PUCC Indoor
League Spring ‘08 - Playoff Review
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.
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
Vullets 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!!
Final
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
Vullets Vs High Flying Speedsters
A tense encounter 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.
Pre-SemiFinals
Speedsters make kabobs out of CP XI
Speedsters thumped Club Pres XI in the first game in a match that must
have seemed like a nightmare to players from Club Pres XI. With Club President
XI batting first it rained wickets. It looked like the batsmen mistook Adeel, Ibrahim and Saad for Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhter
and Umar Gul with the
bowlers tormenting them and then gobbling their wickets once they were done
playing tease. Upon bundling out Club Pres XI for a paltry 44, Faraz and Imran completed the
formalities in 6.3 overs. Speedster
advance into the semi-finals riding high and are set to take on the top
seeded Underdogs.
High
Flying Speedsters Vs Club President XI
Golimaar miscues propel Bullets into the semi finals
Batting first Bullets got off to to a horrendous start with Golimaar
opening bowlers Deep and Neeraj giving them hell. Then came the rescue act in the form of Amit Mulani and Shiven and a double dose of Golimaar
generosity with at least 5 dropped catches. When the batsmen could not score Golimaar bowlers and fielders were hell bent on gifting
them runs in the form of extras. Thanks to Amit and Shiven's clean hitting Bullets posted 106 runs. In return
chasing the massive total Golimaar got up to a good
start thanks to Ram and Ankit. With the introduction
of the first change bowlers, Shiven and Haaris, the run rate slowed to a crawl. Deep took over from
Ram and carried on gamely with the chase but ran out of partners. In a close
finish Bullets beat Golimaar by 11 runs setting up a
rematch with Virtual Reality in the semi-finals.