Last week's loss still hurts. We now face an almost must-win game against the Sloggers this Sunday. Both teams need this one pretty badly (we more than them though) so we can put some 'win' points on the table. This week's game also decides who toils away in the hot sun the week after with a double header. The looser of this game pretty much ends up playing the other two teams in the league on a single day which can be very tiring. My guess is that this will be a well fought game between two well balanced teams.
Teams
Sloggers
Travis Wilkinson(c), Barry Watt, Subbu Raman, Shabbir Hussain, Pankaj Bhanot (wk), Vishan Dookhu, Karthik Vjayarajan
Pankaj Bhai unfortunately is still a game day decision with his broken foot which is pretty bad for the Sloggers. But it could mean that Danny might end up playing for them as a pool player if he turns up. Though technically he should be playing for the Lions (he's played a game each for the other two teams) it would just make more sense in letting him play for the Sloggers in Pankaj Bhai's place which would even out the teams pretty well. The Sloggers have a solid top order with Travis and Barry who can bat for long and still score at a very quick pace. The middle order looks a little too thin and have to help out their top order if those guys retire early. The bowling department looks very strong with Shabbir, Vishan and Subbu who can contribute a lot of variation to the attack. The key will be extras that killed them in the first game. They will have to bowl with a lot of discipline and cant afford to give away too many wides.
Watch out for Travis. The skipper's been in great touch with the bat. He played some lovely strokes in the first game and should definitely use him a little more as a bowler this time around. The key is for someone else to carry on if he retires after scoring his 30 runs.
Royal Lions
Mark Berwick(c), Munna Hussain, Lazar Joseph, Sachin Shah, Naveen Margankunte, Misa Tupou and Sankar Venkataraman
I still cant believe we lost the first match with this line up. The top order looks pretty good with Lazar bhai, Munna and Mark who are all aggressive batsmen capable of scoring loads of runs. The middle order with both Misa and Sachin can keep the score moving at a brisk pace. I reckon I'll be batting with the middle order after my debacle as an opener in the last game. Thinking back, I feel like I had cost the team vital momentum early in the innings.
We have a pretty decent bowling attack like I've mentioned earlier. Infact, we dint even get the chance to bowl two of our regular bowlers in Misa and Naveen the last game. Munna was a little expensive up front but cant be blamed for some lovely batting by Danny and we are sure that was a one off game as he is a really good bowler. Mark and Lazar are the guys we will depend on when things start getting nasty for us as they can both bowl at pin point accuracy with a very good pace. Sachin could be very interesting as he mixes a bunch of no-balls pitching off the turf with some really beautiful deliveries.
Watch out for Mark. He is a player who is born for this format of the game. He can hurt teams with his power hitting and clever bowling. He is one of the very few bowlers I've seen here who can create a surprising amount of bounce off a good length as he bends his back a lot more than others (strictly for bowling purposes)
Key Match-up: Lazar facing Barry. Lazar Bhai's a batsmen who will quickly decide the fate of a team. He is someone who can give us a great start with his explosive batting and Barry is one of their strike bowlers. He would be looking to get Lazar out instead of containing him which is an almost impossible task.
This should be an exciting match and I look forward to contributing to the success of our team this Sunday.
Tidbits
Its almost impossible to recollect everything from the match while writing the recap. I managed to miss quite a few highlights from the last few games. I should've definitely mentioned Sashi's catch (a very difficult chance) that almost dismissed Ragu last week. A little thing being it was caught right after it sailed over the cones (a taller guy would've had that easily...;-)....).
I also forgot to mention that it was Rick's first game as a proud father (If I remember correctly, he dispatched the first ball he faced to the backward point boundary).
Good luck to both teams...!!
Is it Sunday yet ??!!
0 comments:
Post a Comment