TCC began the season with an emphatic 59-run victory over PCC at Shiloh. Aravind was lucky with the toss and as expected TCC decided to wield the willow first even though the pitch behavior was unknown, given that it had been worked on in the last couple of weeks. TCC would like to thank Niranjan Thakur (DCC) and Amit Chopra (NCSU) for umpiring our game.

Charan and Ravi opened the batting on a very chilly spring morning. Charan didn't last long and was out caught at gully driving at an away swinger from Irfan. It could so easily have been 7/2 had the slip cordon held on to a blinder off Solomon. Sundar benefited from PCC's largesse and from then on Ravi and him took charge and played cautiously thus averting any further damage. TCC cruised along nicely to 51 with Ravi driving and flicking with panache and Sundar unleashing square cuts off deliveries pitched on the middle stump. Zulfi pulled off a good catch at short fine leg to dismiss Sundar for a well-made 21 off Mahesh, the left-arm spinner who bowled well within himself preferring to push the ball through the air. Shibu failed for the first time in a while trying to pull Mahesh which resulted in a simple catch to short midwicket. Aravind and Ravi added about 42 runs with the former living dangerously trying to flick from outside the off-stump. Kamran dropped a sitter off his own bowling and so Aravind got a life. He didn't survive too long and was leg-before to the same bowler, call it proverbial justice. This brought Vijay to the crease with the score reading 104/4 off 17 overs. The situation demanded mixing caution with aggression to make sure TCC posted a decent total. Unfortunately, this partnership lasted just 13 runs and Ravi was out stumped for a superb 59 off 58 balls in trying to accelerate the pace. Rajesh Uppalapati and Vijay added 24 runs in quick time. Mahesh got the better of Rajesh and forced him to play the exact same shot as Shibu and that yielded the same result. Manoj didn't last long, but Cashif hit some lusty blows to get us to a decent total with one of them being an outstanding six. Vijay was out for 27 off Zulfi failing to beat the deep mid-off fielder. Zulfi captured Nataraj as well with a soft dismissal, but Ranga managed to carve 4 runs off the last ball with the fielders running helter-skelter, thus finishing the TCC innings in comical fashion.

PCC started their innings after the regular 30-min break. TCC's bowling was spot on and hence shot-making wasn't easy. The pitch was an absolute beauty to bat on with no unreliable bounce whatsoever. Aravind secured the first breakthrough catching Sam plumb in front. Ranga took a good catch to dismiss Solomon off Sundar. Wickets continued to tumble for PCC. Ravi showed his athleticism by catching a full-blooded cover drive from Nauman. Manoj had chipped in with 2 wickets. Ammar, the leftie played some good shots, but was unlucky to find Aravind right on the fence having pulled a rank long hop from Shibu. With the scoreboard reading 54/5 off 13 overs, it seemed all but over. However, Irfan and Kamran put together a solid partnership of 55 runs off 11 overs or so which threatened to take the match a way from TCC. Charan bowled beautifully and frustrated the opposition by mixing the slower ones to perfection resulting in the run rate climbing steadily after every over. Irfan was lucky to survive a confident lbw shout off Vijay. Aravind, sensing the urgency for a breakthrough brought himself on and pulled off a sensational one-handed catch on his follow-through to dismiss a stunned Kamran. As it happens, Irfan followed suit caught in the deep by Aravind off Vijay. The rest of the wickets were captured in a jiffy. Aravind topped the wickets tally with 3 followed by Manoj who took 2 scalps.

MoM :- Ravi Renganathan (59 runs and 2 good catches)