In a Division 1 encounter on Sunday, MenaraCC thrashed EmerioCC a by a whopping 144 runs. Boldly opting to bat first, Menara reached 279/5 in 35 overs. Building on a good opening partnership, Menara continued to keep up the momentum through its opener Taimur Khan (42 runs) and John Dulip (56 runs off 37 balls). At 166/3 after 24 overs, the final flourish came in the form of Mahesh Thadani, who showed no signs of his brief hiatus from the game, as he remained unbeaten on 68 runs off 55 balls, and skipper Harish Tiwari, who scored 45 runs off just 21 balls. That partnership of 93 runs which came off only 51 balls ensured that EmerioCC had a mountain to climb while chasing.
Emerio’s Dilip Udayashankar came out with all guns blazing as he took the attack to the opposition. With rain clouds approaching in the distance, Dilip scored 55 off just 29 balls that threatened to put Emerio ahead of the required run rate at the 15 over stage, the minimum number of overs that had to be bowled to get a result should it come to a rain stoppage. However his dismissal in the 9th over brought the calculators into play as Menara began to intelligently maneuver its resources to keep Emerio under the required run rate after every over. Aggressive captaincy, intelligent field placements and smart execution of plans led by Taimur Khan (6/36) and Harish Tiwari (4/38) ensured Emerio’s last wicket fell in the 19th over in perfect symphony with the arrival of torrential downpour as MenaraCC signed off their last game of this season with a massive win.
Thanks to Suresh Subramanian & Corbon Loughnan from Fez Rebels CC for umpiring the game
