Match 5 : Vs TroubleMakers : Ended in a Draw

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Bombay Boys drew the match against TMK on Sunday 06/20, in what can be categorized as their first truly “exciting” match of the season, complete with a nail-biting finish. With a diversion from the usual trend, Bombay Boys lost the toss this time and acceded to bowl. The team was used to batting first and defending, chasing a set target would be a true challenge to gauge form. Bombay Boys was missing a couple of mainstream bowlers like Arun and Asif, as well as the only left-hand batsman of the team, Arvind. Ashish Prabhu (hereby referred to as AP2) and Nitesh made their season debuts with this match.

Nitin and Ketan started off their bowling spells with decent overs, keeping extras in control and bowling perfect line and length. TMK openers, in first 4 overs thus, were able to post only 15 runs. At a run rate of marginally less than 4 runs per over, the start looked decent enough. However, it seemed like a bad day for Chakra bowling the 5th over. With wides abundant and a huge 6 off the last ball of the over, the 5th over by itself added another 15 runs to the TMK scorecard. Ketan and Monty followed with their overs, somewhat stabilizing the batting outburst. TMK’s main striker Bharat, the guy to watch out for, was on a roll, with a 6 and some meaty 4s, playing strong when his wicket was beautifully taken by Monty, caught by Vikram. Bharat’s dismissal wasn’t taken too well by TMK, who appealed that Bharat was not out since it wasn’t a nick. Bharat for his part, stormed out of the field, pounding his bat against the terrain. BB was on a high, including Bhavin who was having a great time provoking TMK anyway. The very next wicket went in the 9th over, again taken by Monty, who seemed to be returning to his previous dependable form! Albeit having bowled slightly costly overs, the two important wickets were a huge moral boost. At the end of 10 overs, TMK stood at 64/2. Chakra resumed after halftime, this time with well controlled bowling, and amazingly, the remainder 3 overs of his only total up to 12 runs in all. AP2 also bowled some really good balls, 2 overs in all, giving only 11 runs, much to the relief of a lot of us, whose hearts were in our mouths. The real surprise package was Saurabh, who picked up 5 huge wickets in a single match, which has probably never before happened in the history of Bombay Boys. Saurabh also contributed in one of the two runouts, the other involving Vikram and Chakra. At the end of the innings, TMK stood at 111 having lost 9 wickets.

Nitesh and Ketan opened with Nitesh at the striker end. From the very start itself, both TMK and BB seemed charged. Low level swearing from the BB was met in turn by personal comments on the BB players that slowly escalated into a verbal dual. Both teams played with a vengeance. Nitesh got bowled in the 3rd over. In walked Saurabh and between the two and them, they scored some well-timed 4s and ran a good amount of singles/doubles. Saurabh, however, fell prey to a good ball from the TMK bowler Madhu (who had been ragged for quite a while, as he stood close to the BB team at the boundary line during his fielding stint). At the end of 10 overs, BB stood at 53/2. BB now needed 59 runs from the remaining 60 balls. Monty and KT as a duo, exhibited superior batting qualities during the second half, making every use of loose balls and running well-called singles/doubles. The partnership between the two had just set in, when Ketan got bowled again to Madhu. 80/3 in 15 overs. The “equation” now read – 32 runs required from 30 balls. Doable? Paras ensured that we stay in the game, by hitting 2 back-to-back 4s in the 15th over, which brought BB closer to achieving the target. BB needed 16 runs from 4 overs. Definitely doable. However, in the next couple of overs, Paras was not able to connect, causing concern among the BB squad, neither were the batsmen able to rotate the strike. With every missed ball, the target seemed to inch away from reach. Paras’s wicket then fell, as he got bowled to Shrikant in the 19th over. In walked the BB Shrikant and tried to revive the BB scoring. 7 balls 7. 6 balls 6. 5 balls 6. Nail-biting. 2 balls 3. The second last ball of the innings was hit by Monty and the batsmen succeeding in scoring a double and could have run back for the 3rd, but confusion reined as Monty thought it was a No-Ball, given by Satchit who was the leggie but over-ruled by the main umpire. The scores now stood at level. Unfortunately for BB, we were not able to convert the last ball to a run, resulting in a DRAW, which for TMK was a huge victory in itself.

4 runs, 2 from Paras and 2 from Monty were cancelled out by the umpire, claiming that the ball had not touched the bat. Should BB have appealed stronger? The no ball was a controversy. Would that have changed the face of the match? No offense to Shrikant, but Vikram was used to playing in nail-biting finishes like these, would he have been a better fit to the situation at hand? The umpire was supposed to have been from the SOC team, turns out he was from a different team, and surprisingly his name was not even in the roster. Should we have continued? There are innumerable questions that could have been raised, but at the end of the day, the truth of the matter is that the match ended in a draw. Could we have played better? Probably. Could we have done anything different? Probably. Did we miss out on our effort anywhere? NO. We’ll just do better next time.

Bombay Boys now proceeds to their next match against KnightRiderz on 06/26. Stay tuned.
PS : The questions/opinions raised are solely mine and do not reflect the thoughts of the BB team or any player.

Scores : http://www.cricketmn.com/

For further details on Bombay Boys : http://bombay-boys.blogspot.com/

Cheers,
Deepa Duraisamy
One Team. One Dream.

Addendum :
All,

I just wanted to clarify that the question about Shrikant was not raised to undermine his playing or doubt his capability. Being a mere spectator, its not my place to do so. He scored a good 3 runs off 3 balls faced making it a perfect 100% strike rate, however this was still a question that I had in mind which I felt I could voice. Hopefully my email did not touch any raw nerves.

Thanks,
Deepa.

Match 4 : Vs Indian Colts : Won by 21 Runs

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The Bombay Boys winning streak continues with yet another victory, this time against the Indian Colts. As has become the norm, Bombay Boys won the toss this time too and elected to bat. A precursory review of the pitch came back negative for batting as the ball refused to bounce. Bombay Boys definitely couldn’t hope for many extras.

Venu replaced Arvind this match, opening at the non-striker end, aiding skipper Ketan at the striker end. Two consecutive 4s by KT in the very first over set the ball rolling for the Bombay Boys batting scorecard, also building up expectations of a huge target for the Indian colts. Venu got bowled to a good ball from Jatin of Indian Colts in the 5th over. Monty stepped in at the 1-down position and here began the solid 80-run partnership between the duo. KT and Monty continued to steadily garner runs, exhibiting a good running between the wickets, going for 4s and 6s on loose balls and overall, putting on a commendable show. High energy cereal bars and Gatorade from Costco kept them going, I have been told. Special thanks to Venu and Madhu, who were in charge of refreshments and to Arun/Paras who had introduced the bars the first time round. The duo stayed put way past halftime, right till the penultimate over, when both of them fell prey again to Jatin, KT's shot caught by Pawas and Monty for his part, caught and bowled by Jatin. KT finished his innings with a superb 53 off 57 balls, only the 2nd player in the history of Bombay Boys to hit a half century after Neeraj Sinha (Season 2006). Monty also finished with a 'Beautiful' (vocabulary credit - Jitesh) 42 off 44 balls, falling short of a half century by just 8 runs. Talking from a 4s and 6s point of view, KT had 5 neat 4s and 1 huge 6, Monty finished with 3 lovely 4s. The scoreboard at this point read 108. Srikant, Paras, Vikram and Saurabh finished off the last two overs with some quick running between the wickets taking the total score to 121, of which 13 were extras, setting a target of 122 to win.

The bowling innings started with Nitin and Asif, who made a comeback with this match this season. Indian Colts, even though having lost every match of this season that they played, refused to back down and took to aggressive playing right from the very first ball. Openers Harish and Pawas ensured that even if they end up losing this one as well, they will not do so without a fight. A steady contribution by both of them, led to a 67-run partnership, with 4s galore. The score at halftime read 50 with no loss of wickets. This was a dangerous situation to be in. Bombay Boys bowling innings missed the inherent aggression and superb mind sledging display of the previous match. To add to it, the previously unhelpful pitch seemed to have changed form as balls bounced off it in abundance, transforming into no-balls easily. As the BB skipper had mentioned during the initial preplay huddle, Bombay Boys had lost only 1 league match in the entire 2008 season, that was to Indian Colts. We sure as hell didn’t need a replay of that. But at this point, looking at the score and the attitude of the Indian Colts, the match could go either way. The only sliver of hope came in the 12th over when Pawas was caught by Asif amidst sharp intakes of breath by the onlookers, as the ball bounced off Asif's hands and he managed to take the bounced catch again while in the running mode. The very next wicket went in the same over by Srikhant, this one taken by the BB wicket-keeper Vikram in a similar enthralling fashion, followed by nonstop rooting and cheering. The 2 cut-to-cut wickets put some pressure on the Indian Colts and boosted the morale of the Bombay Boys who upped their aggression factor, having gone down due to dropped/missed catches by Satchit, Saurabh, Vikram, Monty that could have cost the team dearly. Comments coming from the direct source, Monty's bowling also needs work, pace adjustment and focus on line (length being perfect) required since wides were abundant. Other well taken catches by Vikram (who took a total of 4 catches this match), Saurabh, Ajay P (brilliant, well-timed catch, Chichi - under a lot of pressure to perform well in his 1st match this season) and Ketan ensured that history didn’t repeat itself in this case. Indian Colts ended their 20 over innings with a total of 100, of which 24 were extras. Translated to 4 complete overs. That is A LOT.

Bowling and fielding sections needs to step up. Bombay Boys now stands at 4/4, facing their next opponents in the form of TroubleMakers, who have been doing pretty good this season. Gear up people, the race has just begun to get interesting !

Scores : www.cricketmn.com
For further details on Bombay Boys, http://bombay-boys.blogspot.com

Cheers,
Deepa Duraisamy.
One Dream. One Team.

Match 3 : Vs Victors : Won by 18 Runs

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Bombay Boys maintained their impressive momentum with their third win in the MTBT, as Victors were outmuscled by an 18 run defeat that was more emphatic than the final margin suggested. After winning the toss for the third consecutive time and electing to bat, the skipper put forth the team’s target as 125. However, once the team started their batting innings and the way the initial few wickets stumbled, achieving this target seemed bleak.

Arvind was the first to go in the 7th over, but his 38 run strong partnership with KT, of which Arvind had contributed a resounding six, was a good start for the batting innings of BB. Saurabh walked in at his 1-down position, made some quick singles and had barely faced 2 overs, when his wicket was taken by Pranit. The score at halftime was 54/2. KT till now had managed to stand strong and had continued to contribute mostly with quick singles and doubles, however he fell prey to Pranit as well in the 12th over. Monty had been 2-down after Saurabh returned to the pavilion but was caught-and-bowled by Pranit shortly after he had made an entry. Monty’s wicket was being discussed within the team, as a questionable decision by the umpire, Monty stating vehemently that the ball bounced off the ground before being caught. Umpire’s decision being final, Monty returned, having added a meagre 6 runs to the score, which now read 62/4 at the end of 12 overs. Next in the batting line-up, almost in step, were Paras and Vikram, who exhibited some quick running between the wickets. However, Vikram was quickly dismissed through a catch. With Vikram’s dismissal, Srikhant entered, but encountered a similar caught-and-bowled by Pranit yet again, having added a couple of the runs to the BB kitty. Paras also met the same fate as Monty, only worse. Touted as a catch by the wicketkeeper with the big gloves, this time the umpire’s decision was criticized by the entire BB team, having come close on the heels of the earlier questionable decision. Arun’s entry upped the BB score somewhat, with his well placed shots, including one sixer and one four, eliciting cheers from BB and loud shouts from the angry not-so-young man, the Victors skipper Prabhu. Chakra and Venu put in their team contributions, supporting Arun and letting him stay at the striker end. The last ball of the innings, was hit by Arun for a beautiful sixer, making the score a 3 digit number. The target for the Victors now stood at 102.

As per BB batsmen opinions, Pranit was considered to be a strictly-OK bowler. Unfortunately for Bombay Boys, however, Pranit took 5 wickets and 3 catches in this one match, probably making the inning his cricket career’s best.

The just average score, coupled with frustration at the “neutral” umpire created an unparalleled aggression among the BB team which surfaced in the bowling innings. From the very first over onwards, BB bowled and fielded with a vengeance. Every possible and not-probable catch was heavily appealed for, fielding was tight and upbeat, sledging was rampant, both on and off the field.

Nitin and Chakra started out as the opening bowlers and ensured a low batting output, controlling extras. KT took over for the 5th over, but unfortunately, ended up getting hit for a 4, a 2 and multiple singles, giving Victors 10 runs for the over. Chakra retired hurt during this over, hurting his prior ligament injury, in an attempt to field a ball at the point position. Jitesh, this time ready with shoes and all, sub’ed for Chakra. Arun bowled next, showing complete control, followed by Monty, with a mix of some really good balls and some sad extras, and Arvind who also finished his 4 overs with good statistics.

If BB continued their aggressive play, then they had an excellent shot at victory. The Victor’s keeper Prabhu stood strong, till the 14th over, slowly and steadily adding runs, through support of his other batsmen. The revival post 10-overs was thrilling enough, but the fielding performance, especially the wicket-keeping was exactly as required. A couple of the other Victors batsmen like Shiva, Ram and Akshay did play their part as they determinedly kept going with singles. The rest of the Victors team, mostly Tamilian, attempted to incite the cheering team with their choicest epithets. However, a good team play by the boys swiped the grin off their faces, as they also eventually gave up on their players and joined the BB squad in cheering the BB players !!!!!!!!!!! Victors finished at 84 at the end of 20 overs.

From the sidelines, Chichi (Ajay P) was in his best spirits, dealing out Rajinikanth slogans and punchlines in Tamil, also singing a dance number only to have the Victor’s wicketkeeper join in and dance at the non-striker end. Chichi was also joined by Bhavin who unbashedly yelled out adult one-liners, regardless of the audience.

In the past, there have been matches where everything has failed and the newsdesk has done some thorough, maybe immature, bashing. This however, is not one of those days. Even though the match was “interesting”, I strongly feel that the team played to the best of its abilities. It just wasn’t that great a day. Well, at the end of day, BB won its 3rd match and now moves on to the 4th league match against Indian Colts on 6/6 (No match during the long weekend). We have started encountering tougher teams and will continue to.

Chakra : We wish you a speedy recovery.
Arun : Great job so far, best of luck with your half-marathon, we’ll miss you !
A request to the senior players : If you have any excerpts from the 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009 seasons, please do forward them for compilation.

Scores : www.cricketmn.com
For further details on Bombay Boys, http://bombay-boys.blogspot.com

Thanks,
Bombay Boys Newsdesk.
One Team, One Dream.

Match 2 : Vs Cricstars : Won by 31 Runs

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As a member of the opponent team Cricstars remarked “The best seats in the house seem to be taken !”, rightly so, the cheering squad and the reserved player section had already marked their territory with summer chairs, food (read : energy supplements) and the likes, all set in anticipation to be a part of the Bombay Boys second match Vs Cricstars.

Arvind and Ketan opened as usual, after BB won the toss and elected to bat. Witnessed some good hard hitting shots from both Arvind and Ketan and the partnership was just starting to look good when Arvind got bowled out in the 4th over by Sirag, one of the apparently good bowlers from Cricstars. Arvind’s score stands at 18 runs scored off 15 balls, which also included 3 well placed fours and good running singles, leading us to believe that if his current form continues, we can hope to see two additional supporters pretty soon. Ketan for his part scored 29 runs off 38 balls, playing some well timed shots, including 2 fours and one strong sixer ! The team looked strong at 51 runs in 8 overs when the BB captain’s wicket was taken by the Cricstar’s captain Deepak. Saurabh stepped in at the 1-down position and it was interesting to watch him bat. Inside sources had mentioned and I quote “Wo mast technical khelta hain" (read : technique) and Saurabh for his part delivered good on his expectations. At halftime, the BB score read 63/2. Comfortable deal so far.

The second half of the innings saw some good batting skills from players like Monty, Paras, Vikram, Arun and Chakra and sixers rained as well. Monty and Paras had 2 each to their credit and Arun had one outstanding (literally !) sixer on the offside, having come determinedly off his bat and timed perfectly. Tactful utilization of loose balls and due contributions from most of the batting segment put Bombay Boys at a final score of 129 at the end of 20 overs with a loss of 6 wickets.

Cricstars had lost one match and won one in this season so far with decent doable scores both matches, so it was an open match so far with this one went. The bowling innings of BB got off to a casual start as Ketan got pounded in the first over itself, including a sixer on a no ball. Nitin for his part tried to stabilize the opening overs delivering perfect line and length. The 3rd over, again bowled by Ketan, was very much controlled and added only two runs to the Cricstar’s scoreboard. Unfortunately, as Monty’s overs followed, the saga of full toss balls and wides continued. Every full toss and no ball was aptly converted to an advantage by the opponenents and the downpour of fours and sixes seemed to loom threateningly.
If there was any consolation, it was the fact that, despite the definitely-needs-work bowling, the wicket taking streak did wonders for BB. Perfect take-your-time catches by Arun, Saurabh, Monty and “bowled” wickets taken by Arun, Monty, Chakra and KT more than made up for the fulltoss fiasco. So, on one side though the wicket taking showed complete team contribution, on the other side so did the worrisome bowling and dropped catches. Paras, Monty and Chakra all dropped catches. The BB team did ensure that Cricstars was bundled out for a measly 98 at the end of 18.2 overs.

Post match : So far, we are good as far as batting goes. Team effort through and through. Bowling sadly is another story. Looking at this match in perspective, the dropped catches and loose bowling did not affect this match’s result but with the right opponent could turn the match around. BB won the match sure, but we need to use this match to learn from our mistakes.

Note : There also needs to be ready, a 12th player complete with shoes (chuckle !) in case of any emergencies pulling off a playing member. A special “Thank you” to Dishant whose extension promises to provide tremendous support to BB as he tried to keep the team going with his remarks ! Thank you also to the cheering squad and the rotating reserve section, who’ll always be there.

From the Bombay Boys Newsdesk,
One Team, One Dream.

Match 1 : Vs Desi Devils : Won by 38 Runs

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Bombay Boys Vs Desi Devils
MTBT Season 7 : 2010 : Match 1
Saturday May 08, 2010. 9:00 AM CST. University Ground.

Chilly winds blasting at speeds of 15 mph. Cold weather temping 46F. Predictions of rain and sleet. No respite in sight. Bombay Boys couldn’t have had a worse forecast as a start to the season.

Rocking jerseys. Team unity personified. 11 players inside. 9 outside. Adrenaline pumping. Bombay Boys couldn’t have asked for a more enthusiastic team either !

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Bombay Boys got off to a decent start with openers Arvind and KT making quick singles. However, BB experienced a very early FOW when Arvind’s shot went for a neat catch in the second over itself. Jitesh, unfortunately was in and out pretty quickly, followed by the skipper, who tho’ off to a good batting start making 11 runs off 13 balls, was the next to go in the 5th over. The score at the end of 5 overs read 25/3. Monty and Paras stepped in almost consecutively to build an impressive 86 run partnership which included 3 resounding sixes by Paras and 1 power-packed one by Monty. The duo kept up a good pace through the overs right till the 18th over with the fall of Monty’s wicket. Saurabh and Paras finally wrapped up the last 2 overs; with Saurabh getting run out on the very last ball. At the end of 20 overs , having lost 6 wickets, Bombay Boys had set a pretty decent target of 126 runs.

The second innings of the match commenced with KT and Nitin bowling the first 4 overs. 3 commendable sixes by the Desi Devil’s opener Naresh, 2 of them on 2 consecutive balls hit to Nitin and 1 to KT, coupled with Naresh’s crazy-looking head jerks raised questions, concerns, eyebrows and laughs everywhere. When KT and Jitesh both angled themselves to take a catch, off Naresh’s shot – a very important one, the cheering squad members held their breath. Finally KT took the catch, possibly the most important one of the Desi Devils team, not that we ever doubted Jitesh. Good calling and coordination gentlemen !

Sudhir and Sarath of the Desi Devils tried to keep the match going, pitching in from their end. A few runs here, a few there. At halftime, Desi Devils almost stood neck-to-neck with Bombay Boys at 61 runs off 10 overs with an advantage of a wicket. But all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not put Humpty Dumpty together again ! The team kept losing batsmen as BB exhibited a superior bowling performance during the second half of the match. Excellent bowling statistics by Arun, Chakra and KT, decent bowling overs by Nitin, Monty and Arvind coupled with efficient fielding displays by Jitesh and KT (having taken 4 catches himself) ensured that the opponents were bundled out for a meagre 87 with 1 ball to spare !

Congratulations on the first win of the season boys ! The team now advances to their next match with Cricstars on 05/16 at Cedar Lake.

Cheers,
Bombay Boys Newsdesk.