Captain Ashish’s charmed luck continues as Bombay Boys defeated Bhailog – in a thrilling 4-wicket win with just 4 balls to go in their 8th game of the season. Bhailog won the toss and elected to bat first but with the EP fields bathed in sunshine, the players took some time to establish the expected tempo. However the players and the extended team went ballistic as KT clinched the first wicket of the tournament in the very first ball of the over dismissing the Bhailog opener Abhijit for a big fat duck.
Runs at the top of the order from the Bhailog opener Anil and 1-down Venkat Ramana put Bhailog on course to reach a staggering score. Incessant sledging by the Bombay Boys and responses in kind and beyond by the Bhailog did little to dampen the aggression between the teams as swear words, actions and A-rated dialogues all came into the picture.
At the end of 10 overs, Bhailog stood at 48 runs with the loss of only the one wicket. Their partnership saw Bhailog reach 52-1 before the departure of Anil, the first of the 4 victims, as Bhailog tumbled from 52-1 to 61-5 with AP2 securing 2 of those and Pramod the other 2 wickets respectively. Middle order batsman Rohit stuck to the crease as he started creating havoc raining 6s. Bhailog was eventually bowled all-out for 103 at the end of 20 overs with the last FOW on the very last ball of the innings.
On the positive side, of the 10 wickets, 8 were well-timed precise catches taken by Abhishek, Swaroop, Monty and KT – Swaroop taking the bulk of those – 5 catches. Data and stats from this match (in isolation) would show the fielding ability of Bombay Boys to have improved tremendously. KT who clinched 4 wickets this match, has secured his #1 position in the MVP standings.
Starting their batting innings, BB lost a quick wicket early in their dig with only 2 runs on the scoreboard, with Saurabh being given an out to an alleged ball bouncing off his chest. Saurabh’s dismissal brought Swaroop to the crease and together with opener KT, they steadied the BB ship with a 20-run partnership but Swaroop was out in the 7th over and it was not looking good for the BB at this point. The BB innings got tied down by some excellent bowling by the Bhailog players and progress was slow as the scorecard inched along over by over. At halftime, the BB score stood at 32 runs. To win, BB needed 72 from 60 balls. Certainly doable.
The fall of two quick wickets of Monty and KT over back-to-back balls (Monty - last ball of the 13th over and KT – first ball of the 14th over) brought Bhailog straight back into the contest and for a short period of time it did appear that BB might crumble under the pressure. But Paras and Milind had other thoughts as together they scripted an epic knock to pull Bombay Boys out of the bushes.
Their 28 run partnership put BB right back on course and saw BB reach 5-84 before the departure of Milind, in the 17th over. Needless to say another nail biting match, this time, with the added complexities of sledging and way-too-much aggressiveness both inside and outside the fields. Tension was rampant and a single spark could ignite the electric charge in the air.
Abhishek stepped in and between him and Paras, they managed to reduce the gap, however, there was still a ways to go. 20 runs needed in 18 balls. 16 in 12 needed. BB lost Paras in the 19th over and in stepped HappyDent who also came out as HappiestDent White having hit a brilliant sixer on a no-ball. 5 needed in 6 balls. Abhishek and Jitesh, though new at the crease, made the transition absolutely seamless as they hit shot after shot and also managed to run quick singles – at times risky but then very much needed. Abhishek finally sealed the victory with a 4 off his bat in the 2nd ball of the last over as the crowd went over the edge.
Bhavin met his first true opponent as Ms. Lady Bhailog walked over to give him a piece of his mind and also threatened to send an email to the board if he doesn’t mend his ways. Well, as an outsider not part of the playing team, an email to the board might hardly carry – considering that Bhavin’s not part of the roster anyway. It was an interesting conversation in its own way except that it went way beyond conversations as person after person got embroiled in the argument and at the end of the match, as KT rightly said, we ended up spending all our post-match energy trying to solve the problem rather than celebrate our well-earned victory. If this continues, BB might slowly be on its way to be known as the team winning on sledging tactics rather than fair play and that wouldn’t be right.
On the positive side, BB’s batting middle order clicked right when it needed to and this victory was through-and-through a complete team effort, giving my previous match summary observation a fitting reply. Well, none of the 4 options of the poll on bombay-boys.blogspot.com came true, but after such a victory, what more can one ask for.
Scores as always have been uploaded on http://www.cricketmn.com
For more on the Bombay Boys: http://bombay-boys.blogspot.com
BB stays at the top of their group and now moves on to their 9th match – against Company on Saturday, July 16th 2011 9:00 AM at Eden Prairie.
