2011: Match 11: Vs Knight Riders: Won: By 6 Wickets

Bombay Boys sealed their victory in their 11^th match of the season as they beat Knight Riderz after a 2 year hiatus and also succeeded in knocking them out of the battle for the cup. 

BB elected to bowl after winning the toss, and it proved to be a wise choice when Ketan picked up the first of his 3 wickets, nabbing opener Sujith who was caught at long-off by Ajay in a “breathtaking” (ahem heart-stopping for everyone else) catch, for a golden duck. Abhishek gave BB another boost in the 5^th over as opener Premson was clean bowled for 3 runs and both openers were back to the pavilion. One-down and two-down batsmen from the KR team succeeding in steading the batting innings somewhat and Knight Riders posted a decent 34 runs in the first 10 overs, but the batting lineup started collapsing dramatically towards the second half of their innings as BB came together as a team and played a perfectly controlled bowling innings coupled with precise fielding.

KR lost 8 wickets in the second half of the innings and were all out at the end of 18.2 overs, posting a total of 75 runs - mainly due to the spells of Ashish (3.2-0-10-3) and Ketan (4-0-8-3) who snared 3 wickets each, aided by Saurabh scoring 2 wickets, Chakra and Abhishek taking up the remaining 2.

Openers Ketan and Saurabh both failed to click in this match as KT was dismissed for 8 in the 4^th over. Swaroop walked in at the 1-down position and played quick onesies and twosies balancing the pace of the match and setting a steady run rate well in control of the required run rate. When Saurabh was dismissed in the 7^th over for 11 runs, Monty got in at the 2-down position but departed soon after in a bizzare fashion, going for the big shot on the very first ball which unfortunately went for a catch.

Swaroop and Paras played well-timed shots, in a sensible method that was the need of the hour, especially after the top order collapse. Both batsmen scored 24 runs each to their credit, of which Swaroop had 2 fours and Paras had 3. BB resumed from the score of 31 at the end of 7 overs when Monty and Saurabh fell and moved way into the 16^th over without any further loss of wickets. Swaroop fell prey to a catch in the 16^th over and he had to retreat. Chakra and Paras succeeded in chasing the rest of the equation and BB posted 79 runs at the end of 18.2 overs with Paras hitting a 4 as the winning runs.

The league matches have ended and KT defends his MVP title again this year ! BB has 2 batsmen in the batting top 10 and 2 bowlers in the bowling top 10. BB now moves on to the jinxed section of the tournament, the make-or-break knockouts and if we do not make it to the semis, the individual standings might really not carry much meaning.

BB can now boast of a well rounded team completely capable of going all the way to clinch the cup. Calm and steady batting from the middle order in addition to the already firm top order instills further confidence in our batting lineup and recent displays have confirmed that the BB batting can be a complete team effort as and when required. Bowling has improved considerably though we still contine to dole out extras. This match however showed total restraint as we only gave 13 extras in all. If one were to compare fielding attempts from the 1^st couple of matches with the latest ones, it would only prove that fielding efforts have improved multifold.

We face Gujju-XI in the quarterfinals on Aug 13, 2011.

Scores as always have been uploaded on www.cricketmn.com

For more on Bombay Boys, https://www.bombay-boys.blogspot.com

Match 3 : Vs Knight Riderz : Won

“As per our EPCL Intelligence Bureau, Knight RiderZ team is a sort of a average team who can upset any team on a given day. So we need to make sure that we don't give them any chances. Our top order was a failure in second match, so i hope they give some rest to our lower order batsman this time :) Bowlers – No Extras, Tight fielding” – A clear and concise message from the skipper. The team in itself looked much more serious given the mishaps from the last match. The game started off without the neutral umpires (They should be fined for being late !) and paused in the very first over with both teams crying foul. BB’s WK Mr. Namjoshi had taken a brilliant catch to Asif’s ball. But the umpire (filling in from Knight Riderz wasn’t convinced). And wicket or no-wicket, the match got stalled till the neutral umpire finally joined.

The match recommenced with the benefit–of-doubt being given to the batsmen but they had it coming. A cool catch by Aadha Kadam, another brilliant one by the other Kadam, a blink-and-its-over runouts by Ketan/Arun; there was even one where Mr. Kadam threw the ball at the stumps in mid-flight, a nice dive by Mr. Komanur, a great catch by Asif Bhai, 2 nice ones by Suresh Natesan too (BTW, Mr. Nattu was replacing MultiGopal Nambiar in this match who injured his hand during cricket practice with Mr. Nattu ahem ahem !!) Literally collapsing like a pack of cards, Knight Riderz were out for a measly 51 !

For the bowlers - You have to see the stats to believe it ! It was a total team effort !

As far as batting goes, the team proved their skipper’s statement right, the lower batsmen got their fill of rest this time !!! Well, it wasn’t entirely due to the top order tho !! 42% of the target came through extras !! J

Nitesh pitched in with 4 runs, Rajib got out to a sad run-out. Monty’s strokes came off strongly with 2 fours ( of a sad 3 in the entire match – cant help – the grounds are so full of grass, the ball just doesn’t travel !!) Mr. Dependable was there as always (9) and Monty ended off the match in style with the winning 4 coming off his bat.
Point to be noted : This was easy. Just shouldn’t make us complacent. Keep in mind the law of averages. Every team stands a chance to upset any team on any given day.

I did happen to joyfully mention that this was a boring match, and got hit with the fact (serves me right) that we complained that the last “exciting” match was totally unneeded. Excitement hua to bhi problem, nahi to bhi. Ha ha ! That’s us fans ! Either-way, watching and rooting for the Bombay Boys has always been fun, and regardless of whether there’s excitement or not, here’s wishing the Boys the best of luck to take on their opponents in every match and reach the very top ! Great going and Good Luck ! Dad enjoyed a lot and wishes you all the very best. So do Arunesh and Sunil.

For pictures and videos : Check out Ketan’s Orkut albums. A big thanks to - Feroz and Nagraj – our official photographers of the event; Feroz had a great time roller skating too !

For detailed scores : Check out www.cricketmn.com (Bhavin’s our official score keeper !)

Last but not the least – thanks to Sumera, Sunaina, Chakra’s friends (J), Feroz, Nagraj, Bhavin, Vikas, Jerome, Ashish, Nitin ( I know a few of you are in the team and are players – so we look forward to you in there !) - Thanks for yelling your heart out ! Keep up the volume ! It makes me proud to think we might be the only team where’s there atleast half the number of people outside the field as inside !!! My apologies if I missed anyone.

GO Bombay Boys !!!

Thanks,
Deepa