TCC eek out an improbable 1-wicket win against DCC.
TCC defeated DCC by 1 wicket off the last ball at Shiloh on Saturday, July 16th. This match had one of the most thrilling finishes
we have been privy to. The last wicket pair of Amarnath Natarajan and Neeraj Kuppam batted out of their skins and snatched
victory from the jaws of a certain defeat. Thanks to Shankar and Fabian from CCC for officiating this pulsating encounter
and Raj Uchil for helping out with scoring and ordering the lunch.
Both teams agreed to an early start to avoid the thunderstorms predicted later in the day. Mahesh won the toss for DCC and decided
to bat without any hesitation. Ravi and Rao opened the innings as expected. Aravind was immaculate in length and line as usual and
swung the ball prodigiously. Ravi was dismissed for a duck when he went for a drive off the 3rd ball and found Rajesh eagerly
accepting the catch at mid-off. Amar shared the new ball from the other end and was spot on. Sundar justified having a second slip
and took a smart catch to dismiss danger man Rao off Aravind's second over. Rahul and Pratik decided to consolidate having lost their
openers for almost nothing. Rahul survived a caught and bowled chance off Amar early, but luckily Sundar ensured that we didn't pay a
high price for it by dismissing him in identical fashion. Thanks to Amar's reflexes, Saurabh was run-out in a bad misunderstanding and
found himself shaking hands with Pratik who had charged down for a single. In walked DCC's captain Mahesh seeming determined to
carry his team out of the woods. He added 90 runs with Pratik in 14 overs. Our spinners struggled to get their line and length right
and that helped the pair settle down and go for their shots. Mahesh was a tad lucky to have skiers drop in no man's land off my bowling
and finally was run-out having stepped out of the crease not realizing where the ball went. Aravind clipped the bails on his follow through.
The rest of the batsmen connected hot air trying to swing their willows with all their might. Charan is Dr.Death (the original being
Chaminda Vaas) of TCC. The frustration of the opposition in not being able to connect is a sight to watch when he bowls.
Aravind secured his first 5-for of the season. Neeraj took a splendid catch running backwards to clean up DCC for 149.
Neeraj's wicketkeeping warrants a special mention here since there was not a single bye and the way he threw himself around spoke
volumes about his commitment. Good going, mate.
150 did not seem like a daunting task and so Aravind decided to toy around with the batting order a little to allow the late order batters some time in the middle. Sundar and Charan opened for us as planned. Mahesh and Niranjan shared the new ball for DCC and they seemed fired up and focused not to give an inch. Sundar received some chin music from Mahesh. Charan was more so interested to get some batting practice. The openers added 35 runs off 7 overs and we seemed to be cruising along 'til then. Charan was dismissed off Pratik having misread a slower one and Ravi Bheemarao took the catch at mid-off. Having been promoted to number 3, Nutty did not last long and was out leg-before off Rahul for a duck. Sundar and Syed carried the score to 47 and the former fell for 28 trying to square-cut Tripurari who captured the first of his 5 wickets. Our batsmen seemed to be losing the plot by not rotating the strike. Rajesh and Syed somehow carried on till the score read 70 for 3. DCC sensed a possible collapse and decided to dig their claws in deeper. Mahesh brought himself on and bowled Rajesh all ends up. That's when the procession started. Syed followed soon with a pull that found Pratik on the deep square-leg fence. 6 wickets fell in the space of 25 runs and we seemed hell bent on making Tripurari a match-winning bowler. All in-form TCC batsmen were dismissed and the sad part was nobody was focused enough to get us to the finishing line. Neeraj and Amar were the last pair at the crease and we were staring down the barrel at 95 for 9 needing 55 runs in 8 overs. Defeat seemed imminent and DCC were celebrating. That's when Neeraj and Amar proved the old adage "It ain't over 'til it's over!" right. Neeraj pulled Tripurari for a six and that was the shot in the arm he needed. They decided that they had had enough and worked their way towards the target. The pavilion started cheering them and advising them after every ball hoping and praying that we would win. DCC got real anxious toward the end and their core had a discussion after every over. Our champion pair did not care about the frequent breaks. 8 runs were needed off the last over Pratik bowled. Amar skied the ball a couple of times just evading Shankar once and the second time was dropped by Niranjan which resulted in screams of relief from the pavilion. With 1 run needed off the last ball, Amar managed to get a thick edge and the ball flew to the third man fence. We were HOME! The entire TCC camp ran on to the field to greet Amar and Neeraj thanking them for having saved us the blushes. Hats off to both of them for their grit and sheer determination under some real pressure. Go TCC!!!!
Men of the match: Neeraj Kuppam and Amarnath Natarajan for their match-winning 28 and 23 respectively.
