A Tale Of Two Approaches

The Loss to the SoCal Knights seems to have done some wonders to our team and to us in general. I like the new us! In an effort to wipe off the shame of the defeat or maybe redeem ourselves and try to, if possible, undo the defeat handed out to us by a more disciplined and well-prepared side some things had to be changed … drastically! We had to take ourselves to the next level. Last time we lost to the Cisco team we made some changes and that got us to where we are right now. Socal Knights is our new ‘high bar’ and to overhaul this younger and fitter team we had to improve our game and that meant improving our fielding, batting, bowling, catching … and more importantly our attitude. Coming back from my short vacation couple of weeks ago, that’s what exactly what I saw! I urge you to be there to experience it first hand as we turn a side and begin a new chapter!

The weather was quite nice this past Sunday. The sun came out only once and that too quite late in the second innings, otherwise it was cloudy affording us some great conditions. As has become the norm folks started the day with a quick jog around the park and then joined the rest of the team in some net practice (sans the net), where we first had some close-in catch practice followed by some high rise catch and low-ground field & throw practice. It was quite awesome and as Pankaj put it, when the game began at 8, everybody was up from their deep slumber and raring to go.

Team A: Ram, Siddharth, Vamshi, Amit, Dharmendra, Rishi and Sagar

Team B: Rajesh, Abhijeet, Pankaj, Pratik, Partha, Chandru and Anand

Common Player: Senthil

I think Team B won the toss as it bated first. Chandru and I opened the innings with Chandru at the striker’s end. Dharmendra opened the bowling attack from Interstate 5 end. Chandru did well to keep calm and keep the ball on the ground which I couldn’t emulate and ended up tossing it in the air in the long-off region. Rish committed no mistake and took a very good low catch to send me packing. After the initial hiccup Pankaj and Chandru combined well to give the team the start it needed. Both the batsmen played fabulously slowly adding to the total. As the field was packed and aerial route was a bit risky they concentrated on taking singles and putting that extra pressure on the bowlers and converting singles into twos. Pankaj was the main architect of this strategy as he kept dashing to the danger end with Chandru backing him up excellently. Finally in the 4th or 5th over Chandru departed when he lobbed one up in the second slip region. Soon after that Pankaj retired giving his team-mates a chance at the crease. This proved to be a turning point of the game as after this Team B couldn’t actually dominate the proceedings until the very last over where Pratik turned the heat on with some great power play. In the meantime Amit managing his bowlers  well was able to put the brakes on the runs which slowly started drying up. Imagine this in the first innings only one boundary was scored and that too came in the last over. On the flip side credit should be given to Team B’s batsmen, they did not go for any unwarranted shots and did not lose any wickets. They engaged in some controlled play and kept the score board ticking. Abhijeet, Partha and Rajesh did this and held the fort in the middle overs. And then Senthil and Pratik in the end played couple of cameos to boost the score. Pratik gave Rishi, his nemesis, the charge in the final over. He hit a huge shot in the mid-wicket region which fell short of the rope only by a few yards. He then went on to score couple of singles. He was finally dismissed while trying to heave one over the mid-wicket region and Dharmendra took a well-judged catch. Team B had done well, they could have added about 15-20 more runs but it was still a good respectable total (I think they made either 60 or 70, needing Team A to score 61 or 71 to win)

Team B was lucky to have Chandru on its side as he tried to rally the team members and kept the tempo going throughout the second innings. He was not too satisfied with Team A’s approach in the first innings an wanted to prove a point how with the same set of players a more competitive game can be played. He and Rajesh marshaled the fielders and bowlers well and kept the pressure on the opposite side. Bowlers like Abhijeet, Pankaj and Pratik definitely helped the cause. Abhijeet opened the bowling attack. If I am not mistaken Ram and Amit opened the innings. Similar to Team B’s disastrous start Team A too lost the first wicket quickly in the form of Amit, when he got run-out while trying to sneak a single. He and Ram could not communicate well and the team had to pay the price. Ram followed Amit shortly thereafter when he mistimed a pull and Abhijeet committed no mistake to pick that one from the air while standing at short mid-on. Team A was in some trouble. They needed somebody to stay and play a big innings. At this point Dharmendra joined the proceedings. This was a familiar setup for him, he had played the saviors on quite a few occasions. His team needed him to weave his magic and spurn the bowlers. I think at one point of time he and Vamshi were at the crease and they both showed great promise. It seemed as if they would be able to turn things around especially Vamshi. In case of Dharmendra I can say only thing, his dismissal brought back memories of Ishant Sharma's famed spell in which he had Ponting wrapped round his finger and treated him like a bunny. That spell may have lasted a few overs, but this being the T20 age Pankaj was able to deliver the results in one single over. It was a great contest and I had the best seats in the house standing at square leg. Dharmendra was completely under Pankaj’s spell who was trying everything in his arsenal right from bowling in the the block hole to sending one down the off while making them rise. But Dhamendra was able to fend them off successfully ... not for long though. All this foreplay was getting Team B's players quite excited and all of them were baying for the batsman's blood. They wanted Pankaj to go for the kill. The fifth delivery was again on the off. It was slightly faster (if I am not mistaken). It was leaving the batsman and was high. I could see Dharmendra trying to flick it in an effort to to drive it over cover or point. But unfortunately he could only get a nick as the pace and rise beat him and Chandru did a great job standing in the slips to finish off a great catch. It was absolutely awesome to see first see the standoff between bat and the ball and then see the ball win the contest in the end. Pankaj kept the pressure on right till the end and did not give up, sending one beauty after another. But this was not the end. The very next delivery was an absolute gem which took Siddharth completely by surprise and all he could do was sigh and curse his luck for facing the best delivery of the day. Pankaj was on a hat-trick, where on one delivery he got Dharmendra to nick one to slip and on the very next one he uprooted the stumps with  great yorker which would have done Malinga proud.

I am not sure if Vamshi and Sagar came before or after this debacle. But the two played very well. Vamshi was timing his shots very well and was able to score on either side. He was playing sensibly not trying to go for the big shots but trying to keep the board ticking with singles and twos. Sagar also did the same. But Vamshi fell prey to some great fielding by Rajesh or Rishi which saw his stumps being uprooted on a brilliant throw when he tried to steal a second. Sagar got out while trying to loft one. Then it was finally upto Senthil to save the innings, but it was too late. The overs were very few and required runs were too many. He still tried to hit the ball and was lucky on couple of occasions. Finally it was just a matter of time and Team B won the match hands down.

Now coming to the title ... I personally feel Team B won because of its positive attitude and the enthusiasm infused in its players by Chandru and Rajesh, especially the former. It was the same set of player, but in the second innings they all seemed to be on their feet and trying extra hard to stop that single and contain the second. Team B’s bowlers also performed better thanks to some excellent on-field support and all this made a dent in Team A’s confidence. So you see it was train of events which started with some positive attitude and a desire to do better. As Chandru said ... hopefully we can do this and more every single day till such time it becomes so ingrained that we don't have to do anything different during our external matches but just play the way we do every Sunday ... Well, I hope we fulfill his dream! Folks like Vamshi and Chandru have some good ideas in making this actually happen. We all should listen to them and pitch in (I am sure the rest of you also have a few things in mind). Lets keep talking and discussing. I am positive we will get there!

Pankaj was the pick of bowlers and batsmen. In the first innings he ensured that his team had a fighting total and then in the second innings he bowled a fiery spell. He was closely followed by Pratik in the bowling department who played a great cameo in the final overs of the first innings and was responsible for the lone boundary of the first match (I don’t think another boundary was scored). Chandru gave Pankaj great company and you could say the two were primarily responsible for their team’s win. Vamshi tried his best to resurrect his team but got out prematurely while trying to accelerate the run-rate. Had he made the ground, things might have been different and it would have been quite interesting to see how he would have taken on Pankaj, Pratik and Abhijeet. Sagar tried to do his bit and batted quite well adding some valuable runs and more importantly staying out there in the middle and preventing a collapse. Rishi, I think is the fastest of our bowlers and exhibited his talent amply. He was great in the field too. Dharmendra bowled well, but came undone while facing Pankaj. Abhijeet, Partha and Rajesh did very well to keep their team’s score board ticking and scoring those singles and twos.

Overall it was a great game. I had to leave early along-with Vamshi, Chandru and Sagar as it was already 9:30 but the rest of the folks continued to play one more 8-over game. I thoroughly enjoyed the practice session (that’s when I seem to get more bat on the ball) and the match and 'am looking forward to some more next Sunday (if there isn't a match … otherwise I will be there to cheer the team and maybe have a quick practice session before the game … what say!

You guys have a nice rest of the week and see you next Sunday.

Bye.

Anand