Memories from the Oval

Bulletin boards had posters on it - Cricket tournament called the "Super Sixes" was being organized in the college... News was abuzz as this will be the biggest tournament in the college history... Around 70+ teams had registered for the tournament... I looked at the poster and did not know whether it was a good idea to participate... However Abhi and Don were very clear - they had to play it - they were passionate of the game and they needed my "Yes" as I was the captain of our cricket team.

Our department was always considered the bunny in the game. We were the "Zimbabwe" in the draw and everyone was always keen to play us as they thought it was akin to a walkover. We registered and when we saw the draw, we found ourselves placed in a draw with some really tough competition like our juniors who had beaten us in the full version of the game, the hostel team which was considered one of the favourites to win the tournament etc...

The rules of the tournament were
1. There would be six players a side
2. 8 overs per side - all players had to bowl one over and no one could bowl more than 2 overs
3. If a team finished its innings without being all out - 8 runs would be added to the score
4. Rest of the rules were similar to cricket - run-out, lbw, stumped etc....

Before going into the game, I charted out a simple strategy...
- Ro was the weakest bowler and chances was that he will be clobbered if he bowled in the final overs - so we will exhaust him initially when the game just started as people do not go for big hits...
- Abhi and Saj woul bowl 2 overs each, both were good bowlers with speed and accuracy and difficult to hit against
- As my bowling did not bounce much, I will bowl last and they will hopefully find it difficult to hit...
- Field placing was simple 4 players in the boundary ropes - two on each side and they should run in quickly to prevent the double... unless there was something that necessiated a change
- I would go in last or second last while batting as the others were better hitters...
- Don bats very well when he is going good, so he would open with Jithi (who was a fast runner between wickets)
- Abhi would bat one down as he was the best batsman of the team and would bowl the 2 and 7th over...

First game was a high scoring one... We batted first and in the last over Rosh hit 28 amazing runs off one over, with fours and sxies all over thepark and we amassed around 90 odd runs... the team chasing had two Ranjji prospects in their ranks but they could not withstand the pressure of the High Run Rate Required and eventually lost all their wickets for 70 odd...

First win - we had our spirits up and were upbeat now... The next team were our juniors - we believed they were beatable and that is what it turned out to be... The juniors missed a trick or two as they did not run hard enough... They did not know what score was possible and scored a trifle slowly - thanks to slow running and regular fall of wickets. They finally made around 50 thanks to some tight bowling by all the guys... Jith and Abhi with some excellent running between wickets (converting ones into two's) easily got us home with enough overs to spare...

The next game was against Ele and they batted first... It was a total run fest and they plundered us and scored around 80 odd runs... When we got down to batting, Don got out cheaply and then Abhi went one down and started carefully. Slowly he started opening up and hitting the bowlers all round the park. However he started losing partners when we were 4 down.

I went in and decided to just give Abhi support... Unfortunately he got out soon trying to glide the ball... He came to me and said - "Dont come back without finishing". We had an over remaining and 16 runs to be scored from it... Last over and 16 runs... last wicket standing... Their last bowler (who had not yet bowled) came to bowl... I had realized that they were not confident with this bowler and we had made it a ploy to make sure we make full use of the 6 balls that he bowls... First ball came in and the ball was a bit short.. I went on the backfoot and pulled the ball to square leg... It was a six... the next ball was on the offside and I hit it over long-off for six.. 12 runs in the first 2 balls... The guys started yelling that I just had to defend the balls and be careful (as we would get 8 runs for completing without losing the wickets and win)... Next ball I defended... Ditto for the next ball... Rosh wanted a run but I yelled - "No, no risks please"... The fifth ball was down the leg side and and I flicked it for a four - We had won... We celebrated as it was a well-earned victory as we had batted really well...

The victory brought a cheer to our team as we had won chasing in a high scoring match and importantly we withstood the pressure without caving in... However the tournament favourites (Hostel Team) was next... People were expecting us to be wiped out in the match.. Even the hostel team was pretty confident that they would steamroller us... Our class girls came to cheer us (desi cheer leaders in salwars) during the game... That was sweet on their part, but some guys feared that our image would take a beating if we lost...

The coin was tossed and I won it... Everyone said we will bat... I took a moment and decided - I would field... Then when I went to inform the guys, there were muttering... we should have batted... I replied - "See our best chance to win is if they dont know what is good enough - they do not know whether to keep wickets or whether to hit, it is that indecision that we should take advantage of. On the other hand we will know exactly what to score and we could pace our innings to suit the situation". However everyone was not convinced.

First over was by Rosh.. First ball was defended but the next 3-4 balls were punished and they ended with 16 from the first over.. They were off to a flier and this is what we did not want. However Abhi was in great form with the ball and he got a beauty of an ball (an in-cutter) which jagged from the pitch to take the off-stump... One wicket down, we were elated... From then on, the bowlers bowled splendidly with Saj and Abh taking two wickets... and the team crumbled to 43 all out... Fabulous - I thought - chasable and easily surmountable -

Our innings started with a bang. Not sixes or fours but a flurry of wickets - the hostel team had a fast bowler who by every definition of pace was real pacy. By the end of second over we were ereling - 10 runs and 5 wickets down (only Abhi, who was still batting, and me remaining... All the shoulders had drooped and I went next - Last man in - hostel team was smelling a victory now... how the match had turned in 10 minutes - our team was in a shock by the whirlwind bowling...

Abhi was seriously disturned by wickets tumbling around him and said "I will start hitting". I calmed him and said - "Let us defend and keep our wickets safe for a couple of overs - then let us see how we can approach the target... Slowly but surely we started building the innings by taking the singles... We saw off the dreaded fast bowler without any further damage by defending astutely to him.

There was a left armer who could still cause problems with his leg-breaks... I survived that over - there was a close call in one of the balls which was a beauty, but I got my bat down in time (and providence helped a lot)... Abhi thought I had lost my stump and there were loud "ooh's" heard but I was safe... When the over completed, he said "I did not expect you to survive" - I smiled wryly and said "Focus, we can still win this"

With time, my confidence grew and I pulled a couple of short balls to four... Abhi too started feeling more confident in my company and smartly flicked a couple of fours in his own style (his batting is a treat to watch when he is in full flow)... And the winning runs came from his bat and deservedly so with a beautiful flicked four. Abhi ran to me jubilantly and screamed "We won"- I was more sober as the girls were around. However I was happy for him - he was passionate about cricket and gave his everything to the game while playing. He was my best man for the job and he did it again - took our team to victory...

We got the cutest girl in class to present him a bouquet for the made-up "Man of the Match" award... I guess he felt more assured when he was facing the fast bowlers than when receiving the flower bouquet (he was blushing red)... These lighter moments are part and parcel of college leg-pulling... I was elated at our performance - We had won and I had led this team which was simply a superb experience...

I went to the guys and jokingly said "See, I told you - we should field first", They congratulated me and sad - Aye aye captain - haha :)

We took a photo and to-date whenever I see the photo, I remember the great match that we played and how we won against all odds... We finally lost out to a team in the semi-finals, but we can still hold our heads high in pride...