The Prem Ranjan Memorial Tournament kicked off on Thursday with HS15 facing the very new HS18. This match saw an end to the losing streak of HS15, since their win during their debut in 2016. This is the first time a team had to include players from a different batch – with the freshie team being joined by 3 PhD scholars. The HS15 team, though equipped with electrifying fielders and varied bowling, did not boast of a depth in their batting.
HS18 went into the toss without their captain, Navaneeth C.V., and on winning it, chose to chase. Priya opened the bowling, with Vimal at the strike and the captain, Aswin at the non- striker’s end. HS18’s fielding team was managed by HS16’s Libin, in the absence of the captain. The first ball saw Vimal scoring a single, thus bringing Aswin to the strike. HS15’s Aswin scored a six off the second ball. Thejaswini of HS18 bowled in the second over, with the other team getting in a six and a four.
HS18 was visibly growing worried, with Aswin and Vimal getting in runs, and their captain still nowhere to be seen. Ramnath, a PhD scholar was the next to bowl, and the over ended with three 6s and a four, making the score 61 runs at 4 overs, and to HS18’s sighs of relief, the arrival of a captain. The next over saw CV bowling, running from some distance from the back, to the deafening cheers of his classmates. Perhaps wanting to take part in the game, tired of having to watch from the sidelines, a pack of dogs charged into the ground after Vimal’s 4, providing for some extra entertainment before Thejaswini came in next. The over had HS18 struggling, as their poor fielding had them losing catches one after the other, and had HS15 making their way to a tough score to beat for the young team.
Sandeep, a PhD scholar came in next to bowl, and while the over had two sixes by Aswin, the last ball took Vimal’s wicket. Melwin came in from HS15, while Thejaswini bowled in the ninth over. This saw Aswin hit his eleventh and last 6 of the day. The viewers watched, with loud enthusiasm as CV bowled and Melwin batted. Scoring only singles and misses, the first innings came to a close, with Aswin scoring over a century with 112 runs, and the HS15 team at 128 runs.
The second innings began with the chants of the viewers and a very interested canine viewer being turned away from the field. The first over had Aswin bowling with Sandeep at the strike. Aswin managed to take out his wicket. Nitish came in to bat next. Avinash bowled next, and had Nitish leave when he was caught out by Deva, and also took out the wicket of Priya, who had come in, with the last ball. CV came in next and as Rathnika bowled, Pranthik batted. The over ended with a mix of wide balls, a 4 and a 6 each by both CV and Pranthik. Deva bowled next, and Pranthik hit two 6s, which had the rest of the two teams rushing into the jungle, searching for the balls. Aswin, Avinash and Deva came to bowl next, in this order. These overs passed along uneventfully, the batsmen managing to score only a couple of 4s and singles. The eighth over saw Aswin bowling and Pranthik batting. Pranthik managed to hit two more 6s and then two more in the next over, which had Deva bowling. The last over had Avinash bowling and HS18 managed to bag a couple of more 4s in the last over of the match. The second innings came to a close, with HS18 at 108 runs at the loss of 3 wickets.
The match concluded, and HS15 emerged as the winner, beating HS18 by 20 runs. The place filled with cheers and the hoots, and congratulations and reassurances and for the teams, who put up a good game on the first day.
Report by Meghna M
Photographs by Sathya Priya
Article 19 