Scorecard TITANS vs Gillies

Result: TITANS won by 13 runs

Going into this match, we knew that a lot was at stake on this match. First, the Playoffs. A victory today would have confirmed our entry into Playoffs. While preparing for this season, we had stated our first objective as Entry the Playoffs. And today, we were one victory away from getting a confirmed entry into Playoffs. Second, the “R” factor. We needed to win this match to take Revenge for the embarrassing loss to Gillies in the practice match early this season. As a result, many of us had been planning for weeks ahead for the game against Gillies.
On the morning of Aug 7, with partly cloudy skies and temperature around 70F mark and with a lot of dew on the ground, Titans won the toss and elected to bat.

TITANS batting
Kapil and Shilpan started the batting and got into the act immediately by rotating the strike with ease. It was all looking good when Kapil was unable to play down a ball in the third over and offered a simple catch to silly mid-on. Score 13 for 1 after 3 overs.

Shilpan was joined at the crease by Laxman and the two continued from there. Shilpan, his usual energetic self, was stroking the ball into gaps and running hard. Lakshman, trying hard to improve his career strike rate, was successful in rotating strike with Shilpan. However, tragedy struck in the 6th over when Laxman ran out Shilpan with some atrocious running between the wickets. Score 27/2 at the end of 6 overs.

Gopi joined Laxman at the crease. Both went about consolidating the innings. Stung by the runout, they were both circumspect in their running and concentrated on avoiding any further loss of wickets till the break. At the mid-inning break after 12 overs, the two had taken the score to a solid 52/2 without taking any undue risks.

Gopi lost his wicket in the first over after the break when he was declared lbw to a ball that came in. Score 58 for 3 after 13 overs.

Abhay joined Laxman at the crease and found it hard to push the ball into gaps. The two Gillies spinners were bowling a good line and length, the batsmen were unable to find gaps and unwilling to take on the fielders. Sooner than later, one of the batsmen had to take the charge and Abhay decided to take responsibility for improving the scoring. He attempted a couple of hits to the mid wicket boundary but ended up offering a catch to the mid wicket fielder. Score 66 for 4 after 16 overs.

The scoring rate had dropped suddenly after the mid-inning break. With the spinners on and the batsmen finding it difficult to find gaps and the batsmen not willing to take on the fielders, runs became hard to come by.

Vinay was promoted up the order to improve the scoring rate, but his inning did not last long and he ended up giving a catch to a fielder on leg-side as he attempted to hit over the top. Score 71 for 5 after 18 overs.

Abhilash came to the crease and got into the act of scoring quick runs with his running between the wickets. However, his inning did not last long as he ended up offering a return catch to the bowler. Score 75 for 6 after 19 overs.

Sunil joined Laxman and they played some delightful strokes in the 20th over coupled with brisk running between the wickets. Nince runs were taken in the 20th over and that helped the score immensely.

Laxman’s fine knock came to an end in the 20th over when, attempting to steal a second run, he was runout as he could not ground his bat in the crease. He scored 22 off 45 balls. He had sealed one end for around 17 overs. (For future matches against tougher oppositions, he would need to develop the ability to find gaps and improve his running between the wickets.)

Samar joined Sunil and the duo prevented any further loss of wickets and kept up the scoring rate. Their partnership enabled Titans to take the score past 100. Samar lost his wicket in the 24th over when he tried to hit the ball above the infield only to find the fielder pluck a nice catch. Vijay joined Sunil and they grabbed all the runs. They stayed together till the end and Titans ended up with 104 for 8 in 25 overs.

Titans did well with the late surge to go past the 100 runs. After the opening overs and at the mid-inning break, a score of 125 looked possible but the slow scoring in the overs after the break meant that Titans had to be satisfied with 104 itself.

Gillies batting

Gillies started the inning with Senthil and Kannan. Both openers in good form and looking to attack us from the word go. Senthil was dismissed when he lifted Abhilash in the 2nd over and Vijay took a well-judged catch at deep mid-off. Gillies Score 7 for 1 after overs.

Sridhar joined Kannan at the crease. From then on, Kannan played very good and attacking cricket and Sridhar concentrated on giving him strike. They both played very good and attacking cricket and avoided any further loss of wickets for the next few overs. Gillies reached a score of 38 for 1 after 10 overs. By all means, the match was on and there were indications that it could go either way.

It was in the 11th over when Satheesh, coming in for his second spell, trapped Sridhar plumb in front of the wickets. Score 40 for 2 after 11 overs. Titans still needed the wicket of the danger man Kannan. And Vijay provided the crucial breakthrough in the 12th over. Bowling intelligently, Vijay pitched one slightly outside off stump and Kannan, going for a wild drive edged the ball to the slip cordon where Abhilash plunged to take a brilliant one handed catch. Danger man gone, and Gillies 40 for 3 in 12 overs at the mid-inning break and Titans back in the match.

When Gillies were batting at 38 for 1 after 10 overs, the match was evenly poised. However, two quick wickets and, most importantly, the brilliant catch by Abhilash off Vijay brought Titans back into the game.

First ball after the break and Abhilash, this time coming in as a bowler, did the magic to bowl the batsman. Gillies 40 for 4 after 12.1 overs and Titans sensing victory. From thereon, the two Gillies batsmen then concentrated on avoiding any further loss of wickets. All our bowlers bowled a superb line and length and as a result the next 8 overs yielded only 22 runs. At the end of 20 overs, score 62 for 4. With Gillies needing 43 in the last 5 overs, the writing was on the wall.

Throwing caution to the wind, Gillies then launched a late assault. Riding their luck, the Gillies batsmen started hitting the ball everywhere and running for every possible run. The 21st over from Vinay went for 6 runs. The 22nd over from Satheesh went for 8 runs. At the 22 over mark, Gillies were 76 for 4 – still 29 needed off 18 balls.

The partnership was finally broken when in the 23rd over, the batsman hit Vijay to long off where Kapil took a well-judged catch. The fifth wicket partnership added 37 runs in 11 overs for Gillies. The new batsman in was runout to the very next ball. After 23 overs, Gillies 78 for 6 and needing 27 off 12 balls.

The 24th over from Abhay, the batsman trying to hit him out of the ground was dismissed when Abhilash effected his trademark stumping. That over had 1 more runout due to Gillies batsmen running themselves out in search for quick runs and due to Titans fielders keeping their cool and a high one handed catch taken by Vinay to end dangerman Vasan's innings. Gillies 82 for 9 after 24 overs.

With Gillies needing 23 runs for victory, Vijay conceded 9 runs in this over and Titans ended up defeating Gillies by 13 runs.

Funny moment of the match : One Ball in Vinay's Second over hit the batsman on backfoot, there was an appeal for LBW, but the umpire signalled for Wide. When told that the ball hit his legs, he answered, "SO WHAT?".