It felt really nice to see most of the teams donning brand new colorful jerseys in their matches and playing some competitive cricket matches (chargers vs Boca). It seemed like WORLD CUP fever was definitely ON. Unfortunately, TBC's Jerseys were stuck in security clearance and along with it TBC got stuck with old bad habits from last match while donning their old Jerseys.<br />Both teams were really looking forward for this matchup from the very beginning and FLS were missing few of usual big players ( vasu's , Sameer) for this match and it was fairly even match up considering TBC has beaten FLS thrice in a row in Friendship tournament. ( so for FLS, there was a score to settle in this match).On a 96 degree afternoon TBC won the toss and elected to bat first and were in shambles early on when Venkat missed a juicy full toss to get bowled in first over. Prashanth walked in early on and tried to steady the ship with Sameer as both tried to nudge singles and scoring occasional boundary as there was some additional bounce on pitch. FLS kept on bowing some tight lines and kept chipping way with occasional wickets. At half way through TBC were in dire situation of 31/3 with no batting momentum what so ever. In second half captain Bharat injected some much needed life along with Prashanth, but got out at crucial juncture and onus fell up on Prashanth to score quickly to put TBC at a decent position. Prashanth milked out 16 runs in 16'th over but got out in 18'th over trying some fancy shot. TBC ultimately managed to post a decent score of 94 runs in 20 overs and were confident of defending a tad bit par score. FLS got off to a decent start with openers gently rotating strike after getting a reprieve in the beginning and were at 24/0 in power play and looked all set to chase down 95 runs with ease. Vishnu took Chiru's wicket in seventh over and Prashanth provided an almost killer blow in 8'th over which was maiden 2 wickets( Shyam, Aadi) and pushed FLS all the way back and FLS were in a spot of bother when score board read 8 overs 28/3. While FLS team was planning to nudge it here and there to bring it as close as possible to target, Middle order batsmen Ashok had different plans. He took the bull by its horns and started using feet and hit some very fine strokes all across the ground. Some of his switch hits were a treat to watch and were cruising at 49/3 at end of 10'th over and TBC gave him another reprieve as keeper dropped a fairly simple catch when Ashok was still on 15 and he eventually went on to score 47 runs in mere 25 balls . Prashanth took Suman's wicket but Ashok never let the pedal of the gas and eventually took FLS home with 20 balls to spare. Had TBC not dropped 3 chances, things would have been different. But, cricket is game of numbers not if's and but's and Ashok made the most of his time in middle to be a well deserved Man of the Match. Hopefully TBC will correct its misfielding woes in coming matches to be in contention for play offs. Good Luck FLS! You've settled the score for now by unearthing yet another batting star. Cheers, Titan Up ! |
