was in no mood to oblige. All the batsmen played very well, especially Partha, Ramesh and Siddharth. Partha opened the innings and laid a great foundation. Ramesh showed great talent and just like his bowling his batting too was quite pleasing. He appeared in total control and played very well. He appears to be quite strong on his off, playing quite a few off drives. Siddharth played aggressively providing the acceleration. His knock helped Team A reach a comfortable total. The first couple of  batsmen did not get out, they retired at the end of their quota of 2 overs. Bowling the fifth over Pankaj was able to get the first wicket. This shows how well Team A was batting. They made 49 runs in their quota of 8 overs. Team B floundered from the beginning and did not quite appear to be in control. Pankaj, Chandru and Amit tried to do their best. At one point Team B needed about 21 runs to win. Pankaj and Amit were the last 2 batsmen remaining. I think Pankaj put in about 8-10 runs and then it was upto the returning batsman Amit to do the rest. Team A by now had completely gained an upper hand and ultimately went on to win the match. It was a great all round show by Team A, where they batted well and then followed it up with some spirited bowling. I remember Abhijeet recounting Siddhart’s super fast deliveries which were stinging him through the gloves. He was slightly wayward, but I guess that was due to the extra pace that he was trying to generate. With slightly more consistency he can pose great challenge to the batsmen.

Overall it was a great game and both the teams were super. This Sunday again we had a cloud cover which made it even more enjoyable to play. Hopefully you can join us next Sunday to see what it feels like to drive in the fog and play on a chilly Sunday morning.

You guys have a nice rest of he week.

Bye.

Anand