Day 2 – Game 1: Third Year vs Second Years
One of the most awaited matches, the Third Years faced the Second Years on Sunday in a match that was essential to decide the top team from Group 1. The openers were expected to put up a wonderful show like their previous game against the Freshies where former scored 151 in their 8 over partnership. However, the Second Years’ skipper Ashwin, had other plans for his opponents. Scoring 7 off 6, Nityanshu departed early in the game, thanks to Avinash. However, Santosh’s unbeaten 68 off 28 and Biyas’ quick-fire 22 off 8 balls steered the team to 113/4 in 8 overs.
With a target of 114 to chase, the Second Years opened with Melwin and Captain Ashwin. This innings saw dropped catches, dismissals off no-balls and recalling the dismissed batsmen to the crease. Though Ashwin entertained everyone with his fancy shots, his 32 off 18 deliveries wasn’t complemented by his partners, thanks to Santosh’s economical two overs in which he gave just 8 runs and managed to scalp the opponents’ captain. With around 50 runs required off the last over, the Second Years found solace in Rathnika’s boundary off Aiswarya’s delivery.
The result of this game means that the Third Years will face the winners of the Fourth Year vs Fifth Year game while the winners of the Second Years vs First Years game will decide who will face the winners of Group 2, the PhDs, in the semi-finals.
Final Scores:
Third Years: 113/4 (8) (Santosh 68* (28), Biyas 22 (8))
Second Years: 66/3 (8) (Ashwin 32 (18), Melwin 19 (14))
Third Years win by 47 runs
Day 2 – Game 2: Fourth Year vs PhD Scholars
The first innings started off with Dileep bowling the first over. Anil and Ratheef were the openers for the PhD team. This partnership proved tough for the fourth-year bowling as they maintained a constant runrate with minimum risk-shots. The score was rising up in a constant rate and the fourth-years desperately needed to break the partnership. With a lot of misfieldings, the pressure on the fourth-years increased. The breakthrough happened in Sannihit’s over as finally Anil was caught out by Remil. Next on crease was Nishant who was bowled out by Siddharth. Ratheef proved to be a one-man show with fifty-five runs off twenty-six balls. The run-out by Dileep on the last over of Shruti proved compensatory. The PhD team closed at 102 with a loss of only three wickets.
The second innings started off with Dileep at the strike and Sannihit at the non-striker’s end. Dileep started the run-hunt with a boundary. Sanni too pitched in with two back-to-back sixes on the legside. Renjit’s second over was very economical sparing just four runs. Shabna’s third over saw Sanni attempting to sweep the ball to a sixer making an unfortunate upper-edge to an easy-catch for the keeper.Remil entered at one-down and blasted the balls to a sixer and a boundary. After a struggle with Nishant’s delivery, Remil’s pressure shot was easily caught near the boundary by Manoj.Shahid’s next over proved helpful to the fourth-years with Dileep thrashing a sixer and two boundaries.
The over by Anil proved to be a turning point in the game with Dileep getting bowled out. Siddharth, Rahul and Venkat didn’t last long. The last over saw Merrin also being-run out. The fourth-years managed to make only seventy in eight overs and thereby lost to the PhD scholars by 32 runs.
Final Scores:
PhD Scholars: 102/3 (8) (Ratheef (55), Anil (28) )
Fourth Years: 70/7 (8) ( Dilip (28), Sannihit (13) )
PhD Scholars won by 32 runs.
Article 19 