The most popular match of this tournament and of many tournaments past, the professors descended on to the cricket pitch like a team of titans to avenge their defeat to the students XI last year. There were a few newbies in the team, most notably – Avishek Parui, making his debut as a middle order batsman. The faculty batted first. Playing out their ten overs, they struck a decent score of 92/9. Three batsmen got into double figures – Avishek Parui, Joe Thomas and Arun, with Joe producing a nice little cameo of 18 which had 3 sixes, one of which sailed long and hard over long off. There were a couple of some partnerships here and there but regular wickets taken by Santosh and Aishwarya derailed proceedings. In addition to that was the ever reliable Biyas chipping in with a couple of wickets as well to tie up the innings nicely.
The target had been set, 93 off ten overs. Although Susmit was clean bowled early for a two ball ducked, perennial partners in crime – Biyas and Nityanshu came together for a nice little partnership that took the Students halfway to the target. Nityanshu’s departure didn’t slow things down though as Santosh and Biyas continued with the power hitting, especially over the short square leg fence. Biyas was eventually bowled by Nishant, but there was still nothing to worry about. Libin came in and played a solid but slow innings as he and Santosh marched steadily on towards the target. The game which had proceeded towards an inevitable conclusion now had a twist in the tale. Two quick wickets went down, and I made my way to the crease. On the last ball of the penultimate over, I took a single. The final over target was 5 runs, however – I was facing a charged up Anup Bhandari, so it wasn’t easy. Narration henceforth in the first person. First ball, wide, shortish, couldn’t get bat on it, dot. Second ball, good length, outside off, missed. Now, there was some pressure on hand. I steeled myself for the next delivery looking to get bat on ball, but I was surprised with a quick bouncer. The ball hit me on the lip, and Bhandari sir had drawn blood. I was clearly in pain, but brushed it off quickly, simply waiting for the next delivery with a mind to finish the match… The next ball was pure tripe, a juicy shortish delivery sitting up, waiting to be hit, and I duly obliged, sending it to the mid on boundary for four. The crowd were now in pandemonium! We couldn’t lose, and 1 was required from two balls. I was beaten the next ball, and Bhandari brought the field up for the final delivery. Thanks to a huge backing up by Libin at the other end, an inside edge onto my thigh was still good enough to snatch a last ball win. It was a thriller for the ages, and I had somehow pulled it off. Talk about nerves! Adrenaline still rushes through me, even when I think about it all these days after. Regardless, a thriller of high quality, but we had no idea of what the night was to bring. There was something in the air that night, and the second match would be even more of a thriller than the first, but that is a story I will tell another time, for now ciao!
Some Pictures from the Match
Report by Y.N Simha
Photographs by Olivia Joshi
Article 19 