Game 9 – Déjà Vu

Number 3 vs Rookies (again).
Pachaiyappas ‘B’, 15 Apr 2006.
Rookies won by 79 runs.

The second game in a row against repeat opposition. But the build up was as incident packed as one could wish. Firstly, a no holds barred team meeting was called on Top T to discuss far reaching issues such as nets discipline, the future direction of the team and various other things. And as Sriram called Blue Sky Lakshmi to confirm the match, he was told that we’d be playing Rookies. Again. At Pachaiyappas B. Again. So that called for only one name, the man who got us going against Rookies last time around – Venkat. Only problem, he had moved to Poona, remember? Sriram still had his Chennai mobile number, and called it on a lark. Guess what? He picked up the phone, he’d been in Chennai for a month, and was itching to get back to action. He was in, and then, to complete the XI, Vik decided to defy his back injury and wield the new ball. All set to go.

Pachaiyappas B, and in a desperate attempt to win a toss, I walked out with the opposing player. No luck whatsoever, we were fielding first, so what else is new. Bulavar wasn’t available for today’s game, so I wore the big gloves. Vik and Joy shared the new ball, but were up against truly formidable opposition. We felt from the last game that Rookies were the best opposition we’d faced in the league, and they proceeded to confirm this beyond any doubt. Since just about half their team had shown up and they didn’t have their kit, they borrowed two pairs of pads and a bat from us and dismantled our new ball attack in spectacular fashion. Compounded by the fact that Kataan was stuck at work meaning that he was late and we had to take the field with 10 players, the new ball session was trouble from the word go. Vik, Joy and Anand were summarily dismissed by drives, cuts and pulls to the tune of over 10 runs an over. Narendra shrugged off two sixes of his first two deliveries to pick up one of the openers in his first over, and bowl a decent spell. But still, by the drinks break, they had scored nearly 150, at close to 12 an over. In keeping with the Déjà vu theme, as in the last game, the introduction of the spinners slowed things down somewhat – Kataan had arrived by now and bowled the best spell that #3 could muster, getting two and keeping the score down to some extent. Sriram picked up his mandatory couple of wickets, but they still went on their merry way, with one batsman registering the highest score against us of the season, a staggering 97. They finished on a spectacular 241 for 7 off the 25 overs we bowled in the time allotted.

In spite of the huge score conceded, the consensus was that it was an extremely improved performance in the field. Hard running and decent pick ups, keeping fours to twos and twos to ones, and one excellent high hard swirling catch by iii amply demonstrated that all the practice we’ve been putting in is having some effect. Special mention for Kishore whose outfielding has improved out of sight.

All right, the batting. Ramesh and Anand opened, and there was that déjà vu again. Anand got out in the third over with the score at 30 and Venkat joined Ramesh. Would you believe it, we were up with the asking rate after 7 overs, scoring close to 70 runs. Venkat even played his famous “hook shot against rookies” that is now part of #3 folklore on his way to a scintillating 30, and when he fell Sriram joined Ramesh. They took the score to over 90, but by now the match clinching spell was in progress. Two medium pace bowlers, bowling to carefully set fields (one of them bowling accurately with just two on the leg side) pegged the scoring back and when Ramesh fell for our top score of 39, capping a fine all round performance, we were well and truly behind the eight ball.

We weren’t done yet, though. Maybe a fallout of the team meeting, maybe not, but the middle order (the real rookies – we’ve got to get those guys to change their team name) came good today. Jubbs stuck around for a well played 18, and Narendra walked the talk, slogging his way to 25 hard hit and hard run runs. Kishore and I played a couple of overs to clout a few, pushing our score to a new high – an extremely respectable 162 for 7 off 25 overs. Not only was this our highest score to date, it was also the only occasion we’ve not been all out apart from the win.

All told, a very competent performance, one feels. To quote Greg C, in terms of “execution of skills” and “sticking to the process” probably our best performance, one that would have brought us a win against most of the teams in this league. Turning it on at the right time is the challenge now. The learning for me is that the practice is paying off. Keep at it, everyone

#3 was supported at the ground, as is now customary by the lovely Lodd, providing refreshment and support for the team and eye candy for the opposing team and the Pachaiyappas faithful.

In game 9, #3 was: Ramesh, Anand, Druck (wk), Narahoo (c), Jubbs, Kishore, Venkat, Narendra, Vik and Joy.