IISc Rout Sangam Cricketers
Kiran played some delightful cover drives and lofted drives on his way to 94
24th August, IISc Gymkhana Ground, Bangalore: IISc kick started their KSCA IV Division 2014 campaign with
an emphatic seven wicket win over Sangam Cricketers. IISc won the toss and
promptly elected to field given that rain was predicted to play a part in the
game later in the afternoon. Sangam openers were off to a steady start before
Varun nicked out Vinod for 18 in the 9th over. Mithun then joined Sidharth and
continued to play in a steady fashion. Just when it seemed that Sangam had laid down
a solid foundation to reach a respectable total, IISc's spinners struck three
crucial blows on either side of the drinks break. The first to go was Sidharth, who holed out
to long off trying to force the pace. The
second wicket partnership of 69 came in 18 overs. Mithun soon followed top
edging a paddle sweep towards forward short leg. The edge stayed up long enough
for the wicket keeper (Kiran) to run across and dive full stretch to gobble it.
Sagar barely got set before he tried to slog one out of the park but only
managed to find Ankit at long on. The quick strikes dented Sangam's innings,
reducing them to 119/4 in the 32 over. Ranjith tried to grab the momentum back
by finding the boundary regularly with his unorthodox strokeplay. But, Arindam
towards the end of his marathon spell that spanned 12 overs, picked two crucial
wickets to ensure that Sangam entered the death overs with no momentum
whatsoever. Sangam's lower batting order had no answers to Ankit's tantalising
line and Ashit's cleverly disguised slower ones as they ended up getting all
out for 202 in the 50th over.
IISc's openers began the chase positively, striking some boundaries
early in the innings off Dayanand. Captain Raghu brought himself on early to hold one end
up with his nagging line. Nikhil was in the
midst of an impressive spell at the other end, troubling both openers with sharp in duckers. Both openers dug deep and fought off the difficult period to
ensure IISc came unscathed in the first 10 overs. Kiran then shifted gears and
took charge of the proceedings by playing some delightful cover drives and
lofted drives off the spinners to bring up his half century in 54 balls. Kiran
looked like he was in a hurry to finish things as the next 30 balls he faced
produced 44 runs. IISc went into the drinks break at 123 for no loss at the end
of the 24th over. Kiran looked all set
to get to his first century this season as the bowlers hardly produced anything
that troubled him. However, in a bid to get to his century quickly, he miscued
a flighted delivery off Sidharth to long off to go for 94 off just 84 balls.
The 135 run first wicket partnership came off 160 balls. Gaurav fell the next
over trying to force the pace for a steady 40 of 80 balls. Vikram (39* off 43 balls) completed the formalities by
ending the chase in the 39th over. IISc now face Dolphin Cricket Club in their
next encounter on 31st August. IISc will not be taking them lightly as they
beat Unique Cricket Club in their first game.
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