The final two matches of the group stage of the Prem Ranjan tournament could not have been more one sided… People hoping to see a good contest were left sorely disappointed in both as HS15 routed HS17 and HS14 bludgeoned the PhDs to oblivion.
The tale was a long and sad one for the losers. HS17 were clearly the underdogs and they played like it from ball one, sad to say. They started off slow. Their captain and talisman Shankar was caught behind off Devan
in the second over itself , attempting an ugly cross batted swipe across the line. Runs were at a premium in the face of decent bowling and some truly insipid batting. To add to their predicament, HS17 were missing some of their regulars as well. While they were through to the semis already, this loss wouldn’t have been good for the morale. The start wasn’t the worst, despite the loss of Shankar. Thanks to a couple of lusty blows from Suraj, the score was at a promising 27/1 after 3 overs. A solid, unattractive but good start for sure. However, one man then raised his hand up to single handedly make a difference. Ashwin, who had grabbed headlines for his incredible exploits with the bat in the first match notching up 112* now decided to produce one of the all time great bowling performances ever seen in this tournament. He picked up a wicket in his first, and another in his second. So far, an unspectacular but good effort. At the other end, wickets kept falling as well, as the batting had no anchors to hold the innings. Tellingly, of all the seasoned batsmen, it was Varsha who faced the most deliveries! Avinaash was responsible for a couple of victims as well. The score was 63/5 at the end of 8 overs when Ashwin came back for his third and final over. Facing him was a rickety middle and lower order. The over went as thus, . , W, W, . , W, W. He was on a hattrick, missed it and is currently on a hattrick as well. 3 of his 4 wickets in the over were clean bowled, with Manjit being the one exception hitting down the throat of Vimal at long on. It was simply supreme, accurate, brilliant bowling that came from nowhere! Ashwin ended with unbelievable figures of 3-1-8-6, ensuring that the match was his team’s to lose. The innings folded for just 63, a extremely unsatisfactory score.
Almost as if he hadn’t done enough with the ball in hand, Ashwin decided to grab the headlines with the bat as well. In a comfortable 9 wicket win, he blazed a brilliant 43* racking up 5 sixes along the way! Vimal was the only man out as his team cruised home with half of the remaining overs to spare. The bowling was simply lacklustre, lacking in enthusiasm and confidence and sorely lacking a score to defend, and hence the huge defeat was completely understandable.
HS15 are definitely looking better and better with each match and one must seriously consider them as potential winners now after such impressive performances. As for Ashwin, he is already on his way to a potential man of the series award, topping both the bowling and batting charts, performing extraordinary feats, the likes of which have been rarely seen before. I wish them all the very best. As for HS17, they need to pull themselves together quick, or they could well be in for more pain in the semifinal. Considering the fact that they are facing the PhDs, they better be on top of their game. Anyways, good luck to them too.
Report by Y.N. Simha
Article 19 