Rain interruptions & sporting gestures by both teams helped create a very thrilling game which Menara Ceylon CC won by 1 run this Sunday in the R.P. Singh memorial tournament.
RB United chose to bowl first after winning the toss under overcast conditions. The Menara Ceylon CC openers capitalized on some inconsistent bowling by RB United to get their team off to a brisk start. Mubeen & Sawan Malik waited for the bad balls and made them count as every over saw a mix of good deliveries, some hit-me balls and quite a few wides (26 in total!) and when rain made the first interruption in the 10th over, Menara Ceylon CC were very placed at 90 for 3.
No overs were lost when the game re-started and RB United bowlers led by Hafiz Ibrahim got their lines right and only 68 runs came of the next 9 overs when a lengthy rain interruption forced Menara Ceylon’s innings closed at 158 for 6 after 18.2 overs. Prashant Singh & Anuj Zinzawadia shared two wickets apiece.
A drizzle persisted but both captains were keen to have a game and in the fading light it was decided that there will be a 7 over game and the target was set at 62 (sportingly agreed to by Baba Sivasankaran, the Menara Ceylon captain as DLS was not working)
Ishan Bhaskar started in explosive fashion getting 20 of just 8 balls to get RB United off to a bright start at 23 after 2 overs. Sajid Ali then had Ishan caught right on the fence (an excellent catch by Mubeen) and struck twice more to pull things right back for Menara Ceylon CC. Anwesh Bose & Gaurav Sharma kept RB United in the chase and 24 were needed of the last 2 overs.
Roney bowled a very tight 6th over going only for 4 runs and the task looked uphill for RB United with 20 runs needed of the last over. Skipper Anwesh Bose, then dug in to find his inner MS Dhoni and hit two huge 6s & a four which meant 3 runs were needed of the last ball. The last ball was hit high and fell tantalizingly in between two rush fielders and it looked like the batsmen had crossed for 2 runs which would have meant a tie. But alas, Anwesh hadn’t grounded hi bat from the first run and that meant Menara Ceylon CC won by 1 run.
But to make a match out of something that looked impossible meant that cricket was the eventual winner and due credit here to both the captains.
