Vivekanagar vanquished

Team IISc's wagon-wheel shows that the visiting bowlers

were sent on a leather hunt to all parts of the ground.

24 September 2011, IISc Gymkhana Ground, Bangalore: The horrid memories of the abject surrender last year were erased as team IISc inflicted a heavy defeat on Vivekanagar Cricketers in the pay-back match. Meaty contributions right through the batting line-up helped IISc post an imposing 288 which was too much of an ask for the visitors who fell 57 runs short.

Vivekanagar won the toss and put IISc in to bat. Their decision was vindicated as Kiran played on one from Balaraj. But Salil (49) and Pranesh (50) kept things simple and played solidly. Salil was particularly fluent punching into the gaps all around the park but got out to a needless run-out that denied him a well-deserved fifty. Arindam was the next victim of yet another horrible mix-up.

Vikram (44) joined Pranesh and settled the nerves in the dressing room with another fluent innings that the team has started to expect of him. In typical fashion, he dealt in the currency of boundaries but eventually lost his wicket in pursuit of a six.  Ashith (51*) went in and played a captain's knock - a silken unbeaten fifty. As the time came for acceleration, both Pranesh and Ashith helped themselves to a towering six each. Pranesh holed out after reaching his maiden fifty in KSCA league and the lower middle order had a mini-collapse. Arjun (29) played a cameo and together with his skipper ensured a flourish at the end that took IISc to 288/9.

Vivekanagar chose a far too cautious approach focusing on keeping wickets in hand. Balaraj (52), Venkatesh (46) and Paramananda (43) did all they could to keep the chase on track. But starting from somewhere around the middle of the innings they fell far behind the asking rate. Their innings came to a meandering finish 58 runs short of the target. Debajit  (3/35) was the pick of the bowlers for the home team.

The worms (red: IISc, green: Vivekanagar) indicate that the

visitors fell far behind starting from the mid-way mark.

With two victories in as many matches, team IISc's KSCA Metro Shield campaign is going strong. Still they have some problem areas to work on - fielding was not up to the mark as is testified by the umpteen mis-fields and four dropped catches. The next match against fourth ranked Vikram CC on coming Sunday will definitely be a tough test.

Brief Scores:

IISc - 288/9 in 50 overs

(Salil 49, Pranesh 50, Vikram 44, Ashith 51*, Arjun 29)
Vivekanagar Cricketers - 231/8 in 50 overs

(Balaraj 52, Venkatesh 46, Parmananda 43, Roger 24, Debajit 3/35, Roy 2/52)

Result: IISc won by 57 runs

Man-of-the-match: Ashith Shyam

Newspaper reports:
"Deccan Herald"

PS: Wagon-wheel and worms compiled using PitchPad Pavilion