Special Report on T-16 Summer Blast Finals..
Reporting from N.P. Dodge Park,
Avinash Atholi
T-16 Cricket News
It was billed as the ultimate fight between bat and ball. A fight between
the marauding strikers of Mavericks against a dogged and determined bowlers
of UNL. In steaming hot conditions on a Sunday afternoon the UNL guys in
their bright maroon jerseys and Mavs in their blue jerseys were ready for
the ultimate prize -- T16 Summer Blast Championships 2010.
The road to the finals couldn’t have been more different for these two
teams. Mavs were methodical and clinical in their approach against each
opposition. They plotted against each team; prepared a game plan against
individual players and most importantly they broke the defense of almost all
the team with superb batting. A lineup heavy in batting talent till even the
9th and 10th positions, it would have been envy even for the mighty
Australians under Steve Waugh. Pratyush, Praveen, Vishal, Manoj,
Pradeesh....they were all in scintillating form and together under the
superb leadership of Pradeesh they consistently kept scoring above 100 in
each game thus demoralizing the opposition in the process before they went
for the kill. UNL on the other hand was more about talent than serious
method. This team knew only one way, to pummel the opposition into
submission with their pin-point accurate bowling. Except for couple of
individual brilliances (Manju, Sam) nobody really got any handle on their
bowling. This was a team that Imran would have been proud off...It had the
pace of Akthar, the guile and precision of Asif, and consistency of
Gul...They kept restricting teams to scores around 75 which their much
underestimated batting line up usually munched as easily as if it was soaked
vada.
The finals were set to be a colorful family event and it indeed was. There
were several spectators, families, kids, and even first timers from
different offices (friends of players). Under bright sunshine and under the
tent each team had excellent support. The proceedings started with a
complete line-up of the teams for pictures followed by the toss and
pre-match interviews with the captains. Mavericks captain Pradeesh won the
toss and elected to field. When asked for his strategy, he kept his plans
close to heart and said he would look to restrict UNL to less than 100. True
to UNL campaign, captain Gautham was even more easy going and mentioned that
they were just looking to play their natural game.
So after much fanfare, the teams ran on to the field. Mavs kept the ball
tight and bustled in the field. Before you knew, the cream of UNL was back
in the ranks and they were at 20 odd runs for the loss of 5 wickets, mostly
due to some accurate bowling by Sharath. Thereafter it was mostly recovery
job by UNL, done efficiently with a straight bat by Gautham and some flat
bat by the lower order batters including Pavan and Aikansh who made useful
contributions. In the end, UNL had a par score of 91.
At half time, Mavs were very confident about their prospects. After all they
had UNL exactly where they wanted -- score less than 100. But this was the
finals, where the pressures of chasing even mediocre scores have brought
down fabled teams. But Mavs beleived they had the firepower in them to run
down the chase. The second half by all means was the challenge that everyone
was licking their hands for. UNL bowling against Mavs batting. Mavs started
their inning with Praveen and Pratyush. Praveen was in blistering form in
the super six stages on scoring a strong half century as well. But this time
he went early edging a Vineeth delivery behind. As expected, UNL bowlers
were right on target and scoring was getting difficult. With pressure
mounting in the chase, Asad went for 5 and in came Manoj. Beneath his calm
exterior, Manoj can pummel the bowling like a madman with an axe...but the
challenge was if he could do it against the laser guided missiles from
Gautham. It turned out the missiles were too much for the axe. One good
length ball at extreme heat aimed at the body and before he could pivot the
body weight, the ball had taken the edge and gone up in the air for a tame
catch. Round One victory for the ball. Before this act was being played out
at the striker end, it was probably foreseen at the other end by one of the
two geniuses in Mavs team -- Pratyush (who had correctly warned Manoj that a
trap was being laid by not having an extra mid-wicket boundary, and enticing
the pull). Not surprising perhaps, given for someone who cracked the IIM!
Omaha has perhaps rarely seen a more slender batter get such immaculate
leverage in his shots with his ability to get underneath the ball. This was
probably not his best inning of the tournament (he ended with the best
batsman of the series) but he kept hammering loose balls and continued the
momentum of the team as the game progressed.
But progress was slow indeed. But with captain Pradeesh and Pratyush in the
middle, and the other genius of Mavs (Vishal) still in the hut, Mavs were
still the favorites. Then came a curious turning point of the game. UNL
captain pulled a muscle strain and had to be taken out of the game for
treatment. With the spear out, there was a question as to how well the UNL
armory would work. Perhaps loosing his concentration and game plan, Pradeesh
spooned a Sreenivas ball up in the air which was caught brilliantly by the
substitute who ran back several yards. In came Vishal, who by all
probability is Omaha's answer to a right handed Ganguly. Apart from Sam (Red
Devils) there has rarely been anyone who has flayed balls through the
offside with such panache. But then again this was a different bowling
machine that he was facing and UNL (even though hadn’t seen too much of
Vishal) had curiously enough heavily fortified the offside. Not too long
after, he perished on the extra cover from another gem from Gautham, who in
the meanwhile had come back from the leg strain and was continuing to
delivery high heat missiles...
With support running out, Pratyush tried to increase the tempo and hit
couple of lovely boundaries, but again perished trying to get underneath a
low full length delivery from Gautham. That was an important blow. The tail
wagged for Mavs after that with some lusty hitting, but in the end Mavs fell
short by 9 runs.
It is said that wolves are most effective when they hunt in packs. So is the
case with great bowling teams of years. This UNL team hunted in packs.
Gautham might have had the most wickets (5 and Best bowler of the
tournament), but there was nothing free available from Sreenivas, Nathun and
co. In the end the overall bowling brilliance of UNL made the difference
(which is even more reason why the 28 ball 54 by Manju against UNL in round
1 might have been a once in a decade inning) .
Sport can be cruel. Man of the Series went to Pradeesh for his allround
efforts but he was left ruing along with other Mavs of what might have been.
On the other end of the ground, Champaigne was being sprayed all over the
players as the UNL team lifted the spectacular Omaha T16 Summer Blast 2010
trophy.
In the post match presentation interview, Pradeesh was gracious and said UNL
were the better team but was proud of the way his team had fought in the
tournament. Gautham congratulated his entire team and mentioned his team's
overall brilliance as the reason for their victory -- true statement to end
what can only be termed a great tournament and a spectacular finale.
The trophies were given away by ConAgra Asian Network (CAN) representatives
who were the trophy sponsors. Several of the events at the half time ('Next
big star' for kids, and Revenge of the Ladies' for spouses) were huge hits.
The teams and audience had their appetite satisfied for now, and will now
wait eagerly for the next edition.