Danbury cricket ground played host to the semi final of the Surinder Plaha tournament which had pitted two perennial rivals against each other. It is often assumed that even if these two teams clashed in the gullies of Delhi the contest was sure to be a slobber knocker. Even with the heightened levels of competition, rest assured that the game was played in the highest of spirits. Aside from the two teams there was also “a contest within the contest” that had been brewing for 2 years.
Praneet Reddy and Santosh walked out to the middle for the toss in this 35 over match. It was won by UBS who promptly decided to take first strike. Bhavyen and Atif went out to open the innings after enduring several vicious glares, stares, scares, etc from Achal. The start was a decent one as the scorecard was kept ticking along. Atif was scoring briskly and Bhavyen was rotating the strike nicely. A bowling change was rewarding for West Haven as Bhavyen was out LBW to a slower one from Sai Koya. Achal joined Atif in the middle and did not let the runrate dip. Atif kept striking the ball handsomely and Achal provided adequate support. The “contest within the contest” had soon taken center stage and round one promptly went to the bowler as he almost had Achal nicking one to the keeper and one to slip. But both chances went astray. Round two went to Achal as he capped the over with a nice straight drive to the long off fence. The “battle within the battle” was now tied at 1-1 and the public was dying to know what the outcome of it would be. Unfortunately for UBS, the bowler came out as the eventual winner of the “contest within the contest” as he got Achal’s wicket off a slice to gully. Atif was still going strong on the other end and had now breezed to his 50 with ease. Santosh joined him in the middle and decided to up the ante but fell when he hit a full toss straight into the hands of mid on. Shockingly, Pragnesh followed the same script and lined a full toss straight into the hands of midwicket. UBS was now in the midst of a wobble and needed the calm head of Akash (I cannot believe I just said that) to hang in there with Atif and get the score to respectable proportions. The bowling was having no success in slowing down Atif who now had one eye on his century and the other on the diminishing overs. Fatigue was getting the best of him now and the need to pile on the runs forced Atif to chance his luck and he was bowled after a well made 86. Thapar and Akash played the remaining overs out and brought the total to a respectable 199 at the end of 35 overs.
West Haven sent out its openers with the specific plan of seeing off the dangerous new ball and keep wickets in hand for an assault towards the end. Their plans seemed to be working early on as the bowlers were being thwarted with the straightest of bats. Eventually UBS’ bowlers struck and started picking up wickets at regular intervals. The asking rate was steadily climbing in the face of a disciplined attack from the bowlers who rarely offered a loose delivery. The latter half of West Haven’s innings saw the need to score 110 in 72 balls with Praneet and Gautam still in the middle. They gauged the situation extremely well and began upping the scoring rate with well placed singles and doubles and the much needed hits to the fence. That trend continued for the next 7 overs and the equation had now been reduced to 45 from 5 overs. The next 2 overs from Akash and Virender were a tremendous example of bowling in the face of pressure as they produced highly economical overs that had given UBS a good grip on the game. The game now asked for 35 from 3 overs and Santosh brought himself into the attack knowing the fact that the batsmen had to go for big hits to bring a victory within sight. Praneet smacked Santosh for a mighty six on the first delivery but the next one led to his demise as he tried to repeat the act and holed out to Achal at long off. Achal made no mistake with the catch and completed it safely and securely. UBS now knew that they had got the big wicket and only a miracle could snatch the game from their hands. The final over demanded 22 runs to win and with a spread field it was almost impossible leading to UBS grabbing the win by 18 runs. Praneet had played a great innings under pressure and had accumulated a commendable 76 that turned the game on its head but had fallen just short of victory.
The two captains and the umpire decided to present Atif with the Man of the Match trophy for his brilliant 86 made opening the innings. UBS will now play the hosts New Milford in the final of the Surinder Plaha Tournament.
