Winning is sweet but Revenge is Sweeter!

Our day started, this time, on the field trying to open our arms, practicing catch, warming up and middling. On seeing the team whom we were pitted against, our motivation to win increased further. It was the same team who had hit us a score of 300+ runs when the odds were heavily in their favor. This time the battle was even steven and we wanted to show them who they playing against.

We batted first and Nisar alongwith our guest player Amir, gave us a good start, with both batsmen taking chances and hitting boundaries in each over. Nisar was given a life and this time decided to make most out of it by scoring his and the team's highest score. Too bad he missed the century by 12 runs. At the other end Amir made the most of his height and pulled fericiously for boundaries and sixes. His boundaries at long on were a treat as well. Nisar was the first to cross 50 and Amir followed soon. Amir was the first to go, with a catch on the boundary, which was rather a lesson on how to catch a fly.

Wicky joined Nisar and didn't want to spoil the good work started by the openers and tried to force the pace.He couldn't last long and was out caught on the boundary. Nisar at that time would have been finding batting real hard and standing in the crease real difficult, but the good thing was that he didn't throw his wicket away and managed to find boundaries almost at will. Qadeer Bhai came in and initially didn't manage to find the middle of his bat a lesson for all the batsmen to practice on middling before every match. But a good bat that he is, he did manage to find it eventually and hit some good boundaries as well. Nisar while trying to keep the score flowing, was caught on the boundary and Ahmed went in next. He did hit a boundary but then was run out in the most strangest of circumstances. He was either trying to save himself from the throw (his version) or wasn't able to balance himself and was out of the crease (other's version). Bilal went in next and hit a boundary on the first ball, he looks good batting lower down the order, with the ball not swinging that much. Eventually we reached a formidable score of around 240 runs.

Anees Bhai and Sajjad Bhai started the bowling, with Anees Bhai keeping it tight. Sajjad Bhai was good as well but the batsmen did manage to find boundaries here and there. Anees Bhai took the first wicket with a good high catch from Nisar fielding at Mid Off. The 7 over attack by both of them, kept the run rate at around 6-7 which was just what was required. Amir bowled the first change and due to his height found bounce from the word go, which was a bit scary for both the keeper and the batsman. He kept the batsmen in check and took 2 wickets in his last over.

Amir Bhai came in the end as well and took a wicket off a good catch from Qadeer Bhai.

In the end the score was too high and with the good attack burst, the match was out of their hand. In the end it was just about keeping the pressure on the batsmen and raising their margin of defeat.

One last note, the captain did the wicket keeping for the first 10 or so overs. And did a good job at it. Since particularly Amir's rising deliveries were quite difficult to keep on. But he didn't keep on spinners so can't rate his keeping too high at this point in time. Since that would be the ultimate test.

Disgraceful Beginning and a Disgraceful End

I was thinking that instead of writing a match report, I should be writing a get together party report, since that would be most appropriate. ;)

Our typical day starts with half of our team in Jaguar Beauty parlour applying creams on their faces, rather than warming up and practicing. If things keep on going like this, I believe that very soon some padicure, manicure and facial services will be launched as well. Its quite ironic that instead of batting and bowling averages we worry more about maintaining the color of our face and instead of trying concentrating on the ball during fielding we concentrate on how to save our nails!

The match was played with Casuals whom we defeated by 70 runs last time. I think over confidence might have been our undoing this time as Casuals, taking the benefit of our 'casual' approach to the match, defeated us by 9 wickets with 8 overs to spare!

Nisar and Wicky opened the innings for us and Wicky started off confidently with a powerful pull to get him his first boundary. He seems to have all the shots in the book and one waits for a big innings. He couldn't last long as an opener since he edged a delivery and it went straight to his face probably scratching his nose. The impact would have been much worse then it looked since he wasn't able to continue and decided to send in Bilal. Nisar was not his usual self as well. He was not able to time his favourite cut shot and was dropped in the covers. He was not able to cash on the life given to him, and was bowled in the same over.

Sameer Bhai came in next and together with Bilal tried to build a innings. Bilal looked scratchy to say the least and fidgeted around in the crease with minimum impact. Sameer Bhai was slower than usual as well and their partnership was sucidal for us. In the first 8 overs we only had around 40 runs on the board. Bilal tried to up the run rate but of the first aggressive shot he played he was out caught 15 meters inside the boundary. Qadeer Bhai went in next and initited his classy shots from the word go. He hit 4 boundaries in the first over he faced. Sameer Bhai took a leaf from his book and hit splendid boundaries as well. In those 3 overs we had 43 runs.

Incidently due to the slow start it was now clear that we needed a run rate of 15 runs per over to reach the fighting total of 200 runs.

As usually is the case in such a scenario wickets started to tumble. Qadeer Bhai went after a splendid catch on the boundary. Sameer Bhai, Wicky, Amir Bhai, Ahmed and Rizwan all went quickly with few boundaries here and there. In the end Sajjad Bhai provided a bit of resistance and we dragged our way to 160.

If we had a chance of defending this score we needed top class bowling and fielding right from the first ball. Anees Bhai bowled the first over and kept the runs under 8. Wicky took the new ball to utilize his experience of playing with Casuals. But the benefit was mutual and their batsmen hit him freely. Anees Bhai's next over saw 3 boundaries and a very easy chance was dropped on the boundary by Ahmed. He either misjudged, was quite lethargic to come forward and take the catch or wasn't expecting the catch at all.

I guess the only solution to this is that we all must keep on watching the batsman right from the time the bowler starts his runup. This I believe could resolve almost all of our judgement problems.

Almost all bowlers were tried, Nisar was brought in early as well, but none seemed to make any difference. The shabby fielding display didn't help either and as many as 4 chances went down including a stumping. In the end they raced to the target of 160 in 12 overs.

Its one all with Casuals now. And we need our best performance next time we face them. We also need a bit of practice before we go in so that some of our out of form batsmen regain their form.

Came close and ...

... went through.

Man I waited so long to write the second line :)

Losing without a fight is like a punch on your face, losing by coming close creates a bit more discontent by the multitude of 'if-onlys' travelling in your nerves and making your 'Bhaija Fry'. While Winning because of an individual is good for the individual himself its winning as a team which has the greatest feeling of all. Everyone showing committment no matter what his skill level might be, backing each other up, sharing what to dos and how to dos, enjoying each other's success, giving a lending hand when someone is down and in the end enjoying the win together and relishing the moments and possibilities to come. Its probably today that we have realized to the fullest that a good team is the one, which is a team. Because we won as a team.

This time we batted first.

Batting
Although we lost a wicket a early and Bilal, our next man in, took some time to find his groove, but because of Nisar's splendid batting, the rot started (for the other team, which is a welcome new development) right from the start. In this match Nisar and Sameer Bhai opened the innings. Sameer Bhai went early as he played the ball a little early only to find a edge to the keeper. He faced 2 balls and scored 1 run. Bilal went in at number 3, his highest position after such a long time. While walking in he must have known that in a team with such a long batting line up nobody likes a show stopper. Thus he not only had to get in quickly but also had to fight the worst demon of all which goes by the name 'What if I fail'. Although he was not able to fire all cylinders from the word go but he did manage to keep giving the strike back to Nisar, who went about his business as usual. Nisar started from where he left off in the last match and scored another fifty for us, more importantly giving us a very solid start. His powerful cut shots three of which went for sixes, looked like he is slashing a sword rather than a bat. I am sure the bowlers who suffered at his hands, would have thought the same. He made 53 off 29 deliveries with three sixes and 4 boundaries.

At the other end Bilal took a few pages off Nisar's book and seemed to be finding his rhythm. But as is usually the case with him, he got too confident and tried to mimic Inzamam, when he came down the pitch on the first ball he faced from the spinner. Inzamam usually hits it for a six while Bilal got out stumped. He made 13 off 11 balls with 2 boundaries. Qadeer Bhai our guest player for today, went in next and made batting look so easy that even I thought that I can score a 25 ball 50! He made 68 off 31 deliveries with 3 towering sixes and five boundaries. He got a few chances but in the end he made the most of them.

Rizwan came in after Nisar got out and his weakness of spin deliveries was exposed. But with Qadeer Bhai playing so well at the other end, he had time to settle in. I think Rizwan can do well to realize that on cement pitches he won't be finding big spinners. This allows the batsmen to safely hit through the line or even across the line, as if the ball is just a slow straight delivery.

Knowing well that there was still plenty of batting to come and playing for the team, he decided that he can take a few risks and took a back lift to hit a lovely boundary off his legs. He didn't last long after that as he got run out while trying to steal a single right under the bowler's nose. He made 15 runs off 16 deliveries with 1 boundary. Wicky came in next after Qadeer Bhai and Ahmed came in after Rizwan. Both came almost together to the crease. Ahmed and Wicky's partnership is something which we all enjoy not only in anticipation of the free hitting which both are capable of, but also of the gimmicks going on in the centre. Ahmed trying his best to convince his Captain with his shots, while Captain trying his best to make Ahmed run as fast as he can and as often as he can.

Our last three batsmen, Wicky, Ahmed and Sajjad Bhai gave a splendid batting display by taking the match well into the comfort zone for us. They scored 55 runs off 27 balls with 1 six and 6 boundaries, and a whole lot of fast running ;)

Bowling
The score was a huge one for any team and we had comfort in the knowledge that just a few good overs can secure the match for us. Once we came in the field we did realize that due to the size of the ground there were a lot of huge gaps for the batsmen and we just had an advantage of maximum 20 runs.

A good start was provided by both Anees Bhai and Sajjad Bhai. Sajjad Bhai was a little expensive early on, but soon was able to find the weak spots of the batsmen and exploited it to the fullest. In his 4th over he just gave a single run off the bat. In the end both Anees Bhai and Sajjad Bhai bowled 4 overs each on the trot and gave away only 64 runs. Amad and Wicky took over the affairs of bowling and soon found out that with the ball getting old and the batsmen pretty well set it was not very easy. In the next 2 overs 27 runs were given, with the batting almost near to their required rate of 11.5 runs per over. Wicky, probably seeing the batsmen well set, wisely started switching the bowlers quickly.

In his next over he took 2 wickets on consecutive deliveries with one of the openers and the other, whom he said was pretty dangerous and was capable of taking the match away from us. That nailed the match for us and the remaining overs were just normal proceedings. Amad took 1 wicket as well off a good well judged catch by Nisar.

Of the batting team, one of their openers showed tremendous fittness and little technique to bat out all 20 overs. We tried our level best to unsettle him in whatever means possible, but were not able to get him out till the last ball. It was good that we pinpointed and exploited his weakness and neutralized his threat completely.

Junaid Bhai bowled the last over and impressed everyone with his speed. He is developing into a good bowler and hopefully very soon can be a reliable asset for us in the bowling department.

Fielding
The ground was huge and required awareness and hardwork from everyone in the field, which was duly provided by our team today. Although a few catches were dropped initially but we didn't give away any free runs today. Also we realized, first hand, why everyone says that 'catches win matches'. At a time when the match might have gone out of our hands we took two important catches in one over and almost nailed the other team to the ground. Rest was pretty easy.

Our normally safe keeper also dropped two half chances. I am sure he would work out his mistakes and realize that in a close encounter these catches might have been the only thing between winning and losing. But sometimes good deeds of some can wash the sins of few.

Although there is nothing bad about winning but there is a danger of over confidence and cockiness and also inability to work on our weaknesses. But let us all give the philosophical thoughts a rest and enjoy the 60 runs win as I am sure that over confidence won't be the case for us. It was a good day for us and was a day when we not only came close but went through ;) Enjoy Team Agility.