PUCC Indoor
League Spring ‘08 - Week 10 Review
Five games done, league stages are done and over with with the first round of playoffs set for April 20. Once
atop the points table Bullets
end up at third place in the league standings with Overrated
Underdogs and Virtual
Reality finishing 1-2 in the points table and earning themselves a direct
entry into the semi-finals.
CPXI up The
Tempo With 43 Run Win Over Golimaar
Club
President XI picked themselves up today to
register a thumping win. Golimaar couldn’t penetrate a stoic opening stand of 56
between Vijay and Bidkar, with the latter top scoring
with 37. Chintan played a cameo with a quick 19
smashing two boundaries and a ‘top’ six! To chase down a formidable 112, Golimaar needed a stable partnership, with at least one
batsman carrying his bat. But an incisive two over spell by Chintan,
snaring two wickets, and Mohanty hitting the right
areas, the slope of an already uphill task was turning insurmountable. Kunal and Neeraj shared a brisk
partnership with smart singles and power hits, but fell prey to Karthik’s slow ones. Club
President XI are looking ominous while Golimaar have their backs against the wall and in all
certainty both teams will need to bring some energy going up against the higher
seeds in the knockouts on Sunday.
Virtual Reality dodge Bullets
Vijay Kumar and Venkat ensured a fast start
for Virtual
Reality. Mummoorthy and Kaushik
followed the openers with some useful contributions in the middle to enable the
team post 98 runs in the alloted overs.
For the Bullets,
Amit Paranjape(41) played a lone hand but fell to Appu's
top ball; a juicy, dipping full toss!! Kaustabh
played intelligently rotating strike and accumulating runs to reach 18, but
ultimately Selva and Appu
sealed the match for Virtual
Reality with some wily spin bowling.
Virtual
Reality Vs Blazing Bullets
Speedsters Down
Fighting T9
Fresh blood within the Speedster’s
ranks brought them a much needed victory over a spirited T9
effort. Electing to bat, T9
kept chipping away to rack up a decent 66. Ibrahim bowled an economical
4-0-8-2, ably supported by Omer and a miserly Adeel
(who went wicketless for the first time this Spring). While Fareed top scored
for T9 it was another new face Snehil who snapped up
3 wickets in T9’s defence of their score. But powerman Waqas and the attacking
southpaw Faraz shared a brisk first wicket stand to
guide the Speedsters to victory in the 11th over.
While the Speedster’s are through to the knockouts, T9 must hold their
heads high for displaying a zest that defined their performances this Spring. Keep it up T9!!
U’dogs steamroll Past CP XI
One could feel the energy bursting at its seams even at the beginning of
this match-up. Although CP
XI’s fate did not hang on the result of this
match, the Underdogs
had a constant eye on the NRR table, with a win only producing a 3-way tie for
the top of the table. They fist shot out their opponents for 78, with Midhun picking up 3. For CBXI, Vijay scored 19 and extras
column scored 22. Jaggi and Sachin
led a terrific chase against a curtailed bowling attack to wrap up the match in
8.5 overs! While bowling, Vijay got the better of the
extras column, giving away 17 runs in one over as against match total of 16
extras!!
A mixed day for CP XI saw them rise one spot to 5th in the table and the
U’dogs with a racy chase, overtook the Bullets to
take up the 1st spot and force Blazing Bullets into the first round of the
knock-out stage, avenging their earlier defeat.
Underdogs
Vs Club President XI
Dheepang’s Dhamaka sink AP Express
In a fitting farewell to KK, Dhippadi Dheepang amassed a
massive total of 110. As fate would have it, KK top scored with a typically
busy 28 supported by Aman scoring 16. For AP
it was the “Jitin-Krishna-Srichand Show”, with these
3 involved in all wickets, in some permutation!! Chasing a Nelson of 111, AP
could only muster 66 in their quota of 15. The win was truly a team effort,
what with all but one of the Dheepangs turning their
arm over.
Both these teams must take heart from their performances this Spring, showcasing some excellent performances through out
the semester. The Dheepangs lost at crucial
junctures, but one cannot deny the energy that they bring to the field. AP also
had their moments this Spring, racking up some excellent team efforts
(especially in the Bullets game) and also a record for the most numbers of
wickets by a bowler (seven). Well done gentlemen!
A.P.Express Vs Dhipaadi Dheepang
Following the completion of the league stages of the Indoor League the
playoff matches for April 20 are set with Club
President XI going up against the mighty Speedsters
In the second game at 10.00 AM Golimaar bats will try to match wits against the
blazing Bullets
bowlers. Will the underdogs pull something special for the playoffs or will the
fancied higher seeds sail smoothly into the semi0finals on April 26…for this
and more watch this space!