Match 3 : AOD Warriors vs NIS Hawkers
AOD Warriors secured a crucial win over impressive Hawkers.
Warriors the current champions had a tough task in their first match itself as they were strongly challenged by a brave Hawkers team who are playing their first ever SNTCL. But if Warriors are winning a match and then you check their scorecard their captain Saravana will be everywhere on it. He does what he always do, at his best in all aspects of game and in all moments. He batted well to score a quick fire 18 runs, bowled well at crucial times to choke the opposition batsmen and especially got the key wicket of Sagar who was threatening to take away the match from warriors and he fielded well to take 3 catches and affected one runout. That’s what you call as all round performance.
Warriors won the toss elected to bat first, started slowly on a slow pitch with heavy wind against them. Still they adjusted well to the conditions. Bruno and Praveen see through the initial overs and set a platform for the upcoming batsmen. Though all their batsmen equally contributed, their top scorer Vinod impressed with his power hitting and running between the wickets. Vinod stood not out till the end and scored 20 of 24 balls. Saravana, Satish and Hari S all scored with higher strike rates and helped achieve a decent total of 99 in 16 overs. Though all of the hawkers’ bowlers were quiet decent for their first match to not let Warriors score freely the best of them is Sagar and Prabha. Sagar finished with figures of 4-0-16-2 and Prabha too impressed with figures of 3-1-10-0
For Hawkers, their chase started with a bit of shock as they lost 2 of their best batsmen in first over itself, Senthil’ s accurate line and length tucked up Milind and Prabha to play air shots to close infielders and it’s unfortunate for them as Saravana was the fielder. Especially the catch took by Saravana to remove Milind is certainly the best catch of the tournament so far. Muthu and Karthik played out the top bowlers Senthil, Hari M and Saravana. But warriors were always in danger as they were short of 2 main bowlers and have to trust 6 overs of part timers. After Saravana ran out Muthu, Sagar joined hands with Karthik. Karthik target the part timers and got success as he scored two boundaries in part timers bowling and kept the RRR intact. Sagar who already impressed with ball turned up with bat once again. His ability to clear the boundaries at ease is a beauty to watch. He suddenly scored 17 runs in one over with two sixes in it. It was at that stage looked like if Sagar is going to bat through he will win it for Hawkers.
And then you have Saravana who had other plans. He took the responsibility and bowled the crucial power play over, He not only bowled a maiden but also got the crucial wicket of Sagar who was caught behind. Sagar who was waiting to target 2 part time bowler overs wanted to playout Saravana, but he can't resist as the nipping delivery took the edge. Once the dangerous Sagar is gone it’s all curtains for Hawkers. Senthil and Ashok bowled tight lines and made sure Hawkers don’t have one better over to come any close to victory. In the end Warriors won it with 25 runs difference. But being the debutant team it is an impressive performance by Hawkers. Especially Sagar is a bright prospect to watch out in this SNTCL. He has the ability to take away matches single handedly. For Warriors the 10 overs bowled by Saravana, Senthil and Hari read 10-1-28-3 which made the difference in the match. But warriors still have lot of room for improvement particularly on their batting and fielding. To defend the title you have to be at your best as a team. |
