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Scintillating Raghu helps NCA clinch a Thriller Scorecard
A Six wicket haul
from Raghu on his debut and a terrific half-century from Srimanth helped NCA register
a 3 wicket victory over GCC
GCC won the toss and elected to bat on a hot and sunny day. Sandeep and Dharmesh
opened the batting for GCC and Ramdass and Hitesh opened the bowling. GCC got off
to a solid start with the openers playing some cracking shots and NCA bowlers had
difficulty getting adjusted to the left right combination. Sandeep was hit on the
thumb by a Ramdass lifter and had to retire for treatment. Mithul continued the
good work with lovely delicate shots played around the wicket. Srimanth and Jaideep
were introduced into the attack But were finding it hard to get the breakthrough.
GCC were well placed at 68 without loss at the first drinks break. Just when Mithul
was looking in fine form, Jaideep castled him with a excellent yorker for 14. Sandeep
came back for to bat for GCC and spin was introduced from both ends in the form
of Arun and Siraj. GCC topscorer Dharmesh was caught by Abhi at short midwicket
off Siraj for 44. Ananth was the next batsmen to come and quickly sounded his intentions
with couple of crisp boundaries. Spinners kept a tight line and were unlucky as
a few miscued shots were dropped or fell short of the fielders. GCC were nicely
placed at 123/2 at the second drinks break and looked threatening for a score of
200+ when Ananth and Sandeep started cutting loose (Ananth hitting Arun for a six
over long on). NCA fielding was mixed bag with Ramesh and Raghu shining bright and
Siraj, Bharat and Srimanth dropping difficult chances.
Raghu was introduced in the 21st over and immediately got rid of the dangerous Ananth
with a peach of a delivery which Ananth could nothing but fend back to the bowler.
Raghu got hit for a six by sandeep, but came back in spectacular fashion to clean
up the batsman. Sandeep was second highest scorer for GCC with 41 runs. Big hitting
Bakul was run out by a spectacular pickup and throw on the follow up by Raghu. Raghu
then got Ritesh to edge to wicket keeper Srimanth for his third victim. Dinesh was
caught by Ramdass at long on, trying to step up the scoring off Raghu for his fourth.
Ramdass fooled around to run out Paras. It was all too easy for NCA to polish off
the tail with Raghu cleaning up Mikil and Roshan. Raghu finished with a fantastic
haul of 6 for 16 off 15 deliveries. GCC innings folded at 170. Stiff target, considering
that NCA were missing some key batsmen in Sujay and Aniketh. .
Arun and Jaideep opened the innings for NCA and made a cautious start with Ananth
and Sandeep spraying around. Jaideep was LBW to Ritesh 2 balls before the first
drinks break for 15 runs with the team score at 65. Arun fell soon after the drinks
break spooning a Ritesh delivery to Bakul at cover for 17 runs. Srimanth and Bharat
began the damage control. Srimanth looking in ominous form cracked some brilliant
shorts. A spectacular square cut off ritesh and a huge six over cow corner off dharmesh
were the highlights. Mithul swapped wicket keeping pads with the ball and immediately
reaped rewards as Bharat was caught and bowled spectacularly for 7. Ramdass was
the next man in with NCA in a tricky position and hit a couple of boundaries, but
could not resist from going for a hoick and was caught in the deep by Ritesh off
mithul for 10. Big hitting Abhi was the next man in. Just when it looked that NCA
will coast home easily with Srimanth in ominous form, Mithul pulled out a stunner.
Srimanth was caught and bowled brilliantly by a diving mithul for 55 and team score
at 139/5.
GCC sensed blood. Star of the day Raghu tried to rescue the situation but was run
out in a mixup to leave the scores at 148/6. Abhi played one too many shots and
was bowled off the inside edge by Ritesh for 8. Hitesh joined Siraj for a tense
finale with 20 runs needed and 3 wickets in hand. A couple of intentionally played
deft edges from Hitesh and a huge six over midwicket from Siraj off Mithul sealed
the victory for NCA with 10 balls to spare. A valiant effort from Mithul who took
3 for 30 and two stupendous catches could not steal the victory for GCC.
Raghu was the Man of the Match on his Debut.
Scores:Scorecard
GCC 170 all out 24.3 overs (Sandeep 41, Dharmesh 44, Ananth 24 Raghu 6/16
NCA 171/7 in 23.1 overs (Srimanth 55, Arun 17, Mithul 3/30, Ritesh 2/27)
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