in this edition of the KSCA Metro Shield.
16th September, IISc Gymkhana Ground, Bangalore: Continuing the pattern of the past two seasons, team IISc won their first match in the Super League stage of the KSCA Metro Shield this year as well. After Sirur Park Sports Club in 2010 and Young Challenging Cricketers in 2011, this time the victims were arch rivals BEL Colony Recreation Club.
After a lot of diligent practice in the nets, skipper Ashith finally managed to win a toss and put the visitors in to bat. Suresh Babu and captain Harsha started cautiously for BEL putting on 38 runs in eight overs before Vikram drew first blood sneaking through the latter's defence and rearranging his furniture. Vikram then had Beerappa caught by Kiran thus reducing BEL to 58/2 in the seventeenth over. Rajeeva (20 off 40 balls) came to the wicket with agressive intent and built a 52-run third wicket partnership with Suresh Babu (82 off 109 balls) who was batting solidly at the other end.
Arindam broke the alliance castling Rajeeva as he attempeted a wild shot across the line. The BEL middle-order then collapsed spectacularly. In a matter of eleven overs - from the 31st to the 42nd over - they went from 110/2 to 152/8. Guru (31* off 31 balls) and Nagasimha (18 off 23 balls) played sensibly, albeit with some calculated risks, taking BEL beyond the 200-mark. Vikram's 7-0-14-2 and Arindam's 10-1-27-3 were the standout figures for IISc. The final total of 203 happens to be the highest any team has managed to score against IISc, until now, in the KSCA Metro Shield 2012.
Salil (17 off 21 balls) inaugurated the chase with a couple of boundaries in the very first over but perished in the sixth over with the score at 24. Kiran (56 off 56 balls) and Ashith (31 off 48 balls) played with minimum fuss while being easy on the eye as they put on 78 for the second wicket. Both were dismissed to bizarre runouts - the former was 'Mankaded' by Kishan while the later fell to a horrendous mix-up. Varun (21 off 61 balls) and Teja (36 off 46 balls) took over the unfinished job with aplomb and looked every bit like taking IISc home. But some late drama and hara-kiri ensured that the home team lost four more wickets with the finish-line a stone's throw away. Nonetheless, the target was duly achieved in the 47th over with three wickets to spare.
Brief scores: (50 overs match)
BEL RC - 203/9 in 50 overs
(Suresh Babu 82, Rajeeva 20, Guru 31*;
Debajit 10-0-48-1, Vikram 7-0-14-2, Arindam 10-1-27-3, Roy 7-0-35-1)
IISc - 207/7 in 46.3 overs
(Kiran 56, Ashith 31, Varun 21, Raviteja 36;
Ajay 5-1-26-1, Kishan 10-2-31-1, Nagasimha 6.3-1-21-2)
Result: IISc won by 3 wickets
Man of the match: Kiran Gangadharan
In the newspapers:
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