A Tale Of Two Harakiris


For the past few weeks, reminiscing our memorable games, we unwittingly found ourselves driving to the Alton Athletic Park (even though it was closed the previous week) only to return to Oak Creek Elementary and find ourselves relegated to a corner, forced to play on the off. There are definitely some upshots of this self-calibration, as now we increasingly find ourselves trying to turn the bat to slice or angle the ball to the point or watch the ball and then try to play the shot on the off. That's quite nice! The weather was awesome, slightly nippy but very bright. Special mention to Rajesh for being the first one at the AAP and then at Oak Creek too. After 15 minutes of wait he slowly started seeing folks arrive. If not for him we would be at home kicking ourselves for not getting up early.

Team A: Abhijeet, Bala, Vamshi, Amit and Rajesh
Team B: Chandru, Senthil, Rishi (new guy), Siddharth and Anand

Team B won the toss and elected to bat. I think Rishi opened the innings with Siddharth. They played well and were at the crease for at least 3-4 overs. Team A’s bowlers were not giving the batsmen much room and so the duo had to rely on scoring singles and twos. Also with the leg-side being cordoned off it was always going to be challenging to score a boundary. Rishi was the first one to go and Siddharth retired after an over or two and came back in the final over after Chandru departed. Senthil came in as first replacement and continued the good work started by the openers. Team B kept the score board ticking by scoring singles and twos. Special mention to Chandru who towards the end displayed excellent running between the wickets by hitting in the cover area. Short on fielders that area was kind of unguarded, so it was good strategy on his part. All the players contributed towards the score which read a healthy 43 at the end of 8 overs. Of Team A’s bowlers Bala was very effective. Abhijeet took some time to adjust but in the end had the final laugh (literally). Amit, Rajesh and Vamshi gave Bala good company.

Team A started on a cautious note. Either Siddharth or Senthil opened the bowling attack and laid down the ground rules. Rishi is a real find. It would be interesting to face him, I am looking forward to that challenge. Earlier during practice when he bowled the first ball and nearly took the stumps down he indicated his desire while amply displaying his skills. He seems to be a good all-rounder and an excellent addition to our roster (now it’s upto Amit to make sure he comes to play every Sunday). I could see that folks were a bit surprised and didn’t know what to expect and he was able to take full advantage of this and scored a jackpot in the second match. In the first match too he got the key wicket of Vamshi (if I am not mistaken). He was well supported by Senthil and Siddharth. Unfortunately for Team A it kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Bala had to go pre-maturely while trying to angle one on the off but ended up getting a top edge and the ball ballooned in the point area.  The runs were scarce and Team B was doing a fine task of not giving the batsmen any room. In the final over the first harakiri was committed. Citing a stipulation Team A demanded that Chandru be given the ball to bowl his second over and not be replaced by Senthil or Siddharth. Chandru, very reluctantly, took his run-up. Nobody knew what would happen. Team A needed about 12 runs in 6 balls, which wasn’t such an impossible task. Abhijeet was batting and just few overs ago Chandru while trying to find his rhythm had sent a few down the leg side. Few more extras could give Team A, a shot in the arm and very well set it on the path of snatching victory from jaws of defeat. Please remember the task was not going to be easy, because the batsmen could hit only on the off. Chandru found his rhythm on the very first delivery when he sent one down the off-side. Abhijeet couldn’t do much bust just wage his bat and grumble under his breath. Chandru continued his middle-and-off attack and sent couple of more in the same direction. I think the batsmen managed to score couple of runs, but then that was it. The last 2 or 3 deliveries were absolute gems which just whizzed past Abhijeet’s bat into the wicket-keeper's gloves. Chandru had seen his team through and left Team A stranded at about 9-10 runs short of victory. Everybody was left wondering what if Senthil or Siddharth had bowled … maybe … just maybe … Team A might have managed to close the gap and give Team B a run for their money. In the end both the batsmen and Chandru had a hearty laugh and the rest of the players joined in the friendly banter.

It was almost 9:30 and folks were thinking of leaving when it was decided to play just one more 6-over match. This time Team B won the toss but going against popular demand Chandru decided to bowl which proved to be a good decision given the fate meted out to Team A. Team B bowled superbly and this time too their attack was lead by Rishi who took two wickets in the same over. On the second or third ball he got rid of one of the openers when Abhijeet struggled to negotiate a shooting delivery which had stayed low. If I am not mistaken, on the last ball he successfully dislodged Bala’s wickets to send Team A’s hopes of redemption into a tizzy. Team A never really recovered from that point onwards and when the six overs were bowled their score read 14 runs. Team B’s innings was opened by Rishi and Senthil. They batted sensibly and scored singles and twos and displayed some good running between the wickets. I am not sure if Team B lost any wickets. Buoyed by their superb performance Senthil decided to have some fun and this is where the second harakiri was committed and Team B nearly had their collective asses kicked. I very vividly remember talking to Abhijeet and telling him that the only way he could get his team into the game was if he got a hat-trick. The first ball went down the leg-side and I was thinking to myself ‘maybe I should have mentioned hat-trick of wickets’. But the very next ball turned the game on its head. While trying to reverse sweep Senthil got a top edge and Bala did the rest. Having crossed over Rishi faced the next ball. This one was slightly uppish and Rishi tried to just play it but ended up nicking it and the wicket-keeper cried ‘Thank-You’! Two balls … two wickets. Abhjeet was going for the kill, one more wicket and that’s it anything could happen. The scores were tied and and the last run was supposed to be just a formality, but not anymore ... nobody expected this drama … literally anything could happen! I suddenly found myself walking to the middle. Sensing the building pressure Team A got all the fielders to close-in and Vamshi was standing few feet from my bat. I was a bit nervous. The first ball nearly rose upto my chin, which I just elbowed down. All I wanted to do was play the over out. The next one was a good length delivery on the off. I could not control myself and tried to heave it over the fielders. I saw it travelling towards Rishi who raised both his hands to catch the ball on his wrong side. He missed and we ran. Abhijeet nearly had me there, I was nearly out. If that would have happened, it would have been an amazing thing.

The star of the day was Rishi who wowed us with his bowling and batting skills. He can send some quick ones and if you are not watching carefully they can leave you stumped (pun intended!!).  Abhijeet appeared a bit rusty in the beginning but came into his own and gave Team B a big scare (I am sure Senthil  will refrain from playing reverse drives no matter how well his team is doing). Along with some great bowling Bala was very quick in the outfield. There was one particular occasion where he stopped and threw the ball to the wicket-keeper in one swift action and nearly had the batsmen out (and it was his fellow team-mate, I think Vamshi). Chandru displayed great running between the wickets in the first innings and that made the difference because he put on some 8-10 runs.

As you can see we had an interesting game this past Sunday and we were reminded that cricket can be a very funny game and literally anything could happen. I think we are slowly getting used to playing on the off, few more weeks and we will be masters of cover-drives and square-cuts. I have mixed feelings about that though, because I would rather see you guys on the field so that we can play to our strength.

As you may have seen, as per Abhijeet’s suggestion we will be convening at Stonegate Elmentary’s ground this coming Sunday. Hope to see you guys there. This may very well mark the beginning of a new era for us!

You guys have a nice rest of the week.

Bye.

Anand

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