bATTLE wON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DATE:21/01/2007.
VENUE: Hosur ACE grounds.
MATCH:TIMEPASSERS Vs FRIENDS CC
LEVEL OF CRICKET: 1st DIVISON LEAGUE.

It was the all important match of the season for us, we had to win this match to retain our team in 1st Divison , if we lose we would be relegated to 2nd divison.so it was a DO-OR-DIE situation.
And the opposition was already safe, whcih meant they would be playing without pressure.

I won the toss and without a second thought elected to bat first,coz bowling was our strength and we were confident of defending any total.i instructed our openers to bat as long as possible and cut down on their strokes,coz the pitch had a little bit of overnight dew,which meant there would be lateral movement on the ball. They had a very aggresive bowling attack,two of their bowlers were 6"5" and had some real pace. our openers stared off quietly,but all of a sudden there was a stumble of wickets and in no time we were 17/4, but the only hope was that shashi was still there at the crease,he was the leading run scorer this season with an average of almost 70.12.I was padded up and walked slowly to the middle ,planning up things in my mind. I told shashi that i want a 100 from him this match and asked to carry on, without playing any rash shots.
i took strike and quietly defended three deliveries.I knew we both had to put on a partnership if had a put a decent total to defend.So i decided to put my head down and play.of the last ball, i took a single and retained strike.i was a to face one of the quickest bowlers in the league and normally i play with my helmet on , but was facing him with a hat.i knew it was risky but i was trying to upset him by not wearing a helmet.COZ normally tearaway fast bowlers like this guy would expect u to wear a helmet as a mark of respect to their pace.
And as expected he bowled a bouncer the very first ball and it was veriiiiii quick to even leave it or duck under it. and i was hit right on my head, sound was audible to the players in the pavillion.i thought thats it game over.i infact thought i was bleeding, but it was not to be.i was hit at the right side of my skull and immediately it was swollen, EXTREME PAIN...................
i had that part soaked in cold water as no ice cubes were available there.i drank some water.everyone including the umpires were asking me to go back and take rest . i thanked god that i was not cut, if it was a cut,then there would have been severe bleeding, would have required atleast 8-10 stiches , that meant i would have missed the match. Even as everybody in my team were screaming at me to come off the ground, i recollected my senses and asked for a helmet. Everyone were infact shocked at my gesture.Umpires walked upto me and told me to atleast go back for now and bat later in the innings. But i knew if i went back, i would not able to come back again to bat, and batsman to follow would also be afraid of this guy who hit my head.
And if they got out , that would have been a sad end to this season.So pumpedup myself and prayed god to give me energy and concentration to continue, i had the courage anyways.

i put the helmet on and concentrated harder than ever and he followed it up with a yorker, i was experienced enough to anticipate it,so defended it effortlessly. The next delivery was a bouncer again,quicker than the one which hit me, but this time i was ready and hooked it for a boundary and this really gave a lot of confidence. I put the blow behind me and worked really hard ball after ball, and soon was kinda settled there in the middle. Then came another fast bowler whom i decided to take on, as the run rate was slowed down by me , as i was bogged down by the blow. This was putting extra pressure on shashi , my batting partner at that time. He was the one who was actually scoring runs at one end, while i anchored the other end.
But i decided it was time and belted that guy for back to back boundaries. In the very next over i heaved one over midwicket for a huge six, the ball went to the coconut grove beside and was lost. while the umpires and ball boys searched for the ball, i took a drinks break and soaked the injured part of my head with water again. the game was interrupted for almost 15 mins.
Then again i scored a boundary,and another one. i was really feeling confident now,but i had worked hard for this. Shashi again belted the other bowler for a couple of boundaries and suddenly we were in the driving seat and had the game under control. Shashi got to his half-century and was goin on and on and on like AMARON batteries and in the process i got a couple more boundaries and got my fifty, the hardest half-century i have worked for in my life, under a lotsa pain. trying to pull a armball , shashi was trapped in front of the wicket and was out. i stepped on the accelarator and got 2 more boundaries in as many balls. But just when i was looking to dominate the bowling, there was a lapse in my concentration , i skied one delivery and the bowler himself took a comfortable catch, i was kicking myself, i knew i had to carry my bat through the innings, but the job was almost done, we were 187/6 at the end of 30 overs when i got out. It was a 40 over game due to a delayed start. Sandy was still there at the crease and i knew he could hit some hefty blows. Shashi was out for a classy 72(54 balls) and i was out for a gutsy 61(71balls). Senthil scored 41* as we finished at 241 in 40 overs , that was just above 6 runs per over.
So it was a pretty good score and we felt it was anyday defendable with our bowling.

But they had some dynamic batsman too, the opener was fresh from a 89 in his last match with 8 sixers, that would give u a fair idea as to vat damage he could do.
We started bowling and shashi soon picked up the 1st wicket. But then this guy whom i was talkin about, thrashed the other bowlers to all parts of the ground including Prakash,Sandy .
I then introduced Mani my trumpcard into the attack, and he responded with a fast inswingin yorker the very first ball which crashed on to the middle stump of the new batsman.But DAMN IT, it was no ball, he had overstepped. I motivated him to bowl in the same manner and thank god he uprooted the stumps of the most feared and the most attacking batsman of our league.
But the next duo put on a partnership, i wish i should have continued my medium pace bowling for which i had won many accolades. But i had to give up medium pace bowling due to a shoulder injury an i had taken to spin bowling. The duo went on piling runs and we were actually not able to disturb them at all, they were going a good pace as well.They were in the hunt always.
All my guys had more r less given up,but me being the captain just could not digest the fact that we would be relagated if we lose this game.After all i had put my own life at risk when i continued to bat even when i was hit nastily earlier in the game.The only thought going across my mind was HOW TO WIN FROM HERE.........................
Even i tried a couple of overs but failed to pick up a wicket.Then i made a bowling change by reintroducing prakash, but this time from the other end.And boy it paid off in the very second ball, the batsman who looked like taking the game away from us was out. I put the guys into a huddle and motivated them,infact shouted and pepped up the guys, now even they were ready to give their 100%. But there was the other batsman down the other end and even he was settled and was looking dangerous, i brought back myself from the other end and i couldn't believe my self i bowled him over with a SHOOTER(arm ball). I took my self off the attack and brought in a mediun pacer to cut the run flow.
Soon the equation was like this 36 balls , 38 runs to get. But shashi gave away 9 runs in the next over and the equation was tilted in their favour now.30 balls,29 runs to get and 5wickets in hand.In the next over that shashi bowled he picked up a wicket and the equation was like this......... 18 balls , 21 runs to get. And mani bowled well to restrict them to just 4 runs in that over.So it was 12 balls and 17 runs to get.But now the problem was shashi had only one over and i didn't want to take a risk by bowling mani again, coz he was express quick and even an edge could fly to the boundary. Then i took another bold decision, i took the ball, spread the field and decided to bowl medium pace, i had last bowled medium pace before almost 1year.But i was confident of bowling well.All i had to do was stem the run flow and put more pressure on them.
And even this idea of mine paid off and i ended up picking up 3 wickets in that over conceding just 3 runs.So it was 14 runs to get of the last 12 balls and with just 1 wicket remaining.
And as expected shashi cleaned him off.......................
WE HAD WON................WOW......... WHAT A FEELING NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
pains forgotten, and I was on top of the world as i had guided the team to victory almost single handedly with crucial 61 runs and 4 wickets............... ofcourse shashi also helped us win. But i was the one who was hit and was struggling .so i see no wrong in taking the credit myself.
We were safe too now that we had won this match. This reminds me of the proverb
"FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE".......hehehehehe. i was glad that it did favour me.
I thanked all the guys for their commitment and treated them to nice bannana milkshakes and asked them to come for the next match with the same frame of mind , so that we could win the next match , the last match of the season as a BONUS....................................
But the matter of fact is that, we would be playing the CHAMPIONS the next match........thats y i wanted to win this match itself ,to play safe........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!