The first semi-final of this year’s Prem Ranjan Memorial Cricket Tournament was between HS14 and the Research Scholars. This was a match with a gripping good plot, several good moments and animated players. HS14 lost two wickets in the very first over, bowled by Nishant, losing both their opening batsmen.
The Research Scholars bowled very well, quite aggressive, and pressurized HS14—there was confused un-called for running—which cost Sukruth’s wicket. But HS14 appeared to have a lucky edge: a few catches were missed by the Research Scholars. Manoj missed a long-catch opportunity of Hari’s, and Ranjith missed an opportunity to run Biyas out. Biyas batted prudentially, very stable. There were quite a few good shots by Biyas, but he played defensively as well.
The score was sixty-four after six overs; a decent score if one forgot the fact that the runs were not spread over the overs quite equally. Rakesh played a few good cuts after Sanjeev bowled Hari out. There was a moment when Biyas played a defensive shot; the ball didn’t travel much after the shot and there was a long pause when the ball seemed (to the reporter) suspended in the air, not moving for a long while, until Sanjeev took the catch.
There was much confused running, and Joseph had a good time batting, taking amusing statue-esque batting poses doing his follow-throughs. Jithin fielded well, as did their entire team. Ranjith tried to pull a Jonty Rhodes trying to run Joseph out but missed his aim. Rakesh along with Joseph was making a slow steady progress in the score.
In the second innings, we saw Biyas bowling well, attacking the Research Scholars’ batsmen. After a few initial overs, there was a great wall of people blinding me—I missed a few moments. Shahid was swinging the bat very well, but he appeared (to the reporter) to make very few contacts with the ball. Biyas did a good dive on the concrete to save a four, but he missed it. I happened to see (for the first time?) in the match a player going into the thorny bushes to find a ball while all others just stood by.
Aniket was almost caught out by Hari, but then he collided with Ammu. There were good saves by Santhosh and Adithya. Jithin was caught out by Monish (Wicket Keeper) in Santhosh’s over. Monish was doing his job well and Santhosh was bowling aggressively. Nishant was caught out by Biyas, a long catch, which was safe in Biyas’s hands.
After an initial inertia, we saw the Research Scholars losing their wickets quite regularly. The last two overs were really tight, with the Research Scholars wanting thirty runs. Manoj was run out by Biyas, assisted by Sukruth. HS14 won the match after all the hulla-balloo of the last two overs. The match was a real pleasure to watch and take notes on (!!).
(This match also marked Deva’s debut as an umpire. It was another real pleasure to see Deva umpiring the match with a markedly confused face.)
Report by Ananthajith K.R.
Article 19 