Anish and Nag flummox IISc

1 July 2012, IISc Gymkhana Ground, Bangalore: When IISc posted 270 runs on the board, they might have felt reasonably confident about defending it owing to the presence of all the senior bowlers in the team. But during the second half of the game, a combination of watchful batting in the beginning, a brutal attack on the spinners in the later stages assisted by some butter-fingered fielding by IISc made the job for the guest team a lot easier than it should have been.

Batting first, IISc suffered early loss of wickets and were down to 52/3 in twelve overs. Lalit (56 off 93 balls) continued his amazing form with the bat and went on to score yet another half-century in this season. The 101-run fourth wicket association between Lalit and Varun (55 off 56 balls) set the platform for the upcoming batsmen. Teja again played the finishers role to perfection with a flamboyant 61 off 49 balls. 

Sirur Park started cautiously but lost their first wicket at 21. Debajit, Varun and Sudheer bowled an accurate line and length to keep the run rate in check. But as soon as spin was brought into the attack, Anish (108 off 101 balls) and Nag (98 off 118 balls) unleashed themselves and the result was a flurry of boundaries comprising of some superlative drives and sweeps. Their alliance of 196 runs completely wrested the match from IISc’s grasp. With as many as five dropped catches, IISc could hardly expect to win the match.

Brief scores: (50 overs match)
IISc – 270/9 in 50 overs
(Lalit 56, Varun 55, Raviteja 61;
Vinod 9-0-62-3, Cyrus 10-1-45-2)
Sirur Park – 272/5 in 48.1 overs
(Nag 98, Anish 108, Cyrus 24;
Varun 8-2-45-1, Debajit 10-1-39-1, Alok 7-0-42-1, Raviteja 3-0-15-1)

Result: Sirur Park won by 5 wickets
Man of the match: Anish John

Last two matches against same opponents:

IISc beat Sirur Park in YSR opener 

IISc win Boxing Day bout

Mount Joy trump IISc again

24 June 2012, IISc Gymkhana Ground, Bangalore: Team IISc put up a spirited fight against guests Mount Joy CC in a friendly match, after a dismal display on the previous occasion. This match was notable for the disciplined bowling display on IISc's part as well as the batting exhibition of the swashbuckling Raviteja in the middle-order. However the combined factors of bleak fielding, a lifeless pitch and the lack of experienced players conspired against IISc and allowed Mount Joy to trump the match.

The match started an hour late because of the blatant indiscipline showcased by the senior players of Mount Joy CC. After winning the toss, Mount Joy chose to bat first. Varun ripped off the opener Eshwar with an excellent bouncy delivery. However, Mount Joy quickly recovered with Shekar top scoring (76), followed by Sharath (52) and Abhilash (26). At the end of 40 overs, they were asked to relinquish their session (owing to the late start), having scored 223/6. Notable among the bowlers was the left-arm spinner, Alok (10 overs, 41/3) who troubled even the set batsmen. Syam, Arindam and Varun maintained good economy rates of under 5.0 per over. Fielding and catching in the deep are perennial issues that have to be worked on, especially with the inclusion of the new troops in the team

Team IISc had a tough task ahead since the relatively modest total of 223 ballooned into a mammoth ask of 280 in 50 overs (run rate extrapolation). The pressure told as opener Pranesh got out early. However, Lalit (43 off 62 balls) and Varun (30 off 49 balls) built up a sensible 80-run partnership to lend a semblance of stability to the batting display. However, they got out in quick succession to leave IISc tottering at 86/3 in 20.4 overs. The highlight of the batting was Raviteja who made a fluent 63 runs off 76 balls. However, even he was helpless as the other end lacked an anchoring innings. Team IISc crawled to a meagre 215 off 49.1 overs having lost all their wickets.

Brief scores: (50 overs match)

Mount Joy – 223/6 in 40 overs
(Shekar 76, Abhilash 26, Sharath 52;
Varun 6-0-25-1, Syam 7-0-37-0, Alok 10-0-41-3)
IISc – 215 all out in 49.1 overs
(Lalit 43, Varun 30, Raviteja 63;
Mohan 10-0-27-4, Abhilash 10-0-44-3)

Result: Mount Joy won by 64 runs

Man of the match: Shekar