Purdue Cricket Club - Winner of 2008 Boilermaker Pride Award

Summer of 2008 - Cricket fever starts in earnest

Purdue Cricket is at the crossroads with an exodus of established stars and uncertainty over the number of new players set to join the club this summer for the regular season. But as the saying goes "Time and tide waits for no man", Midwest Cricket Conference (MWCC) has released a partial schedule for this season. Purdue kicks off its regular season with a game against a strong and rejuvenated Peoria Cricket Club, recently promoted to Div I by virtue of topping the league table in Div II, on May 11, 2008. For more information go to Purdue MWCC schedule.

Practices for the regular season starts on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 5.15 PM. Everyone interested in playing cricket over the summer, come join us for a few months of fun and excitement.

PUCC Natraj Iyer Memorial Indoor Cricket League - Spring 2008 Season

All-Star Game

In the All Star game played on May 3, All Star Team A led by Sachin beat Neeraj's All Star Team B. Batting first Team A managed to rack up 127 runs in 25 overs in spite of losing openers Jagpreet and Yash cheaply. Following the loss of the opening batsmen, Aditya and Bidkar steadied ship and set the platform for Team A to post a competitive total. Shiven and Kaushik bowled magnificently for Team B but some sloppy bowling by their team mates did not help their cause.

Chasing 128 for victory Team B got off to a horrendous start thanks to some incisive bowling by Adeel and the suicidal tendencies of Team B batsmen in running between wickets. Neeraj and Vijay's lusty hitting gave some semblance of respectability to the chase. In a much closer finish than what one would have anticipated given the start of the chase Team A All Stars beat Team B all stars by 10 runs.

All Star game Man of the Match : Aditya Malhotra

Spring 2008 Indoor League Honors Roll

Indoor League MVP : Jagpreet Chahal
Best Batsmen : Kaushik Balamukundhan & Vijay Parmeshwaran
Best Bowler : Adeel Altaf

PUCC Indoor League - Blazing Bullets crowned Champions of Spring ’08 ICL!!!

One could tell how much the game mattered, what with both teams practicing for a full 45 minutes before the game! The Armory was feeling electric, a fitting build-up to the Finals of the Spring Indoor Cricket League.

Grand Finale

Cut to the Finals! The Speedsters won the toss and decided to put the Bullets’ batting to the test against their strength, their explosive bowling. Adeel roared once again to dismiss Haris for a duck. At the other end Ibrahim was keeping it tight to keep the Bullet’s camp silent as hell. But the unorthodox Ankit with Amit Paranjape braved the Speedsters’ salvos. Ankit’s shoe-laces raised a few guys’ blood pressure and what ensued was a bitter battle of tempers between the two teams. The Bullets corner grew in support, crying hoarse as Ali tonked the bowling for a run-a-ball 23 to set up a formidable 89 for victory.

Faraaz and Imran then faced Ali and Shiven steaming in. Faraaz fell cheaply but Imran dealt some telling blows smashing two clean sixes. Then came Haris with his incisive bowling and yorked Waqas brilliantly. A terrible mix-up between Saad and Imran meant 2 quick wickets for the Bullets.. The Bullets kept he pressure with constant chattering, getting under the skin of the opposition. Haris finished with brilliant figures of 4-0-10-3 with the Speedsters struggling to match up, and Saad running out of partners. Ibrahim then came on to his own, attacking the bowlers to take the equation to 16 off the last over. Shiven picked up the ball and sent one down only to be smashed back by Ibrahim for a four. 12 off 5!! Shiven felt the pressure sending down two wides. Adeel and Ibrahim tried to force the proceedings but 12 off 1 ball was too much of an ask, and the Bullets clinched victory by 10 runs!!

Blazing Bullets Vs High Flying Speedsters

Semifinals

Earlier in the day, in the first semi-final, the ‘Comeback Kings’ Virtual Reality could not continue their dream rum in the league stages, and caved in to an on-song Blazing Bullets team. After losing Amit Paranjape cheaply, Captain Ankit and Ali milked the bowlers before Ali smashed Appu’s floaters with authentic golf swings, for 16 runs in one over. Appu came right back in the 14th over to grab 3 wickets in a miserly 2 run over. The bullets could score only 7 off the last two, but any total above 80 in a pressure situation is difficult to chase down.

Blazing Bullets Vs Virtual Reality

The Bullet’s sprightly fielding Vs. VR’s sensible touch play did sound like a lip-smacking duel. Vijay Kumar and Venkat raced to 36 off 6 overs. But then began the mayhem…3 ‘Golden Ducks’ by Mummorthy, Appu (brilliantly run out without facing a ball), and Bharath; and Jaggu being dismissed for 1 meant doomsday for VR!! Vijay Kumar fought on as he did throughout the semester, but Ali, Shiven and Haaris shot down any hopes for a recovery, dismissing them for 59 to book a Final berth. In the second Semi-final, the fancied Overrated Underdogs clashed with the quietly confident and yet fiery High Flying Speedsters. Ibrahim marked his return snapping the dangerous Jaggi and Aditya quickly, and Saad cleaned up Sachin and Upjeet, the four top scorers for the U’dogs. With wickets tumbling in quick succession, it looked like the U’dogs wouldn’t even complete their 15. But credit to Manish for holding one end up and some wides bowled by the Speedsters set up a target of 67 runs for victory. Faraaz began in a typically elegant fashion despite losing Imran early. But the hard-hitting Kamran with Faraaz, who carried his bat through the chase, ensured that the Speedsters storm into the Finals of the ICL!

Overrated Underdogs Vs High Flying Speedsters

The Speedsters and the Bullets had very contrasting routes to the Finals, with the former’s league stages resembling a sine wave of wins and losses and the latter beating all but two of the teams (Golimaar and Virtual Reality). But the Speedsters regained their winning ways by peaking at the right moment and the Bullets avenged their defeats against the only two teams to have beaten them, in the Quarters and Semis respectively!!

Tense encounters to mark the end of a semester of exciting cricket! Looking forward to having all the teams back the coming Fall to take the competition two notches higher.

Hope you and your team enjoyed playing in the Spring '08 ICL, as much as we enjoyed organizing it. The PUCC would like to thank each member of the participating teams for the spirit in which this tournament was played. Next up for the PUCC is the 'Leather Ball Cricket Season', and we will be beginning the practice session for the same on Monday, 5th May. Purdue University is the Defending Champion of the Midwest Cricket Tournament and was the Runner-up at the Midwest Cricket Conference in 2007. If it has been your dream to represent your university, this is it! Join us for the Purdue University Cricket Club Callout, right after the All Star Game. Spread the word!!

Indoor League - Cream of the crop

Top 6 Batsmen

Top 7 Bowlers

* For more individual stats go to team pages under 'Quest for the Championship' in the Indoor League page