Cricket resumed in Jakarta after more than a year’s pause on account of COVID with the R.P. Singh memorial tournament starting this Sunday. Eight teams face off against each other in a T20 competition played with strict observance of COVID safety protocols.
A newly laid wicket awaited players, many of whom hadn’t touched a cricket bat or ball for more than a year, on Sunday at the Cibubur Cricket ground. This factor plus the uncertainty of not knowing what the new wicket had to offer would have made Syed Kabir invited Challengers Metro CC (CMC) to bat first after winning the toss.
David Surjit opened the bowling for Senayan India XI and the new mat which he had help lay repaid in kind by giving him a wicket in his very first over. A run-out compounded things further for Challengers Metro as they lost two more wickets in David’s second over. And, when the dangerous Ranjan Shankar departed in David’s third over, CMC were in deep trouble at 21 for 4.
Lack of practice meant that the wides were flowing as Senayan India XI conceded 29 of them in their innings, making Extras the highest scorer. But in between the many wides, the bowlers kept chipping away and CMC were in deep trouble at 59 for 7. A stellar rear-guard fightback by skipper Manickavasagan & Yuvaraj Bhaskar in the form of 41 run partnership helped CMC reach 110 in their 20 overs.
Jaganathan accounted for Aman Sinha in the very first over to give his team some hope of defending a low score. However, the wides allergy spread to the CMC bowling as well and too many of them helped relieve the pressure. Sakthi Narayanan accounted for Parag in his very first over to break a budding partnership but Sampath Kumar’s counter-attacking riposte along with a solid anchoring act by Amar Kapadia at the other end helped Senayan India XI recover well to 65 for 2 when Ranjan Shankar castled Sampath Kumar.
Yuvaraj Bhaskar returned to contribute some tight overs with the ball as well and he along with Sakthiseelan ensured that Senayan India XI didn’t run away with the game. Skipper Manickavasagan got rid of the dangerous Amar Kapadia whose 34 run knock had been the glue to the chase. CMC kept fighting and took it to the last over but defending 110 was always going to be tough and eventually Senayan India XI won with 5 wickets and 4 balls to spare
