Final: FCC vs OCA RED DEVILS
The final of the 2014 season kickoff T16 tournament was played between the initially predicted teams, FCC and RED DEVILS. These 2 teams played each other during last year final of Fall classic T16. Red Devils won that final by dramatically chasing FCC target in which they made a wonderful 17 runs in the last over. The final now was nicely poised because of this history. Ironically, History could not repeat itself and RD was unable to score 12 runs of their last 12 balls this year.
Toss was won by RD and captain Sandeep Nandagiri asked FCC to bat. FCC quickly lost their fierce opener Vishal early but Sanket(9) and Pratheek (17) stabilized the innings. After Pratheek departed, varun joined Sanket and kept the scoreboard ticking. Wonderful bowling spells from Chandu Peram (3 wickets), Rajsekhar (3 wickets) and Sandeep raju (2 wickets) put the brakes on the scoring rate and FCC ended up scoring 66.
Chasing FCC total of 66 Lenin and Kaushik opened the innings. . The captain Sandeep Nandagiri (4) was not in his usual best. Lenin tried to keep the scoreboard moving but got out for 11. Chandu Peram after a wonderful bowling display came to the rescue again with a timely knock along with Sandeep raju (11). With Chandu still at the crease it looked like it will be an easy chase for RDs as they required only 12 runs off 12 balls. Then came the twist in the tale when Varun bowled a wonderful over getting rid of Sandeep reddy who got out playing a cheeky shot over keeper's head. This meant that 9 runs needed in final over. Chandu launched in to the first ball of the final over from kiran. It was sailing nicely for a boundary till Samit covered a lot of ground and took a brilliant running catch inches before the boundary line. RDs last hope Rajasekhar was on the crease but was unable to get the strike as others kept swinging bats without any connection. Finally RDs lost by 6 runs.
Man of the match: Varun (FCC) for his match winning 3 wickets.
Best Batsman : Chandu Peram - OCA Red Devils (71 runs)
Best Bowler: Dinesh (FCC) 7 wickets.
MVP : Sandeep Raju - OCA Red devils - 8 wickets and 81 runs.
Champions of OCA Season Kick off tournament 2014 - FCC
Runners Up - OCA Red Devils
Semi-final 1: UNMC Underdogs Vs OCA Red Devils
OCA Red Devils won the toss and elected to bowl. Against a strong OCA Red Devils bowling attack UNMC didn’t have a good start and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. The skipper, Aditya Bade (21) along with Alok (7) tried to stabilize the innings. UNMC set a target of 68 runs in 13 overs. Sandeep Reddy took 3/19 and Lenin 4/17 to destroy the UNMC innings. Chasing a target of 68, OCA Red Devils lost couple of quick wickets but UNMC’s inexperienced bowling attack did not have any answer for Sandeep Raju’s excellent batting (28). For UNMC Ganpathy took 2 wickets. OCA Red Devils achieved the target in 12 overs and reached the Finals by winning the game convincingly with 6 wickets in hand.
Semifinal 2: FCC vs LCC
On a rainy day when finally sun came out, a good match was on cards after LCC dramatically made it to semis. FCC won the toss and sent LCC in to bat. LCC made a brisk start with Gowtham hitting boundaries in early overs. However there was no partnership between any of LCC players because of some beautiful bowling from FCC pacers Dinesh and Varun. Only Gowtham made a respectable score of 18. LCC ended up with 57/10 in 11.5 overs, not finishing their stipulated 13 overs. FCC came in to bat and absorbed the initial pressure of good bowling from Gowtham and Naren. Vishal fell cheaply. However Pratheek (15), Sanket (16) and Varun (21) made sure that the target was achieved convincingly (58/3) in 10 overs. Dinesh from FCC got the MOM