Super Kings 133/5 in 20 overs (Neeraj 43, Aditya 42, Jeffrey 19, Extras 13, Sridhar 2/17)
Warriors 137/5 in 19.1 overs (Kumar 59 no, Extras 53)
Driving down to Tippecanoe park on what was my very first game there, I had a strong feeling that this will be our first win of the season. First reason was that we are gelling together as a team and have been practicing harder, not only with our batting and bowling, but always in our fielding, thanks to Aditya. Secondly, Warriors games have been pretty close and if we can get early wickets after putting a score of 130+, I was certain that we can win especially now that we have so many bowling options with new comers in Anurag and Kunal. Thirdly, unlike Lincoln where the games are so one sided, Tippecanoe games have been very competitive and hence provides even chances for both teams.
There were some petty severe thunderstorms overnight and it was so good to see the ground almost ready to go at 9am. My plan was to bat first, put 130+ and then control the game by tight bowling at the start and put pressure on Warriors.
Although Warriors had less then seven by toss time, still, in sporting spirit, tossed and lost it. To my surprise and happiness, Warriors elected to field which was a little surprising, considering the wet ground. Probably they thought that the outfield will make it harder to score.
Realizing the importance of utilizing the power play overs, send Jeffrey to accompany Shiv who has been in great form in this season. Unfortunately Shiv got out for a duck, bowled while trying to pull a short of length ball which did not rise as much as he thought . But again, this is a new ground where we are playing first time and so I thought that he would spend a little time, gettimg used to the pace and bounce of the pitch. But again, his confidence is so high and has been very much itching to get out to bat. To loose him in the first overt was a little unexpected and but, having umpired a couple of games here, I was confident that this pitch will suit both Neeraj and Aditya.
Jeffrey made very good amends for missing out on the previous outing as a opener and made a breezy 19 runs in 15 balls with two good boundaries. He is one player who has all the strokes and with a little bit of patience can be that "decisive" player, who can get us to winning scores. I was so happy to see him, making the best use of his capability, as he hit well to give as a great start. But, all of a sudden, went for a nothing shot and got bowled. As a captain, it was good to see him lamenting for the rush of blood in the pavilion and such personal reflections will shape the player to build that match temperament and get to the next level if the captain has faith in his role as a opener. And I have no second thoughts on this and will support him to learn his lessons and get to be a great opener before we start our third round games. 33/2 in five overs.
Then came the best ever Super Kings partnership (84 runs in about 10 overs) between Aditya (42 in 36 balls with two sixes and a boundary) and Neeraj (43 in 42 balls with two sixes and two boundaries). It was wonderful to see both batsman batting so professionally, milking the bowling as they settled down to judge the pace and bounce and then accelerating very nicely indeed.
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| Great partnership between Neeraj and Aditya |
The way Neeraj batted was an object to lesson to build an innings, as he had only two scoring shots of his first 13 balls playing out a spinner, Mithun. Once he settled down, it was a different ball game as he played his trade mark drives through the cover and those Neeraj only short term pulls swipes that cleared the rope with very little height but with tremendous power. Am continued to be amazed by this ageless batting champions who scores so well against bowlers and yet scores these runs with class and style.
What can I say about Aditya. He is sure to become one of the very best batsman of the league as he scored at a nice clip with very minimal fuss. The power and poise with which he batted is so wonderful to see and I was particularly happy to see him using my dear "KG bat" so well and one particular enormous hit to long-on was a treat to watch as it sailed under the blue sky and went far beyond the boundary. A batsman, who plays straight and who is positive, will succeed and Aditya is certainly such type as he tries to score of every ball and is also quick pick the length. Great finding for Super Kings as he settles down to being our main-stay in our top order batting one up.
Unfortunately we lost both the set batsman within a few balls and that too by the 15th over. Aditya went for yet another lofted shot over cover and did not get the elevation as he was not as close to the ball as he wanted and was well caught. Very soon, Neeraj got bowlerd, missing out a straight ball as he must have been so tired and as am sure that these two must have run about 30+ runs in their 84 runs partnership, which goes to
show how much important it is to run well between the wickets. Such purposeful partnership wears on the bowlers as well. Hopefully these two gentlemen will continue to have many many such partnerships and more importantly one of them will stay till the 20th over. By the end of 15 overs, we were sitting very pretty at 107/4.
With 30 balls to go and with good hitters in Kiran and Ravi to come, I was expecting us to score at least 40 runs which would have taken us to 145+ which at Tippecanoe is a winning score. Although I was padded to go at the fall of the third wicket, in the asking for big hits, sent Kiran and Ravi ahead.
All it needed was a run every ball and a few hits. But unfortunately, in those remaining 30 balls, we could score only 26 runs even though we lost only two more wickets. It does not make sense to have wickets on the bag by the 20th over and still not making at least run a ball. Every run matters indeed. After being so well placed , we lost the plot in those end overs.
As a new team, this is another area, we need to do well. Ravi, who is such a hitter, continues to play across and got LBW again. Although Kiran was trying to hit, he does not try to clear the boundary as the swing of his arms are only to loft the ball over the 30 yard. Although it can fetch boundaries easily in grounds devoid of grass, Tippecanoe has so much thick grass and also the wet outfield make it impossible. This is where we lacked in good running between the wickets. Since we had wickets in the bag, we should have challenged the fielders more. Also, we kept swinging and missed many balls. We had far too many dot balls and ended up at 133/5 after 20 overs which was at least 10 runs short. What's the point of keeping wickets in the bag and giving dot balls even in the last over. We certainly need to work on this and I should have gone ahead to Shepard these important end overs. Anyhow another important lesson learned. Run a ball is the manthra.
Probably our highest ever score and as we walked out for the break, I was confident that we can win this game, provided we tighten the screws in the first power play overs. How wrong I was..
Warriors batting...................................
Just like we were focusing on power play overs during batting, we also wanted to make it count in the power play overs by bowling well. We have been bowling far too many wides with the new ball and also readily gifting batsman with full tosses and rank short balls. In the practice session, both Karthik and Anurag have been practicing with the new ball. Further, Ravi bowls better as a one change bowler. With Aditya, giving pace and bounce with the new ball at one end, plan was to rotate with Karthik and Anurag to keep the batsman in check by keeping a tight off side length.
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| Kumar, MOM |
Opened with Karthik and the first ball was a full toss on the leg side and was gleefully despatched to the boundary by Kumar, who played a calm and composed innings of 59 to take Warriors through ultimately. Although Karthik cane back nicely, thought he is better off coming in the middle overs as there was a resonable breeze across, which may not help him.
Aditya started the second over and bowled a lot of wides and that obviously eased the batting team since they need only to play him off. With his sheer pace and bounce, if he makes the batsman play, he is sure to take the all necessary early wickets and those wides give away the advantage we can have. He cane back well to bowl a really good second over and could very well have the batsman caught at slip and can't blame Madhav who is not a regular skip fielder. But that ball which took the edge was the perfect one with Aditya's pace and bounce and we certainly need a good slip fielder for Aditya if we have make good inroads at the start.
Coming back, Kumar should have been run out off the very second ball via Madhav's throw from point, going for a suicidal second run. When Shiv hit the stumps with Kumar well short, I thought he was gone and was very surprised when he was ready to face the next ball. Only then I realized, Shiv did not have the ball when be hit the wickets. Little drama but such moments define the game.
After only one over by Karthik, switched to Anurag who has been bowling well with the new ball and if he can keep on the stumps, I thought he can really put pressure and get us some wickets. During the innings break, this is exactly what myself and Aditya discussed with him where we even thought of him bowling with the new ball. But, this over of the innings turned out to be nightmare for poor Anurag as he bowled 10+ wides in an over, which to a large extend deflated us indeed. All it required was to run in and keep it in the stumps, even fuller lengths are ok. But some of the wides are double wides and as a team, we were all left standing with eyes wide as to when will this over end. Credit to him that he switched to around the wickets and immediately had our first wicket, LBW. That over went for 12 runs with ten of them wides and a wicket. Imaging how it would have been if he had controlled the wides.
Ravi came for the next over and gave away 14 runs a wicket. He is a bowler who can really lead the pack if he is more consistent. But it appears as though he is more worried about bowling a wide or a short ball as he runs in and that will affect his ability to bowl consistently. After all the practice sessions and having had bowled in so many games, he should have tremendous confidence as he runs in and feel that he will bowl his best ball every time. Just like a batsman like Neeraj or Aditya who stand tall with confidence as the bowler runs in, a bowler also needs to run in with confidence that he will bowl exactly to his line and length. But if you run in with little confidence, obviously that will affect you and now that we have a good score to defend, as a front line bowler, he should have that much more confidence. He is a big hearted player and I hope that he will run in with confidence next time.
Coming to this over, there were three easy boundaries and a wicket. It was credit to Shiv that he noticed that Ravi was running in with his head down and not up, looking at the batsman. Apparantly, Ravi was running in with fear of overstepping and hence was looking down and that might have been the reason he is not able to bowl his length and he seems to have corrected it after Shiv instructed him. These are little basics that need to be sorted out and improved upon to the next level and so long as we recognize such short comings and correct, we are good to go.
But after 4 overs, with minimum of efforts, Warriors had galloped to 43/2 thanks to a copious number of wides and four donated boundaries. But we are still in the game as they still needed to score 90+ and with a few tight overs, we are on our way.
The next seven overs went only for another 35 runs as Ravi and Anurag gave nothing away in their next overs. Anand and Madhav both bowled very impressively indeed as they kept a tight line and gave away only 16 runs in their first spell of two overs each. Prasanna also chipped in with a good over.
In the intervening period, Kunal bowled two overs for 14 runs and had a wicket with his second ball. He does take wickets and of all the medium pacers we have, he is so much different with his slinky action and with the ability to hit the deck. Unfortunately he does not have good control as he bowled two full tosses at the batsman, one of which called out for a warning. Although I keep requesting him to just bowl that just short of length balls, he keeps going for those Yorkers and their lies the problem as they require so much more practice and I believe that he can be quite effective like Srikanth for Warriors. All he needs is more patience and lots of practice. Out of the 14 runs he gave, there were 8 wides and a no ball. Imagine how impressive it would have been if he had controlled the wides. But he is raw and improving and I have confidence that he can do well with practice and better control.
There were some good catching as well, including your truly in the covers and Madhav as gully as things were getting tight as the match was getting to the territory of anybody's game.
By the 15 over, Warriors have moved onto 102/4 with Sunny, giving good company to Kumar, who by now has deep rooted himself with determination to stay till the end. With extras coming handily over after over, all it required for them was to keep the wickets and go all out in the last two overs.
With 32 needed in 30 balls, it was anybody game and when Anand had Sunny LBW two balls in to the 16th over, the needle tantalizingly turned toward us and I was hoping that Anand will finish that over well. But Kumar very cleverly picked up his last ball that was full on middle and off as he deposited it over midwicket for a very important six of the innings. Games are made by such decisive moments where the bowler and batsman were keen to take the initiative and unfortunately, Kumar won that today. For Anand, it's a lesson that he should stick to outside the off stump on just short of a length and by now, he has seen many shots of him, particularly as he tried to finish well and ends up with that easily pick able length, which more of them than not have gone sixes.
Those 10 runs made 22 in 24 balls and although Aditya bowled his two overs (17th and 19th) only for 10 runs, the asking rate was kept up. It was so nice and refreshing to see someone packing the offside, bowling with sheer pace, giving batsman no room.
Although Karthik bowled the 15th over well for only 7 runs, he also gave away three wides and having seen so many wides, I was reluctant to bring him on. Any wide at this stage will tremendously relieve the pressure on the batsman and we needed dot balls.
Although I had the option to bring Ravi for the decisive 18th over, having seen how United collapsed against Tigers by falling to succor balls from Akash, took a chance with Madhav. If he can tighten his first three balls, giving away nothing, with Aditya bowling well pace and control, I felt that Warriors might go for the kill against Madhav and gift some wickets. But to my anguish, Madhav bowled probably his worst ball in the league so far, a full toss on the leg stump, which Kumar gleefully despatched to square leg for possibly the match winning six. But I can't blame poor Madhav who had bowled with great control earlier and it just slipped at the worst moment possible. As a captain, those are the moments which define captaincy and on a luckier day, that over could have made the game far too close. That over went for 10 runs and that settled it.
A game, which we should have won handily, was gifted away to Warriors as we gave away 53 extras. Imagine that! Compared to our 53 extras, Warrios gave away only 14, a differential of 40 runs???? Although Kumar played exceedingly well with an unbeaten 59 with three important sixers and few boundaries, it was those wides that let us down.
I am an eternal optimist and see lots of positives. As a start, if the top order clicks like today, we can make winning scores but need to make it count on the end overs, especially when we have wickets in the bag. We were short by 10 runs which we would have had with better running between the wickets and a few lusty blows.
What can I say about bowling. One good thing is that we were able to experiment with lots of bowlers which had helped is to assess our strengths and weaknesses.
Cricket is all about that one ball, particularly for an evolving team like ours. Request the bowlers to plan every ball and make it count just like a batsman.
Although fielding continues to improve, we are still not aggressive enough and our throws need to be far better than what we saw today.
Overall, am happy that we batted and fielded well although bowling let us down. But this game must have woken our bowling unit and they better get their act together.
We are doing well as a team and our first win is on its way folks. Stay positive and play with energy and enthusiasm. More importantly have fun and play without pressure...
Go Super Kings
