[ARCL] Game #4: Pi by Two vs Stealth-MSCC at Marymoor Park (Old Cricket Grounds - Lot H) on Sunday, August 17th 2008 @ 7:45 AM

Saurabh Verma (Man of the Match) and Zafar Abbas script an easy win for Stealth-MSCC over Pi By Two

Stealth-MSCC won the toss and put Pi by Two into bat. Chandra Bapanpally bowled a brilliant opening spell (3-0-7-1 - and now I wonder why I did not let him complete his spell - but what to do - I have a team where everyone can do everything - a nice problem to have as a captain ;)) and later on Dhananjay Tripathi (4-0-22-3) made sure the pressure was applied always even though Pi By Two batsman were going at 6 runs per over on a big ground and fast outfiled. Arindam batted really well for Pi By Two scoring a responsible knock of 39 runs. Dhananjay was the most successful bowler with 3 wickets and Chandra, Vijay (3-0-15-1) and Zafar (1-0-501) taking one wicket each apart from a run out by Saurabh Verma. Saurabh (3-0-23-0) and Venkat V (2-0-19-0) went wicketless. Pi By Two were all out for 91 in the 16th over.

Saurabh Verma (46 in 26 balls - 7 dots, 6 x [1], 7 x [2], 5 x [4], 1 x [6]) and Zafar Abbas (33 (not out) in 22 balls- 4 dots, 10 x [1], 4 x [2], 1 x [3], 3 x [4]) were ruthless right from the word go and had a run rate of over 10.00 runs from the beginning onwards. Both of them added 73 runs in 6.5 overs for the first wicket with Saurabh falling short of a well deserved half century by 4 runs. Vijay Beniwal (8 in 8 balls - 4 dots, 2 x [1], 1 x [2], 1 x [4]) who went in next was run out. Avinash (2 (not out) in 2 balls) and Zafar finished the game with the score reading 92/2 in 9.4 overs.

Yet another brilliant batting display by Zafar. A second consecutive unbeaten knock in as many games.

Set up of the match:
Vijay made a interesting move of having a point boundary, a fine 3rd man and an extra cover fielder on the off side for Talib. Talib had already set up his mind to play towards the point boundary and squeeze at least 1 if not 2. DJ bowled the nagging outside the off stump line and a predetermined Talib hit it straight to Venkat at extra cover. Great move Vijay.

Every one played their role perfectly to script an easy win and thanks everyone for showing up on time for an early morning game (7:45 AM). I had the privilege of playing and watching the game as I was not supposed to playing this game. Since Bharath did not show up until well after 8:00 AM I had to play.

Great win Stealth-MSCC. Let us play to the best of the potential of make sure that we qualify for the division playoffs.

It is a real privilege to be a part of this team.

[ARCL - Stealth-MSCC] Game #3: vs Master Blasters at Marymoor Park (Old Cricket Grounds - Lot H) on Sunday, August 10th 2008 @ 10:30 AM

Zafar Abbas brilliant batting performance helps Stealth-MSCC overpower Master Blasters

Stealth-MSCC Team:
# Avinash Upadhyay
# Zafar Abbas
# Azeem Khan
# Vishwa Gaddamanugu
# Bharath Ramabadran
# Dhananjay Tripathi
# Venkat Veeraraghavan
# Chandra Bapanapally

Master Blasters: 90/4 in 16 overs (Aniruddha 28(30), Gaurav 20 (22), Swapnil 17 (9), Chandra B 1/11, Avinash U 1/15, Zafar A 1/27)
Stealth-MSCC: 95/2 in 13.3 overs (Zafar A 56* (47 balls - 19 dots, 14 x [1], 8 x [2], 5 x [4], 1 x [6]), Azeem K 20 (19 - 7 dots, 8 x [1], 3 x [2], 1 x [6]), Avinash U 12 (15 - 7 dots, 6 x [1], 1 x [2], 1 x [4]), Mahesh 1/22, Gaurav 1/29)

Chandra bowled a brilliant opening spell and with a big outfield the rest of the bowlers bowled well to contain Master Blaster batsmen who played really well to take the score to 90. Azeem Khan took a brilliant catch (hanging on to the ball even tough his head banged hard on the ground).

Zafar played like a master and blasted the attack to all parts of the ground scoring at will in the gaps. He added 35 for the frist wicket with Avinash in 6.3 overs and later added 45 in 5.5 overs along with Azeem. For his brilliant performance Zafar Abbas was adjudged the Man of the Match.

A point to be noted was that Azeem was seen by some of the ARCL Mgmt folks batting and were questioning why Azeem was playing when he was suspended by Stealth for 2 games. I cheekily replied that he would be sitting out another game when we have playing 8 to that Faisal replied normally it is consecutive rather than whenever you want. ;)

A great win against a highly spirited team (it is a part of the Stealth empire - formerly Stealth-E) and thanks to everyone for playing.

PS: Thanks to Bharath for taking up the 7:45 AM umpiring assignment.

[ARCL - Stealth-MSCC] Game #2: vs Spartans at MS Grounds on Sunday, August 3rd 2008 @ 7:45 AM

Stealth-MSCC (67/6 in 16 overs [Avinash U 17, Vijay B 15, Lovekesh D 12, Vishwa G 11, Kishore 3/21] lost to Spartans 68/3 in 15.1 overs [Sachin M 28*, Pankaj M 15]

Stealth-MSCC team:

Avinash Upadhyay
Lovekesh Desai
Vijay Beniwal
Vishwa Gaddamanugu
Venkat Veeraraghavan
Dhananjay Tripathi
Imran Ghumman
Bharath Ramabadran