Trojan Tigers vs Annenberg Avengers match report
Nov 01, 2017 04:41 PM | Trojan Tigers won by 46 runs | ScorecardMatch Summary
High impact game was on the line this Friday. While Trojan tigers were desperate to continue their winning momentum, Avengers needed this win to foresee themselves finishing in the top 2 of the points table.
The drama began by Swapneel winning the toss and putting Avengers to bowl first. Something which they like but Tigers were confident batting first no matter who the opponent was. It was a battle of a team confident of defending totals and a team confident of chasing. The stage was set for a delightful game of cricket right from the word go.
Trojans kick-started their innings with Muthu and Sashi. It was a slow start which built pressure on the opening duo. Great tight bowling from Pranav and Charan gave no room for the batsmen to free their hands. Charan provided the first breakthrough by striking the stumps of the dangerous man, Muthu(0) who looked under pressure by missing a few initial deliveries. Adnan walked in the crease to built the innings with Sashi from scratch. Tigers were 31/1 in the first 5 overs. Little did the avenges know that things would go wrong for them from here on as they struggled to break the partnership.
Adnan(71) and Sashi(43) propelled the score to 124 by putting up a strong stand of 122 runs in just 14 overs. While Adnan recapitalized his innings after a couple of drop catches by scoring at a lightning strike rate, Sashi on the other end supported him very well by rotating strikes. Ashish Relan and Charan tried their best in dismissing the pair in the middle overs but nothing worked for them as the batting pair was well set. They went on every bowler with ease by showcasing some matured cricket. Akshay Modi was handed the ball to bowl the 15th over as the main bowlers bowled out their quota of overs. He was successful in not only breaking the partnership by getting Adnan out bowled off a fuller ball but also sent Ankit Sultania to the dugout on the very first ball he faced. Avengers thought they had the game turn their way after quick dismissals trying to restrict the Tigers to 140. But a cameo from Ravindra Jain (18) in the death overs accelerated the score to 153/5 in 18 overs.
Avengers started the proceeding of this chase with their usual pair Charan and Abhay. They got off to a flyer by scoring 24 runs in the first two overs bowled by Sneh and Swapneel. Pressure built upon Tigers as they needed to get a wicket to ease the run rate. Right at the time when Charan(9) was looking good, a blinder from Muthu diving on the left in the air grabbed the golden wicket of Charan off Sneh's bowling. It was a spectacular catch and one of the best in the history of CPL. Things looked ugly for Avengers as wickets fell at quick successions. Swapneel and Sneh bounced back strong after the first two overs making it hard for Avengers to score and keeping on par with the run rate. The second spell began with Ravindra Jain and Faizan. The Avengers were 28/3 after first 5 overs. Ashish Relan and Abhay looked to stay calm and accelerate the innings at a steady pace and wished to conclude the chase only until a loose ball outside off from Ravindra Jain got Ashish Relan trapped caught behind. Sashikiran who was keeping for the first time this season was in his prime as he grasped all the 4 opportunities he got behind the stumps and offered good support to bowlers. Brilliant spell from Faizan made Avengers work hard for every run. However, it was Abhay acting as the lone warrior, continued to score some runs to get closer to the target while wickets kept tumbling like bowling pins at the other end. Abhay played a brilliant knock off before he fell prey to Faizan. It was all over for Avengers as the required rate looked nothing less than a nightmare. The tail continued to get some important runs in the end to help the NRR but soon Avengers were all out for 107.
Tigers won the match by 46 runs.
Adnan was awarded the man of the match trophy for his excellent 71 runs off 45 balls.
1st Innings: Adnan 71(45), Shashi 43(40)
Akshay Modi 4-0-24-2
2nd Innings: Abhay Patil 45(31)
Faizan Amjad Mohammad 4-1-12-3, Sneh Kishan 4-0-23-2