TROJAN CRICKET CLUB

Annenberg Avengers Vs Leavy Lions: 

After winning a cruicial toss, with strategy, Leavy Lions captain Vidyadhara Rao K chose to make Annenberg Avengers bat first for the first time this tournament. 

ASM Rizvi started the bowling attack for Leavy and was very consistent in his line and length and did not give any loose balls for the Avengers batsmen to put away. But Shiv Prathik who shared the new ball at the other end wasn't consistent in his length and leaked runs and avengers batsmen Charan Kilari and Abhay Patil made sure they got enough runs (17) in this over to keep the run rate going. it was the fourth magical over for Leavy wherein Prateek Kathpalya sent both openers Abhay 13(9) and Charan 8(13) back to the pavilion off consecutive deliveries. Leavy Lions were completely in control of the situation and in the very next over ASM Rizvi awestruck the avengers with another important wicket of Faisal Mallick 4(6). This was the point where Avengers were in a complete collapse and badly needed to re-build their innings with a good partnership. Then came in the inform batsmen Ashish Relan 49 (31) who along with Shivkumar Nistala 15(21) put on a valuable partnership of more than 50 runs. Ashish Relan who started off his innings slowly and watchfully, went berserk later once he got his eye in. Shivkumar gave a good support at the other end by not giving up his wicket and rotating the strike. When things were slipping out of Leavy lions with a lot of extras (wides) and drop catches, lions captain Vidhya came into the bowling attacked and was succesful in getting two quick wickets of Shivkumar and Bharat Pulavarti 5(3). Very soon in the next over, Ashish missed a quicker delivery from Prayut Patel and which got him bowled. Things started to change for Avengers who were still not in a position to post a decent score to defend. But, a batting cameo from K Pranav Shashidhar 11 (6) in the very last over and also wides from Lions Bowlers, helped Avengers post up a target of 140 in 18 overs. 

Avengers knew it wasn't that easy to defend this target especially if Lions batsmen Rohit Kumar and Pradyumna get clicked. Pranav and Charan opened the bowling attack against Lions Batsmen Prayut and PaRas Arora. Pranav and Charan both tightened their line and length and didn't give away easy runs to score for the lions batsmen. 
Paras 20(19) got the momentum for Lions after he scored a couple of fours and Six. But pranav got back the momentum for Avengers with an outstanding delivery which got Prayut bowled. It was one of his out swinging deliveries on good length which clipped off the off stump bails. Very soon, Paras nicked one to the keeper Abhay off Faisal Mallick bowling. New batsmen Rohit and Prateek were steady in their approach and were rotating the strike and scoring off loose deliveries. Avengers knew if rohit played a big innings, he would take lions home with a win. So, avengers captain decided to get his best bowling line up against him. It was this over by Charan which changed the things for Avengers and also had a lot of drama going. Rohit defended the first three balls and for the fourth ball, he came down the wicket and lifted the ball over covers for a boundary. What a shot it was!! the shot indicated the confidence he was in. Very next Ball, Rohit tried to hit one down the ground, but edge got the better half of him and was caught by Abhay.. Wait..!! It was not just the catch, it was the match for Avengers. It wasn't an ordinary catch, There's no better sight in cricket then a fielder diving at full length and taking a stunning catch. Yes, it was no less. Pranav concluded the chase for Leavy as he picked up Prateek in the very next over. Akshay Modi was introduced into the bowling attack and it was his dream spell of 2-0-6-2 wherein each and every ball was right on target and halted the Lions chase. Abhay Patil took 5 catches in this innings wherein Leavy Lions collapsed to 99 runs. Pick of the Bowlers for Avengers were Pranav (3-0-19-2) and Akshay (2-0-6-2) 

Man of the Match: Ashish Relan's valuable knock of 49 and outstanding catches by Abhay Patil made a tough competition for the trophy and both of them ended up sharing the award.