A trip hectic yet worthwhile!

A close victory in the last Bundesliga game played on 12.08.2017 ensured that we travel to Werder (Havel) that very night to play the Deutscher Meisterschaft Quarter Final the next day. we were up against Britannia SV 1892. Britannia won the toss and chose to field. Rahul and Tarun opened the innings but unfortunately, Rahul got out in the first over. Kashif joined Tarun and played some glorious shots before falling caught behind. with proceedings looking nervous, in went Jagadish who may well be remembered as the player who laid the first foundation of the emphatic victory. While Tarun took singles and gave the strike to Jaggu, the latter tested the patience of the bowlers with his stoic defence.
Tarun departed for a well made 32 with the score reading 67/2 from 20 overs.

 

This brought skipper Venkat to the crease who promptly smashed the first ball he faced to the boundary. A couple of balls later the slowness of the pitch resulted in a return catch only for the bowler to drop a sitter. Jaggu soon replaced his Dravid like dead bat approach with Laxmanesque drives. Just when runs started to flow freely Jaggu nicked one behind to fall for a patient 14. Nilay went in next and stitched together a partnership with Venkat.  With the score on 120/4, Nilay was adjudged LBW. Rafiq at number 7 did not manage many and at 125/6 from 33 overs, Venkat decided to do a solo act. Aided by Majeed and Niraj, he shifted the momentum completely to end the innings at 254/7 off the stipulated 50 overs and carried the bat with a well-deserved century of only 94 balls.
 

Britannia started steadily and despite losing their first wicket in the third over, they managed to reach 60/1 after 8 overs. Kashif, replacing Majeed, found the outside edge of Janpreet Singh with Rahul holding on to a good catch. Shortly before drinks, spin twins Nitin and Tarun came into the attack and choked the middle order, picking up 2 wickets resulting in a combined spell of 20 overs for just 74 runs and 4 wickets.  with the required run rate rate climbing to more than 8 an over in the last 8 overs, Kashif returned to take the wind out of their chase by removing their top scorer and skipper H Singh (Rohit). It was then a mere formality and their innings was wrapped up for 208. A fine and sweet victory against a very strong team from the Eastern region made the return journey for the boys all the more enjoyable. We thank Britannia for their hospitality.

 

Complete scorecard:
https://www.crichq.com/matches/555635/1st_innings