Cricket Classic

This was neither a national level match nor even a state level one. This was just a match that I played at my 3^rd club (Kalinga Cricket Club) ground. Though I have had short stays at different local clubs, I consider myself a part of only three of them; Rising Students, Rameshwar Sporting & Kalinga Cricket Club.

Talking about the match, it was just a friendly match that we played for good practice before an intra-city cricket tournament I guess. I was the captain of my side & after winning the toss, it was an obvious choice to bat first as we were looking for good healthy batting practice. To our bad luck, we lost the first wicket in the very first over & though I was always panicky playing the new ball, I went on to bat after the fall of wicket no. 1. It was a 20-20 game, so intent was crystal clear.

I felt the heat when I had to face the sweet chin music from both the 7 feet gigantic fast bowlers. I even remember of doing a complete somersault when one express delivery knocked my helmet off. Getting pounded by sledgehammers would have been less painful. In the mean time my partner got his eye set & smashed 3 consecutive boundaries in a single over. The ball was losing its shine & so were the bowlers. It was the perfect time for us to capitalize. We both explored the small opening that we got & went all guns blazing. I danced down the track every time a spinner delivered me. After the 19^th over, the scoreboard read 156/3. I was still unbeaten at 84 of just 47 balls. I had 6 balls to score 16 from to get to the triple figure. I took a two in the first ball & then came down the track again, next ball, just to find my stumps completely out of the ground. I was out for 86 of 49 balls. One hell of an innings it was. More than the score, the shots I played gave me immense pleasure. I successfully executed reverse sweep, copybook hook & even hit two sixes with “Jeet’s Trademark Slice”. For those who don’t know, I was known in my cricketing circle for my slice over point, gully & full face drive through the cover point, something that I am proud of.

We finished with 165, a par score. So they had all the chance in the world to win it. I knew we had to stick to the basics only. Wickets will follow automatically. I wanted my other bowlers to have a go, so I did not open the bowling for a change & put on the keeping gloves. Another reason for the decision was I had always been a fan of Adam Parore, the stylish kiwi wicket keeper who also batted first down.

Things did not go as we had planned & we found ourselves really vulnerable at the mid stage with the opponents threatening to surpass our score at 88/2. I would have to admit the blunders I committed during the field placing & bowling change. But someday none of your decisions go your way. I removed my keeping gloves & got ready to bowl the 11^th over. The very first ball I was hit for a four right above by head. A powerful hit it was, but it gave me a minor scope as I found out a loophole in his short playing. I planned to bowl the same ball after a couple of balls & guess what; he played the same shot, but the trivial variation in the pace did the trick. That was my first wicket of the match & it just got better after that.

After 18.3 over, they got all out for 132 & my statistics read as 4-0-21-6.

We won the match by 24 runs & I had a match of a life time by scoring 86 with a strike rate of almost 200 & then ripped through the bowling order with 6 price wickets.

It was just a practice game & guess what in the actual match which we played after a couple of days against Pragati Sporting Club, I got out for a golden duck in the very first ball.

Cricket is a great equalizer as they say. :)