Knights Of Albany, Good Vybz And Pathners Victorious

By Sudharsan Ramarao
Knights of Albany top JET Albany in thriller
Batting first, JET Albany posted a competitive total of 152 against the top bowling unit of knights. Vishal Sridhar, the opening batsmen of JET Albany and Anand Kalukuri, coming in at number 5, scored the bulk of the runs, scoring 58 and 42 respectively. Vishal started off cautiously, played through the innings while holding an end and finished off on a high note. Anand coming in at number 5 played some cracking strokes to set the JET innings up nicely after they lost a few quick wickets upfront.

The JETS were 126 for 3 wickets at the end of 25 overs and were all set to go bang bang in the last 5 overs. That’s when Arun Ghanta, the clever off spinner and the Vice-captain of the Knights team, turned up and changed the narrative of the game. Bowling with a well set field and varying pace and spin off every ball, Arun enticed the batsman with his loopy off spinners.

And that’s what caught the well-set Anand off guard. Gone for a pre-meditated sweep, Anand missed the ball turning into him was caught plumb in front of the stumps. Pardha Mantana, the in-form allrounder of JETs, then came in and got stuck on the pads the very next ball. This time it was a straighter one from Arun that Pardha completely failed to pick. Arun went on to pick 2 more wickets and helped put the brakes on the JET innings. An innings that was looking to go beyond 175 suddenly ended at 152.

Chasing 153 to win, the Knights, relying on their strong batting line-up, romped home with 5 balls to spare. Raj Ardham, the Knights skipper, top scored with 36 runs that included 2 huge sixes over midwicket. He and Saravanan Manickvasagam set up a good partnership for the 3rd wicket that provided a launch pad for their middle order to finish the chase. Saro mostly played within himself, picking singles and doubles on offer and scored a pressure soaking 25 against a tight bowling from the JETS.

But it was the sprightly partnership between Vamsidhar and Ijaz Safi that took the Knights over the line. Vamsi, coming in at 4 scored 21 while Ijaz coming in at 5 scored 20. For the JETS, Rahul Bandaru and Chakradhar Reddy picked up 2 wickets each. For his splendid bowling spell of 4 wickets for 14 runs in 6 overs that helped contain JETs to a total of 152, Arun Ghanta was adjudged the man of the match.

Good Vybz record thumping win against Gujarat Lions
Good Vybz showed their batting might by fielding their strongest line up of the season and reminded everyone of the talent they have in house. Playing with total freedom, each of their batsman played an array of strokes and had a strike rate of 100 and beyond. Mahesh Raghunandan and Renny Jainabi put on a show by putting together an aggressive opening partnership. Mahesh scored a run a ball 45 while Renny scored a run a ball 65. This set up the platform for their middle order to keep up the ante.

Steven Mangal and Anil Sahaman coming in at 3 and 4 respectively took the Gujarat Lions bowling to the cleaners as they both scored at strike rate over 200. Steven made a 17 ball 38 while Anil made an 18 ball 40. Both scored 2 sixes each during the process. At the end of it all, the Good Vybz posted a record 253, the highest ever score in the 30 over league this season. For the Gujarat Lions, Chinmay Ghag was the pick of the bowlers picking 2 wickets for 27 runs in his 6 overs.

Chasing an improbable 254 in 30 overs, the Gujarat Lions were never in the chase as they fell short of the target by 92 runs. Chinmay Ghag, opening the batting played the anchor with a well made 50 ball 43 and Saurabh Verma coming in at 4 made 34 runs. None of the other batsmen made any telling contribution and that resulted in a blow out loss to the Gujarat Lions.

For the Vybz, it was their 2 senior statemen, Anil Sahaman and John Florent, who picked up 2 wickets each and made early inroads into the Lions lineup. For his all-round performance that included a stunning innings of 40 runs from just 18 balls and his economical bowling spell that fetched him 2 wickets, Anil Sahaman was adjudged the man of the match.

Resurgent Panthers produce back-to-back wins against United Warriors and DB-ES
The Panthers team that has been on up swing in the recent weeks produced back to back wins and made a late push to the playoff spot. Playing against United Warriors, the Panther produced an all-round game and beat the Warriors by 6 wickets.

Batting first, the United Warriors labored to 118 off their 30 overs. Bharathwaj Samavedam made 30 while Nirav Mistry made 22. Siva Dharma and Salman Pervez picked up 3 wickets a piece for the Panthers. Chasing 119, the Panthers produced a collective batting effort and mastered the chase in just 21 overs.

While each of their top 3 batsmen settled in and scored over 25, it was Krishna Nidadavolu who stole the show with his frenetic innings of 22 off just 8 balls that included 3 huge sixes. For his all-round effort, Siva Dharma was the Man of the match.

Playing against DB-ES, Panthers once again showed composure and posted a competitive total of 159. Their opener Anvesh Chikulapalli and Vishnu Kiran, coming in at 3, anchored more than half of their innings. Anvesh made a patient 24 while Kiran made a run a ball 26.

Tahmid Ahmad and Sampath Reddy Baddam put together a fighting partnership of over 40 runs for the 9th wicket and helped panthers post 159. Tahmid made a 22 ball 30 while Sampath made a 13 ball 22. Chasing 160 DB-ES was never in the chase as they kept losing wickets and none of their batsman carried on making a big score. Salman Pervez picked up 4 wickets while Dinesh Bharadwaj picked up 3 wickets.

For his brisk lower order innings that pushed the Panthers innings beyond 150, Tahmid was adjudged the Man of the Match.