BGSC A and B teams having some fun.
It was an intra-club game between off-field friends and on-field rivals, Boston Gymkhana Sports Club A vs. Boston Gymkhana Sports Club B. At the end of the day, there was little to separate the teams, with B prevailing by one wicket. It was not the highest quality match by any means but one played very spiritedly.
A won the toss and elected to bat. Jaideep Reddy (JD) and Raja A opened the bowling for B while for A, who had 11 batsmen in their lineup, Pavan Chakravarthy and Srikant Mokkapati (Mokka) opened. Both the openers started with aggressive intent dispatching loose balls but were not allowed to run away with the game and were reined in by some good bowling.
The innings started with a brilliant first ball from JD that got Pavan squared up and nicking the ball to first-slip only to fall a few millimeters short. Team B also gave Mokka a chance when a catch was dropped at the sweeper cover position off JD. The captain for this game JD, finished his first spell and brought on Pratik Dudhane who was not allowed to settle. Meanwhile, Raja switched ends and this got immediate results with three wickets falling in quick succession.
Pratik Dudhane top scored with 64 runs.
Mokka, who was getting tied down went for the big one and mistimed to JD at short cover. Pavan who hit some big boundaries perished soon after to a rather loose full-toss, hitting it to square-leg where Sunil Nagaraja debuting in MSCL took a fantastic low catch. Abhirup, fell soon after mistiming to mid-wicket where Sandeep Salunke took a brilliantly judged running catch.
From a solid 40/0, A were soon 71/3. Raja bowled out his quota from one end giving little away and picking up three important wickets. His opening the bowling turned out to be gamble that paid rich dividends. A change in bowling didn’t bring any respite to A, as Sanjay Krishna and Prathamesh Jakkanawar (PJ) bowled brilliantly in the middle overs. Purak did his best to steady the innings but wickets kept falling at the other end. Angad was caught behind off PJ, Nakul the makeshift keeper who kept well the entire innings, holding onto a tough chance. Sandeep was run-out soon after to an ill-judged run.
Raja Tummala, who had to give up his opening slot to youngsters was LBW to PJ. Raja Kolli walked in with a situation tailor-made for him but couldn’t hang on and got out chasing a wide delivery from Sanjay. Parak joined Purak and they stabilized the innings a bit. Purak then decided it was time to open up but with his first aggressive stroke drove Suhas straight to covers where Sanjay somehow didn’t get too excited and took a straightforward catch.
Amarinder Singh (Andy ) joined Parak and they had a solid partnership. They ran hard between the wickets and Andy scored a huge six off Sunil who was introduced late into the attack. They took the team from a precarious 140/8 to a respectable 188/9 when Parak got out to Jaideep who bowled excellently at the death overs. Andy and Midhun played out the 40 overs and A finished at 196.
During the break, everyone was treated to some sumptuous idlis and chutney by Jaideep’s Mom and Dad and also sliced oranges courtesy of Dilip and Jagga to beat the heat.
After the break Midhun opened the bowling for A, as usual. Raja Kolli bowled one over from the other end. Raja A and Manik opened the batting for B and played cautiously, only hitting bad balls to the boundary. Kolli was replaced by Tummala after the first over who then went on to bowl some tight overs.
Maybe Tummala was supposed to open the bowling all along but Parak might have said Raja open the bowling and Kolli grabbed the ball, who knows. Midhun bowled three overs and was taken out of the attack, as usual. Sandeep and Andy then combined to bowl some good overs with Andy especially troubling Raja A. After seeing two catches off his bowling to Raja A dropped, Andy got lucky the third time when Raja holed out to short mid-wicket. Pratik joined Manik, who really opened up and hit a huge six as well as some lofted 4s. Manik got out just before drinks for a well-made 37.
Pratik who came roaring back into form in this innings was joined by PJ and both of them played freely and took the score to 127 when PJ got out. JD walked in. Swagger, check. Headband, check. Million dollar bat, check. First ball JD defended. Now that he got his eye in, tried to blast the 2nd ball he faced out of the park but could only manage a simple catch to short mid-wicket.
From a strong position, B was now in a precarious position at 127/4. Suhas, the wise old sage walked in. He swatted the ball all over for some quick runs, highlights being the lofted back foot shots over covers, and he and Pratik stabilized the innings to 178 with Pratik playing some fabulous pull shots and reaching half century in the process. With the target in sight, both went for one shot too many and both got caught. This was also partly due to pressure created by some excellent bowling from both Raja Kolli and Sandeep.
Dilip and Sanjay then had a mini partnership and took the target to scores tied when the drama started. First, Dilip perished trying to hit a boundary – 7 down. Sandeep Salunke walked in and was run out from a direct hit from mid-off for 8 down. Nakul walked in and joined Sanjay. Sanjay picked a wrong time for his over analysis and was clean bowled while trying to hit a straight ball to mid-wicket – 9 down.
Finally, Nakul scored the winning run by hitting past the crowded infield and saved B a huge embarrassment. It was a fitting end to another thriller of a match between the two teams from the same club; which has been the norm over the years.
BGSC B have won 2 out of their 3 games so far and are heading into the MSCL 2015 season with a positive start.
We welcome reports from all clubs and leagues, contact us at usacricketers@gmail.com