TCC Game

Date -- 05/22/2010
Location -- Shiloh
Link to the scorecard



After a heart wrenching loss to RCC, DCC was all geared up to uphold the rivalry against TCC. DCC had reinforcements in the form of Ivan and Nikhil while Sanjeewa and Rishi chose to stay away from this game. Weather gods tried to play spoilsport and it rained very well overnight, early morning and even 30 minutes prior to the rain. Surprisingly, Shiloh was pretty dry and when Niranjan won the toss and decided to bowl, only 6 DCCians were actually on the field. Habitual timeline offenders lived up to their not-so-lofty standards. Ivan had almost padded up to be the keeper when Ravi decided to make a grand entrance and take over the keeping duties from Ivan.

TCC opened with seasoned veterans Shibu and Aravind whereas Niranjan started the proceedings from the basketball court end for DCC. The first over was trademark Niranjan with outswing flirting with the edges of the bats. Mahesh was about to mark his run up from the other end when overcast sky prompted Ivan and Niranjan to hand over the ball to Nikhil instead. Nikhil began spectacularly by getting Shibu misjudge an outswinger, keading edge to an attempted flick ended up high in the air at gully and Komal judged it to perfection. Amar came 1-down and was just content with bidding his time. Sadly, that was not to be. Nikhil got him with a quick reflex caught and bowled in his next over for just 1. At the other end, Niranjan was getting his groove and had Aravind top edge a superb delivery. Mahesh, Neeraj and Prasad attempted the catch. Mahesh and Prasad called for it, so Neeraj smartly stayed out of it, sadly there was confusion between Mahesh and Prasad. Both went for the catch and ended up grassing it. Aravind was playing on 15 at time.

Nikhil and Niranjan continued to bowl well, albeit without much more success. Ravi and Aravind were now playing positively but cautiously. Mahesh was brought on now along with Neal, but in spite of good aggressive bowling from both the bowlers, there was 1 bad delivery per over and that was enough for Aravind to score. TCC went into the first drinks break at 62/2 from 12 overs.

After the break, the batsmen started playing their shots. Aravind was the aggressor whereas Ravi was smartly rotating strike. Niranjan intelligently rotated the bowlers around so that the batsmen do not get used to the pace of the bowlers, but without much luck. All the bowlers were bowling 3-4 good balls, getting anxious to eke out a wicket, try something different and lose the plot. There has to be a mention of 2 valiant catch attempts by Komal -- each one would not have been even a half chance, but Komal actually converted them into dropped catches. The jury is still out to decide where to commend the effort put in or to criticize the dropped catch. But, in spite of clinical and risk-free batting by the TCC duo, DCC fielding was pretty good. There were no misfields (Shiloh magic not withstanding), no overthrows, no catches dropped and most importantly, no lethargy on the field. TCC went into the 2nd break at 145 odd for 2 from 24 overs.

After a 135 run partnership, Neal eventually got Ravi out when an attempted flick landed in the safe palms of Trip at backward square leg. Aravind was very aggressive at this point and everyone else just came in and was looking for easy runs. Aravind eventually completed his century and got out for 112 off just 107 balls. He hit 8 easy sixes and the dropped catch really hurt us. DCC actually bowled pretty well in the 3rd session taking 7 wickets and giving less than 7 runs per over. Neal, Nikhil and Trip got 2 wickets each whereas Mahesh got 1. There were 2 smart runouts as well. TCC finished at 220 from their allotted 35 overs. Mahesh was fabulous in the slog overs though the numbers depict a different story. Niranjan was unlucky to end up without any wicket. Neal came back after an uneasy first spell but bowled well at the death.

Chasing 221 (almost 6.5 an over), Ravi and Prasad gave a fabulous start. Prasad was kind of rusty out of the blocks but Ravi more than made up for it with his amazing timing. The openers ran very well between the wickets initially. They dismantled the opening bowling for Aravind and Vijay and scored 40 odd in the first 6 overs without any risk. At this point of time, DCC upheld their tradition -- mastering the good bowlers and succumbing to innocuous ones. Sundar came on with his gentle medium pace and our top order gift wrapped their wickets to him. From 47/0, DCC was suddenly 67 odd for 6. Prasad's drive ended up at point in Uchil's hand whereas Ravi was dubiously adjudged LBW to a high one. Ivan attempted to hit Sundar out of the attack but he was very well caught by Shibu at deep midwicket. Anand was judged LBW to Shibu. Neeraj's attempted chip shot was well held by Sundar off his own bowling whereas Mahesh's attempted cute leg side shot was smartly grasped by Ramadass at short midwicket.

The game had changed in a matter of 1 spell and everyone was thinking of damage limitation. Fortunately, Neal was in a world of his own. Even at that point he was thinking of winning the game. He started well with singles and saw through Sundar's spell. Once he was confident, he was playing confident strokes. The confidence rubbed on to Komal and he played perfect foil to Neal. Soon, DCC crossed 100... 150 and everyone started thinking of winning the game...

TCC started panicking. Senior bowlers returned. Shibu was thwacked for 2 sixes in the same over, the second of which ended up in the ball being lost. In the next over from the same end, Vijay was hit for a boundary and a huge six. Neal was lucky when he was dropped first by Ramadass at sweeper cover and then a top edge was dropped by Henry. When the equation was slightly tight, Komal scored 11 off 3 consecutive balls and got things back into control. Soon, the equation was 22 needed off 24 with 4 wickets in hand. At this point of time DCC was confident of victory.

But when have DCC-TCC games been this easy? Komal's attempted glide down to 3rd man was very well held by wicket keeper Samir. Nikhil walked in and continued taking singles and doubles with Neal. When 15 were needed of 15, a bullet straight drive was deflected off the bowler's foot and crashed into the non-striker's stumps only to find Neal agonizingly short of the crease. This was the luck factor that TCC needed. Soon, Nikhil was out to a ball that stayed low. Niranjan walked in to join Trip with 11 needed of 9 balls. Crazy running, dropped catch and sledging followed. Tempers flared but the game continued. Last ball of the 34th over, 10 runs needed off 7 balls. Niranjan attempted a lofted drive in the vacant cover boundary but Aravind athletically covered a lot of ground and held on to a difficult catch to snatch the victory by 9 runs.

DCC were crestfallen after having fought so well during the entire game. Neal and Komal fought brilliantly, one of best fightbacks ever witnessed by DCC. It was just a matter of who keeps their nerves when it mattered and TCC did it, albeit with a stroke of luck. DCC bowled well in the first few overs and in the 3rd session. As mentioned above, fielding was above par, with 1 dropped catch being the only blemish. In batting, Ravi and Prasad gave a solid start whereas Neal and Komal were just too good. Rest of the batting needs to step up and do their job, else Pratik has to come back sooner than the doctor allows and show how it is done.

Murali and Ashu ji showed up to cheer DCC and Sid efficiently did the 12th man's job for most of the day.