Match Report : Purdue Vs Phoenix
Result: Purdue won by 3 wickets
Date: June 9, 2007 (Penned By Sachin Pahuja)

An incisive bowling effort from the opening (Chintan and Amar) and first change bowlers (Ruchir and Neeraj) in combination with a determined batting display helped Purdue maintain an unbeaten record over Phoenix.

As in the first match of the season, the visiting team won the toss (as Vijay would put it, “We didn’t lose the toss, the other team won it”) and elected to bat. Chintan started as he has often done this season, striking early (infact, in his very first over). Amar too had an opportunity to pick up a wicket in his first over only to see Sachin drop a sitter. Amar created another opportunity but this time Neeraj floored the catch. Just when Amar would have begun questioning his luck, Sreeram brilliantly held a nick of a fuller delivery. Mitul and Athreya played well to take their team past 50. Amar was replaced by Ruchir who worked up some good pace and sent Athreya’s off stump for a walk. Neeraj from the other end settled into a very probing line and length. Bowling lot fuller than he usually does, he got a number of batsmen to play early and struck gold. The Phoenix middle order suffered from a lack of application and lost their wickets to loose strokes. Priyank and Venu went about building a partnership amid some sloppy fielding and mediocre bowling. The two played with a good mix of caution and aggression as the good balls were kept out and the bad balls dispatched for boundaries. Right when the partnership was looking to get dangerous, Bidkar who was struggling to find his line, pitched one full outside the off which Venu ended up slicing to the point fielder. With the support of Arun and Deepak, Priyank carried Phoenix to 190, which looked a distant dream when he had come into bat. An excellent running catch from Vijay off his own bowling ended a special innings from Priyank.

Ruchir and Bidkar opened the batting for Purdue but Ruchir fell early, trying to hit over mid off. Pradeep was the next batsmen in and he needed very little time to get his eye in and flayed the Phoenix bowling to all corners of the ground. He cut, drove and pushed the ball in gaps with immaculate timing. Bidkar on the other end played the supporting role well. Spin was introduced in the form of veteran Shivkumar who struck in his very first over getting Pradeep to drive in the air. The very next ball, Roney misread the flight and was bowled playing an expansive shot. Vijay and Bidkar went about building a partnership milking the spinners and capitalizing on the loose balls. They added 50 runs taking minimum risk. Just when it appeared the game was slipping away from Phoenix, Fabian struck twice in a span of couple of overs. He first had Bidkar playing back to a fullish ball, Sadiq for once obliged, and then had Vijay caught down the leg. One wonders what Bidkar had done to instigate Sadiq to lift the finger of death. Chintan unleashed some powerful strokes once he got his eye in and collaborated with Sachin to bring Purdue on the verge of victory. Two needless wickets at the end made the game appear lot closer than it actually was.

Purdue Vs Patel CC
Played on June 3, 2007
Result: Rained out
Match Report
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With the prospect of rain looming over us throughout the day, Amar (Captain of Purdue CC) won the toss and decided to bat. Purdue started the game disastrously losing openers Chintan Shah and Prateek in quick succession without much on board. Next to go was Sashi, scooping a wide ball into the waiting hands of the point fielder. Looked like our players were determined to play the same script that unfolded the previous day against Challengers CC in MCC.

Ashwin and Ronnie, the batsmen to follow, played far more sensibly and rotated strike, picking singles and twos to keep the scoreboard ticking. This partnership formed the backbone of the score that Purdue stitched together at the end of the innings. Ronnie was the more aggressive of the two batsmen and laced an odd boundary while Ashwin was the more sensible partner farming strike when he had to and scoring runs at will against the spinners from Patel CC. Ronnie finally holed out to long off trying to score quickly for a personal best of 33 and in came Neeraj. Neeraj played sensibly for a wee bit while scoring 12 runs before getting yorked by Sunil Mohandass, the wily veteran from Patel CC. Ashwin ran out Mummoorthy before too long which brought Amar to the crease. Even the rain gods could not tolerate an adept batting display by Purdue and rain stopped play at 31 over mark.

The first ball following the resumption of play, Ashwin departed, stumped of the bowling of Anand for a well made 49.Purdue finally finished the inning with 171 runs in 35 overs for the loss of 7 wickets with Amar 19 (n.o) and Nishit 14 (n.o) carrying their bat. For Patel CC, Anand bowled very well as did Dihag.

Patel CC were chasing 172 and were 61/2 in 14 overs when rain stopped play again. Mazhar Khan scored 9 before slashing a wide ball from Neeraj to be caught by Sashi and Thiag scored 12, holing out to Amar off the bowling of Mummoorthy. Patel CC still had Devin and Anand at the crease, with both the batsmen looking good. Devin had a let off by Ashwin before rain stopped play at 6.10 PM. Patel CC team then left to get back to Columbus, OH before it got too late. Overall it was a good game and the teams split points in the MCT season opener.

Purdue Vs Challengers CC

Match Report (Penned by Rahul Bidkar)
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Before the Purdue Vs Challengers game started, there was some doubt that the rain would play a role in deciding the result. Fortunately or otherwise, this time the weather pundits got it completely wrong (40% chance predicted, not even one drop of rain, ironically it never rains when you want it the most) and we had a full day of cricket on our hands. Challengers gave us a pleasant surprise by arriving 35 minutes prior to the start. Given Challengers’ reputation, it was a safe bet to post a decent total and ask them to chase a target of around 220. Vijay (Captaining his first Division I game for Purdue) started the day on a positive note by winning the toss and asking the Challengers to field.
Winning the toss and electing to bat first was a no-brainer as far as this important league match against a tough opposition was concerned. Purdue’s openers Ruchir and Rahul lived up to the expectations of the team by giving them a flying start. Ruchir (32 runs in 35 balls) went hammer and tongs taking apart the renowned attack of Dakshesh and Nilesh of Challengers. Ruchir hit some excellent shots especially a six over long-off and a couple of fours on the off-side. Rahul (8 runs of 29 balls) rotated the strike and the opening pair took Purdue to 45/0 in 10 overs. In the 12 th over, Rahul got out trying to push an away moving delivery and Purdue lost their first wicket. Pradeep (who arrived at the crease next) started well by continuing his good form from the Flames game. Pradeep hit a couple of excellent pull shots (more like lazy flicks on the leg side) and his innings (44 runs of 54 balls) was crucial for Purdue’s total. Meanwhile, Ruchir got out trying play a loose delivery on the off-side; his wicket a crucial turning point in Purdue’s innings. Ruchir was certainly angry with himself and understandably so for missing out on a big one against a quality opposition.

In what followed Ruchir’s wicket, was an outrageous display of batting, a collapse of mammoth proportions under no pressure. Call it lack of match practice, lack of experience, lack of practice against spin bowling, lack of confidence or simply bad luck; the reality ----- Purdue’s next 8 batsmen put an aggregate score of 9 runs. Sreeram perished while driving a full ball back in the bowler’s hand (Darshan), while Sachin got out caught and bowled against Bhavesh. From 45 for no loss, suddenly Purdue was 87/4.

Challengers’ idea behind persisting with spin was to frustrate the opposition by drying out the runs (runs were relatively easy against medium pace bowlers; thanks to Ruchir and Pradeep). Purdue’s batsmen were caught in a classic dilemma of whether to hit the spinner out of the attack or milk him for singles; this confusion gave rise to a series of half-hearted drives and mis-timed pulls. Bhavesh Amin; the off-spinner from Challengers had his fielders at long-on and long-off and all that Purdue batsmen had to do was drive the ball along the ground and keep milking singles. They did drive; however all of them were half-hearted uppishly played shots straight in the hands of short cover or short mid-wicket. Vijay, Manoj and Chintan Shah got out in identical fashion each one trying to drive the ball. Neeraj perished after mis-timing an attempted pull shot. Pradeep who ran out of partners got caught at deep mid-wicket trying to accelerate the score. Amar looked determined and showed the intent to stay on the wicket, but was unlucky and got out lbw against a ball that kept really low. Chintan Gandhi the not out batsmen played responsibly but ran out of partners. Overall, Purdue’s tally reached 116 in 30.2 overs; a display which all the batsmen would like to forget.

Purdue’s bowling attack certainly has the potential to defend low score although defending 116 runs would be stretching it too far. On their day, even 116 runs could be defended but that requires application from bowlers and some breath-taking fielding. In the Challengers game, although the bowlers and fielders tried hard, they let it slip away after regular intervals by either bowling a bad ball or dropping an odd catch. Neeraj and Chintan Shah started well for Purdue by getting an early breakthough (Aravind’s wicket). However, there is a thin line between aggressive bowling (intended for taking wickets) and wayward bowling on both sides of the wicket. Every other over, Purdue bowlers had a bad ball ready-to-be-hit by Challengers’ opener Darshan Patel. Although Chintan and Neeraj tried hard and bowled their hearts out, the runs leaked; it just wasn’t our day. Neeraj took 3 wickets; thanks to excellent fielding performance from Sachin. Sachin also effected a brilliant run-out; alas one too less to get us through. Ruchir bowled well, troubled the Challengers and got one wicket, but his effort could not thwart the run flow. At one point, the challengers were 85/5 and there was some hope (given that Challengers had lost 4 quick wickets for 8 runs in a previous game this year), but Bhavesh Amin and Nilesh Patel stood their ground and took Challengers to the winning total. Bhavesh with his 6 wickets and quick-fire 25 runs was certainly the player of the match.

For Purdue the positives were the excellent batting from Ruchir, Pradeep and the brilliant fielding from Sachin. Purdue batsmen need to put their heads down and get their act together in the next game.

Match Report: Flames CC vs Purdue University CC on May 19th 2007
Venue: Purdue Univsersity Cricket Ground
Toss: Flames chose to bat first
Match Result: Purdue won

Match Report
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It was bright clear day with pleasant winds blowing across the ground. The ground had been mowed and lined the night before, and due to the rain earlier in the week, the outfield behaved more even. We were missing a couple of our key players and to add to that Dr. Ravi needed a replacement due to a sore left arm on the morning of the game. Twelfth man Manoj got to play his first game for Purdue. There was a small delay in the start of the game as the umpire Tanveer Alam was late for the game due to the confusion in time zone difference. Flames, having lost to us while chasing last year, decided to bat first this time. Neeraj continued from where he left off in the Columbus game. He was hitting a nice line and length from the word go. Amar on the other end removed opening bat Kiran early. Kiran, having gotten his team to a good start, tried to pull Amar but was done in by the extra bounce spooned a simple catch to Neeraj. Neeraj having beaten both batsmen a couple of times and inducing two edges, was really unlucky to not get a wicket. One of the edges was held nicely by a diving Pradeep at first slip off of the glove of the batsman was unfortunately given a noball. Soon after, Flames started dominating at 37/1 in 7 overs with young opening bat Farhaad looking ominous. At this time Purdue pulled up their socks, and aided by good field positioning and tight fielding, first change bowlers Chintan and Ruchir bowled aggressively. Farhaad, in an attempt to slog one, got clean bowled by Chintan. Meanwhile Ruchir struck Rafiq on the helmet, before getting him to scoop one to short midwicket and caught off his own bowling. Manoj had a good day in the field, with a couple of outstanding stops. Chintan missed a hattrick for the second time in two games, when he clean bowled Ananth and Tariq in consecutive deliveries in his fifth over. Meanwhile Venkat of Flames did a good job holding one end but was running out of partners at the other end.Pradeep and Mummoorthy replaced Chintan and Ruchir respectively. Pradeep got into a nice rhythm bowling two consecutive maidens and getting the prize wicket of Nasir caught behind by Sriram who did a great job behind the stumps. After the break, Mummoorthy was replaced by Ruchir in an attempt to wrap up the Flames innings. Pradeep got one more and Ruchir meanwhile continued aiming at helmets. He, too, missed out on a hattrick picking up two wickets off two consecutive ball. First, got Harish to a very good catch by Sachin at the point, and second, he got Arshad Yousuf caught behind off the first ball he faced, a fitting reply to his antics of last season. The final wicket fell when Pradeep, with one stump to aim at, got a direct hit from short midwicket and the batsman was way short of his ground. A good team effort saw Flames bundled up for 106 in 28 overs. Fielding was very good but extras (34) still remains the major cause for concern.

Small totals are always tricky to chase, and there was no room for complacency in the chase. Openers Ruchir and Bidkar played according to plan and did well to see off the new ball. Nasir and Yousuf bowled a tight line with good variations but went wicketless in their first spell. Ruchir was looking really good and played with a controlled aggression and kept the score board ticking. Meanwhile Bidkar batted with determination, but perished while dispatching a loose delivery by first change bowler Moin. Soon two more wickets fell in quick succession as Sriram got bowled off an inswinging yorker by Nasir, and Ruchir getting out to a full toss ball off Moin. Flames was trying to claw back into the game as the scoreboard showed 35/3 in 15. But Pradeep and Sachin batted well against some good bowling. Both took time to settle down and consolidated the innings very well. Once set, they started milking the bowling and we cruised home with 15 overs to spare.
The complete scorecard can be found at: MCC Website