Beyond Boundaries - Match 1

CSS Vs ABN AMRO - CSS Won


Complete Scorecard

http://www.cricketmaidan.com/ScoreCard.aspx?InningsId=3134

Rotary Tournament - Match 4 (Finals)

Cybernet SlashSupport Vs RSJ Consultants

It was a great saturday morning with bright sun light and strong breeze. The finals was a 9 o' clock start and helped the teams to be there earlier. CSS Team reached the ground almost together by around 8.15am which is really nice to see. With teams played already against each other in one of the round matches and familiar with the players, both looking forward for this match. With RSJ coming to the finals with all wins and CSS only loosing to RSJ in the round matches a great match was expected.

I had to wait till the last minute to confirm Shiva's availability. Very unfortunate that he had to miss the match.

The match was officiated by Ms. Sumathy the first woman international umpire.

The Final XI: Arvind, Gunjan, Karthik, Kiran, Prabhu, Ramesh (wk), Satish, Veera, Vishnu, Vicky, Vishy

Supported by: Seshan, Naveen, Hari, Dinesh, Satish, Balaji & Yuvraj.

CSS won the toss and put RSJ to bat. There were a few in the CSS camp who had a difference to this decision of mine, as RSJ had a couple of good bowlers in them. With 5 all-rounders and 3 specialist batsmen you would do this.

CSS were much better on the field with except for a few extra runs due to slow fielding and one drop catch by Karthik. But that did not stop vishnu from taking a hat-trick and vikram taking another 3 wicket haul. Overall the bowling was good. As a matter of fact post match CSS team was praised by Ms. Smathy and I quote "CSS captain's bowling was very well disciplined and the entire team rallied along with it". :)))

CSS restricted RSJ to 131 all out with more than an over to spare. I think this is the first time CSS has done this in 20-20 tournaments.

Bowling figures

Vishy - 4-0-18-0
Gunjan - 2-0-18-0
Vikram - 3-0-17-3
Prabhu - 4-0-27-1
Vishnu - 3.5-0-33-3
Satish - 2-0-13-1

With almost the same target that we had in the round matches to score I asked Kiran and Vikram to open the innings. Kiran just lasted for 3 balls, his poor run continues. Vikram did a sehwag this time with a couple of edges to the fence but got out for 10. Arvind also perished for just 5. I was there for a while but couldnt score much. Then came vishnu. It was his day, probably one of the best innings i have seen him play. He was at ease and hitting the ball over the fence pretty regularly. While this was happening he was loosing partners at the other end regularly.

With 10 runs to score of the last over and with the last batsman in with Vishnu, I seriously thought we had the match. But then satish did his usual flick of moving way outside the off stump to lodge the ball over fine leg. While this has helped satish in the past it didnt this time. He slipped and vishnu in all his hurry to take the strike did not see satish on the ground sitting flat.

CSS lost the match by 8 runs.

Batting Scores
Vikram - 10(8); Kiran - 0(3); Karthik 12(12); Arvind 5(13); Vishy - 8 (16); Prabhu - 12(13); Vishnu - 52(32); Ramesh - 3(6); Gunjan - 9(7); Veera - 0(2); Satish - 2(4)

In all it was a great final. CSS had the match throughout but didnt at the end.

Congratulations RSJ !!

Hardluck CSS you were good, but at the end of the day a few mistakes on the field with some extra runs and poor running between the wickets cost the match.

Vishnu with 3 wickets and 52 was unanimously declared the Man of the Match.

The prize distribution took place at Alumni Club and the following awards were given

Rotary Tournament 2008
Winners - RSJ Consultants
Runners - Cybernet SlashSupport

Man of the Series - Vikramkumar Palanisamy (CSS)
Man of the final - Vishnuvardhan (CSS)

Overall CSS had a good tournament. With 4 matches they had 3 Man of the matches and 1 Man of the series. Just that they didnt have lady luck along to include the winners trophy to this list!!

Paper cuttting for this match as it appeared on Deccan Chronicle dated 21st Sep 2008 Page 55.

Rotary Tournament - Match 3 (Semi Finals)

After a while we had a match on Sunday. I thought I had  over slept (couldnt sleep through the night managed to get a couple of hours from 4am) so rushed to the ground and found myself banging on the locked doors . Soon Naveen and Hari came to help and managed to wake up the watchman and the doors open. By the time I could park and walk  to the ground I was sweetly surprised to see most of CSS members reaching the ground. It was nice to see the team on the ground early, so early that we had to wait for the opponents for a few minutes. 

Mr. Captain playing his last match befor he takes off for a few months (travelling on business abroad) had a quick meeting and announced this and wanted to get this match finished quickly with  a win. He sent his lucky charm Mr. Yuvraj "Arvind" Singh for the toss. As usual he had the toss and decided to put Axis bank to bat first. 

The Final XI: Arvind, Gunjan, Karthik, Kiran, Natz, Prabhu, Ramesh (wk), Seshan, Veera, Vicky, Vishy 

Supported by: Satish, Naveen, Hari, Dinesh, Satish, Balaji

I was asked to chose the end from which I can start, I took the same I bowled from in the last match we played here. Mr. Captain while doing so said lets share the new ball, then I guess changed his mind and had Gunjan bowl from the other end. Good call, I would have done the same. 

For me, it was one of those days when you have the ball pretty much doing what you want it do. I enjoyed bowling and have started getting some numbers under the wickets column. Been fairly economical all through the year (2008) but not many wickets.  

Gunjan bowled a great first over and got a wicket. One of those dream starts you would want in a semi-finals of a tourney. My second over was interesting, a caught behind was turned down and fortunately I had the same batsman bowled a couple of balls later. 

First change was Vicky and he continued his good bowling form and very miser this time. Mr. Captain brought in Seshan and he bowled a brilliant 2 over spell. The best I have seen him bowl so far. 

It was nice to see CSS bowlers keeping the check and taking wickets at regular intervals. More importantly there was no mis fielding except for one which Kiran let the ball turn and run to the fence. I felt between 15th and 20th overs CSS was relaxed a bit which helped Axis to take the score beyond 100 and set a target of 109 for CSS.  

Ramesh (wk) has brought a long missing good keeping skills for the team. He was brilliant behind the wickets and more importantly was cheering all through the 20 overs which is new to CSS. Keep it up Ramesh, except for the one drop catch (for me ;)) you were spot on.

Bowling Figures:

Vishy - 1/12 in 4 overs (1 wide)

Gunjan - 2/29 in 4 overs (4 wides)

Vicky - 2/12 in 4 overs (2 wides)

Prabhu - 2/25 in 4 overs (2 wides)

Seshan - 0/7 in 2 overs (2 wides)

Natz - 1/19 in 2 overs (1 wide)

With the asking rate being low, Natz decided to have him and Kiran open with me at No. 3 and Arvind at 4 and Karthik at 5. 

Kiran lasted for a little over an over and was out caught behind with a faint nick while chasing a wide ball outside the off. This brought me in and joined Mr. Captain. The plan was simple, just stay there and see through the match. Natz and I  saw a couple of over go by with some singles. Then Natz started playing his trade mark shots, pulled a couple to the fence. He also got out for the same shot, mis-cued and got caught at mid-wicket. This brought in the in form Mr. Yuvray "Arvind" Singh. He didnt stay too long, was unlucky to get a leading edge and lobbing the ball back to the bowler. I felt very bad, as the previous ball I denied him of a very easy single. 

This brought Mr. Best-ever-batsman-slash-has-ever-produced on to the pitch. He was his usual self and started playing as if he is continuing from his innings a couple of months back at St. Bedes. It was great to watch him do the short-arm jab and hit for six at ease. 

I got out, playing across for no reason. This brought in Prabhu to join Karthik. Who both finished the match with about 2 and a half overs to spare. 

Batting Figures

Natz - 22(24) 

Kiran - 6(7)

Vishy - 18(27)

Arvind - 1 (5)

Karthik - 36(25) Not out

Prabhu - 15 (17) Not out

Karthik was declared "Man of the Match" for his brilliant 37 of just 25 balls. 

CSS with this victory are through the finals which will be played on 20th Sept. 

Natz we will certainly miss you for that match. 

Rotary Tournament - Match 2

With the first match going against us this match became crucial for CSS to stay in the tournament. Added to this with one of the team in our group opting out of the tournament all the teams were given a point each and the winners of this match goes to semi-finals directly. All of this was announced by the organizers before the toss which helped everyone to understand the criciticality and helped me not to talk much :)

CSS had to play CTS - Project A-Z in the second match. 

CSS Won the toss and decided to field first. This was a gamble I took especially after the batting failure in the first match this was a big decision. 

The Final XI: Arvind, Gunjan, JP, Paul, Prabhu,  Ramesh, Shyam, Vishnu, Veera, Vicky, Vishy.

Supported by: Kiran, Seshan, Dinesh, Hari, Naveen (the long haired guy) & Satish.

To cut the long story short, we didnt support the bowlers. There were 3 catches dropped, all of them almost identical for the same batsman at the same location by the same fielder. Not just that, with the ground being a little bigger than the one we played in the morning, and with a left and right hand batsman the team took a while to get to terms with. 

CTS scored 176 in their 20 overs. 

Ashwin  - 65(58), Murali 33(14), Arun 48(42)

Vishy - 0/23 in 4 with 1 wide

Vicky - 2/38 in 4 with 6 wides

Gunjan - 0/16 in 2 with 2 wides

Vishnu - 1/44 in 4 with 0 wides

Prabhu - 0/31 in 4 with 1 wide

Paul - 1/24 in 2 with 3 wides

The team was upbeat about chasing and everyone realised what had happened in the field was not the best effort and wanted to get the match in. 

With so much to chase I had just one option go for it from the first ball. Had asked Vicky to open the innings with Gunjan. Vicky couldnt have responded any better. He was hitting the ball with such ease fours and sixes were the only scores and so much was his confidence he denied singles to the other "opening batsman" for him to keep strike. 

It was brilliant to wach him play. He scored 66 of just 37 balls. With this I walked in hoping to stay there and keep the score ticking. But could only manage that for 12 balls. While I was there Gunjan carried along what he started with Vicky and retired at 25 (32). This brought in the inform "Yuvraj" Arvind "Singh". It was his day, he was at ease and the "Angry Beast" was on song. 

With the fall of my wicket I had asked Prabhu to join Mr. YA Singh. He and Arvind were running hard and hitting harder to get the scores. Mr. Singh was totally exhausted and wanted a runner (he didnt field the last 2 overs of our bowling as well). When JP was all set to do the running for Mr. Singh, Prabhu took a blow on his face and had to use JP's services for running and Arvind had to live with his own legs. 

The last 2 overs were the best of the match, with 29 runs to win. Murali the strike bowler bowled the 19th over and Arvind & JP ran and took 10 runs. The running was the best and thanks JP your stay there as the legs for Prabhu was a significant contribution. With 19 to score in the last over Arvind started off with a 6 off the first ball and a single. Prabhu smashed 3 fours it came down to 1 run off the last ball. The dugout was already excited as a tie would have taken us to the semis. 

With all the fielders in close to cut the single, prabhu smashed one through mid-off  for a four ensuring CSS's place in Semis straight in. 

It was a very close match and an exciting victory for CSS. The match was so good that the organisers and players from the adjeacent ground was watching this match. One of the organiser mentioned that this was the best match they had seen in the to

urney so far. It indeed was. 

Personally for me it was great to watch one of the best chases I have seen. 176 was a good score in 20-20 and Arvind and Prabhu made us look proud and saved one of the best innings of Vicky in the start. Vicky earned a very well deserved "Man of the Match". 

Congratulations CSS. 

The Semis will be on 14th Sept.

Scores : 

Vicky - 66(37), Gunjan 25 (32) retd., Arvind 35*(21), Prabhu 32*(17)

Extras - 11.

Here is the paper cutting of the 

scores published on Deccan Chronicle - Dated 9th Sept, Page 39.

Rotary Tournament - Match 1

With more than a month break the CSS team had a double-header (not the right usage) this weekend. CSS had to play back to back matches as it chose to do a selection for more youngsters to its team the week earlier. 

It was great to see a lot of new faces and the team at the ground on time, well just about ;) on a very cloudy morning. 

Mr. Captain was out on business travel so it was all to his best men to manage. For the records I was introduced to the organizers and the oponents as captain. 

The first match was against RSJ Consultants. The team selection was a bit of a problem with many folks coming for the first time and "what they could do" is known only to Veera and Arvind. We decided to give chance to 2 of them so Gunjan and Yuvraj did their debut for CSS both choses for their bowling. 

The final XI - Arvind, Gunjan, Kiran, Paul, Prabhu, Satish, Veera, Vicky, Vishnu, Vishy & Yuvraj.

Supported by - Seshan, JP, Ramesh, Shyam, Dinesh, Hari & "Long haired guy" sorry dont remember his name. If I have left anyone it is unintentional, never had so many names to this CSS cricket team :)

I lost the toss and RSJ chose to bat on a very wet situation. It was drizzling when we started to bowl. 

The team was very active on the field and restricted RSJ to 136 in 20 overs. Gunjan did a great debut with 3/19 and Arvind was great on the field saving a few boundaries and took 2 good catches. It was raining pretty much throughout he innings, and we had a 15 minute break in between when it was heavy.

When we started to bat it had stopped raining but the field and the mat was very very wet. My simple suggestion was to stay there and use the first 5-7 overs when the ball is hard and not soaked. Yes thats how it was when we bowled and that probably helped us in a way to keep the boundaries away from RSJ batters.

I had asked Kiran and Veera to open with me as 3 and Arvind at 4 and vishnu at 5. At this point I pretty much thought this would do. But what was instore was different. 

Veera came back in the first over. I stayed in for just a few balls, kiran followed soon. The bowling was decent and the field was packed with young guys which gave few options for us to score. We were just 40 after 10 overs and the first boundary came in the 10th over of an inner edge from Arvind. Who played a brilliant innings with absolutely no flaws. He was all alone and it was sad to see him fight alone with no partner staying with him. He made an excellent 60 with 2 amazing sixes. In all we had just 2 sixes and 2 fours till Prabhu walked in as number 9. 

CSS managed to get the score above 100 and lost the match. All we wanted was one batsman to stay with Arvind to make it but we lost the match in the first 10 overs. I should mention their bowling was spot on especially a small kid who bowled excellent legspin and controlled the innings in his 4 overs with 3 wickets. He was declared the man of the match.

Scores: 

RSJ - 137/9 in 20 Overs (Gunjan 3/19)

CSS - 105/9 in 20 Overs (Arvind 60, Prabhu 20)

It wasnt  great start after the break and for a day with 2 matches back to back. But helped to decide on the team for the second match as Prabhu and Gunjan were seen for the first time in action.

2008 BlueSky Tournament Match - 8

CSS Won a close match .. details later..

With this victory CSS has topped the table with 7 victories from 8 matches and lifted the trophy. The prize distribution will happen on the annual day of BlueSky.