Roy poaches four as IISc hunt down Friends CC

Off-spinner Roy spun a web around the Friends CC 
batting returning with impressive figures of 10-1-42-4.

4th August, IISc Gymkhana Ground, Bangalore: IISc registered their second win in as many matches in the KSCA Metroshield 2012 IV Division league beating Friends Cricket Club (FCC) by five wickets. Put into bat under overcast conditions, the FCC openers found it hard to contend with the extra swing on offer as Debajit (6-1-24-1) and Varun (7-0-22-1) picked up from where they left off in the previous game. Ashok Kumar tried to cut loose by launching Debajit over square leg for a six but was soon snapped up at second slip by Ashith off the bowling of Varun. Debajit then had Pradeep caught driving to mid-off where Ashith took a fantastic diving catch launching himself forward taking it inches off the ground. Teja (5-0-15-0) and Vikram (5-0-17-0) produced some tight overs before the drinks break as the opposition crawled to 86 for the loss of two wickets at the halfway stage.

Manjunath tried to break the shackles by smacking a couple of boundaries, but with Srinivas unable to rotate the strike at the other end, FCC were struggling to lift the tempo. The introduction of spin triggered a batting collapse as Manjunath (31 off 56 balls) skied one to cover off Roy. Kiran (4-0-27-1) soon put Srinivas (28 off 86) out of his misery by gladly accepting a return catch (in the process picking up his maiden wicket in the league). Syed Ali (30 off 31 balls) briefly resisted picking up the odd boundary but soon perished as Roy spun a web around the FCC batting and brought it to its knees returning with impressive figures of 10-1-42-4. Jagadeesh (26 off 17 balls) smacked some lusty blows at the end trying to lend some respectability to the total but the damage was already done. Ashith (5.5-1-25-2) ensured there would be no rearguard action from the FCC batting as he cleaned up the lower order setting IISc a chase of 180.

Kiran (33 off 41 balls) and Salil (27 off 26 balls) went about the chase with minimum fuss stitching together yet another steady half-century partnership (57 off 57 balls). FCC hit back with two quick wickets sending both openers back to the hut with IISc still needing another 123 runs. Ashith (44 off 56 balls) and Varun (30 off 50 balls) eased the nerves in the IISc dressing room with a crucial third wicket partnership of 79 runs off 111 balls which brought IISc within touching distance. However, some reckless shot selection by IISc’s batsmen delayed the inevitable victory for them as they eclipsed the target in the 39^th over losing five wickets in the process. It was a big win nonetheless but IISc would agree that they lost a couple of wickets too many. IISc now face Indiranagar Cricketers on Sunday, a crucial game for both sides.

Brief scores: (50 overs match)

Friends CC - 179 allout in 42.5 overs 

(Srinivas 28, Manjunath 31, Syed Ali 30, Jagadeesh 26*;

Roy 10-1-42-4, Ashith 5.5-1-25-2)

IISc - 181/5 in 38.5 overs

(Salil 27, Kiran 33, Ashith 44, Varun 30;

Naveen 4.5-1-15-2)

Result: IISc won by 5 wickets

Man of the match: Aniruddha Datta-Roy

In the newspapers: 

"Deccan Herald" - URL, png