The second game of the R.P. Singh Memorial cup saw the unveiling of yet another Indonesian teen-talent in the form of Rico Ramadhasyena as his spectacular 24 (in just 7 balls) helped snatch victory from the jaws of a likely defeat.
Menara Ceylon CC (MCC) won the toss and elected to bat first on a hot day at the Cibubur Cricket ground and their innings got off to a breezy start as Mehdi Raza Baig started with two 6s in the first over itself. He continued batting with aggression despite the loss of his opening partner in the second over and raced to 33 of just 16 balls before Muhammad Raihan had him nicking behind. Baba Sivasankaran & Muhammad Mubeen kept the aggression going and MCC raced to 95 for 2 after 10 overs.
A huge first innings total looked on the cards but the introduction of Anjar Tadarus & Deepak Singh changed the tide in Yadavas favor as the next 6 overs went for just 30 runs and the loss of 4 wickets. Fachry Nurhadi also bowled a fine spell and MCC folded their innings at 146 with just 5 runs coming off the last 2 overs.
The Yadavas started very cautiously in their chase and reached 28 for 1 at the end of the 6 over power play. Anjar tried to step it up but some good bowling and a sticky-wicket meant that Yadavas WISCI Tigers could only manage 52 in the first 10 overs. The asking rate climbed to 9.2 and boundaries were hard to get, so Anjar & Adam Jones resorted to some quick running as 10 runs came off the 11th over. Hasmatullah got rid of the dangerous Anjar but Amila Sayaan was finding it tough to exert control and conceded 17 runs in his last over.
The MCC bowlers kept chipping away with wickets to keep their team still in the game as 20 runs were needed off the last 2 overs and the game looked tilted in their balance. The 19th over is typically the crucial game-changing over in most T20 games and the vastly experienced Rajeev Kumar was going to bowl that to Rico Ramadhasyena, the rookie making his JCA debut. The fearless rookie prevailed in this match-up as he walloped 23 runs off just 4 balls (that included a no-ball) to take his side home.
