It was another sensational match yesterday, which demonstrated that our team is getting better and stronger with every game.
We did the batting first. Because of last week’s experience (when we were 60 for 9 down), the openers were very cautious. Slowly and (this time) steadily they kept on adding runs to the scoreboard by taking singles, doubles and boundaries in between. Our openers caused lots of frustration for the opposition as they were not giving away their wicket. Both openers retired (at 28 and 25 runs). The next batsmen carried on the trend of exasperating the opposition by remaining rock-solid on the field. The opposition tried different variations but to no avail. One more batsman retired at 25+. With added security of 3 backups, next set of batsmen picked up the speed by taking more singles than before and thereby exhausting and frustrating the opposition even more. We lost just two wickets in the innings yesterday and at the end, we were 129-2. It was not a big score but nonetheless, a good defendable score.
When we started fielding, our main aim was to restrict their runs and take wickets quickly. We were successful in the former, but not in the latter. They were also not throwing away their wickets. One of their batsman retired at 25+, causing us much annoyance as we needed wickets. It wasn’t until 7th over that we got our first wicket. And that first wicket was the motivation that our bowlers were looking for. After that, our bowlers wreaked havoc on the opposition and one after another, their wickets started falling down. We had also kept our fielding tight to restrict their runs. There were few instances of misfielding and dropped catches but they are part and parcel of the game. Overall, we had constrained them very well. Their retired batsman had to come back in the end but he too couldn’t resurrect their sinking ship. The game went on till the last ball of the inning, when their last wicket fell. They were all out for 114 and we won by 15 runs.
It was a great team effort and with everyone’s joint efforts, we were able to win one more game. Well done to everyone. Keep it up guys.
PS: I know that there were few players who outshone yesterday but I’ve intentionally not written any names above as it would be unfair to the other team members who put in their best to make this win happen. It was a team effort and the credit goes to the whole team. Sorry to the superstars of yesterday! We know who you are and your skills are highly appreciated.
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Amit Jha |