Assam under GrahamB (story)

[GrahamB]

T20 Game 3

Against Sikkim we won the toss and decided to bowl.
They started at a breakneck pace, but were in trouble at 68/4, before Qimat Mehra (48 off 22 balls) and Ankur Malik (40 off 14 balls) came together to up the run rate over 10 rpo.
However, once those two were gone, there was little else of substance and Sandeep Goel polished them off with a hat-trick.
In reply, we lost Parvel Musaraf early, but Amit Manjrekar smashed 82 off 48 balls to get us up with the requited run rate.
Tajun Banerjee (56 off 43 balls) and Fahim Memon (36no off 14 balls) then came together to see us through to victory with an over to spare.

[GrahamB]

T20 Game 4

We won the toss and decided to bowl first seeing as we'd won our first three games doing that.
Chandigarh opening batsman, Aslar Khan (68 off 36 balls) took charge and with support from the rest of the top order got his side through to 186/4, before a late collapse saw them finish with 197/8.
Still, this was the biggest chase for us so far and we knew that it would be a challenge.
With both of our openers gone at 41/2, others needed to step up, and thankfully they did, as Tarun Banerjee (58 off 38 balls) and Fahim Memon (41 off 23 balls) laid the platform for a win.
We still had a required run rate over 10 going into the last few overs and it was the task of keeper/batsman, Sumit Ghadigaonkar (22 off 12 balls) and all-rounder, Manoj Bhandage (31no off 11 balls) to power us over the line.

[GrahamB]

T20 Game 5

We won the toss against Kerala CC, and with very cloudy conditions and a slow outfield, it was a no-brainer choosing to bowl first.
None of their batsmen were able to get established and they limped through to 115/9.
We made the mistake of being too complacent in chasing the target, with our unnecessary aggression costing us wickets.
At 44/4, we were in trouble, but thankfully the middle order played more sensibly to see us through to victory with a ball to spare.

[GrahamB]

T20 Game 6

We lost our unbeaten record, against Services.
We won a fourth toss in a row and decided to stick with our tried and true formula of bowling first.
They got off to a rollicking start, but at 116/4, the wheels started to fall off and they were dismissed for 150, with veteran batsman, Rajat Paliwal (53 off 39 balls) impressing.
At 111/2 we were well placed to rack up another victory, but the Services spinners tied our batsmen in knots, and a dramatic collapse due to the required run rate getting higher and higher, saw us crumble to finish on 128/9.

[GrahamB]

T20 Game 7

We won a fifth successive toss and decided to bat first.
Amit Manjrekar (69no off 58 balls), Nadim Menta (66 off 33 balls) and Fahim Memon (34 off 19 balls) helped get us through to a decent 177/4.
However, the Bahir batsmen decided to take the bull by the horns and smash everything in sight.
It was the world class innings of Varun Goud (80 off 33 balls) though that set his side up for an impressive win.

[GrahamB]

Sadly, those last two losses saw us miss out on progressing any further.



Top Performers

Batsmen

45.80 - Tarun Banerjee
40.67 - Amit Manjekar

Bowlers

10.61 - Amit Rana (OS)
16.50 - Sandeep Goel (RMF)
17.85 - Amit Pandey (RMF)
26.21 - Manoj Bhandage

[GrahamB]

OD Game 1

We lost the toss and were put in to bat.
With Amit Manjrekar anchoring the innings with a knock of 130, and excellent contributions from both Nadim Mehta (81no) and Fahim Memon (52), we put up a total of 329/5.
Gujarat started well with an opening partnership of 106 between Priyank Panchal (96) and Irvil Patel (56), but the rest of the top order failed to build on that, and at 143/5, the situation looked pretty dire.
However, the middle and lower order batsmen combined to take their side through to a respectable 290 all out.

[GrahamB]

OD Game 2

We won the toss and decided to bat first.
With star batsman, Amit Manjrekar, having been called up for the national squad, we brought specialist opener, Parvel Musaraf, into the playing eleven to partner Sumit Ghadigaonkar, and they put on 119 for the first wicket, before Musaraf fell for 42.
Ghadigaonkar held the innings together, but when we were 241/5, there was a little concern about getting past 300.
However, all-rounder, Manoj Bhandage (50no off 25 balls) and Tarun Banerjee came together to see us through to 317/6.
Arunachal Pradesh got off to a similarly strong start with openers Abhimanyu Easwaran (46) and Techi Doria (57) putting up a century stand.
However, the introduction of spin, with Amit Rana, turned the match significantly, as his 5/37 tore the throat out of the batting to set up a rather comfortable victory..

[GrahamB]

OD Game 3

We won the toss and chose to bat. We got off to a flier, but the Rajasthan bowlers reeled us back in and despite out best efforts, we finished with 286/7, a bit less than what we'd hoped for. Ghadigaonkar (101 off 1239 balls) scored a second successive century to hold things together and then Tarun Banerjee (66 off 54 balls) led the charge towards the end.
When Rajasthan were 73/4, things looked good for us, but Lalit Yadav (a career best 139 off 96 balls) singlehandedly took the game away from us with some power hitting. Once he'd gone, the required run rate was well within hand for the lower order to finish the job.

[GrahamB]

OD Game 4

This time we lost the toss and got put in to bat under very cloudy conditions and with a slow outfield.
Led by Sumit Ghadigaonkar's third successive century (123 off 115 balls) and Riyan Parag (75 off 65 balls), we were set up for a big score. Although we probably pulled the trigger a bit early, we got through to 327/9, which was terrific under the circumstances.
With Andra at 142/4 following the dismissal of Hanuma Vihari (48 off 68 balls), Ricky Bhui joined Rahul Tewatia in the middle and smashed 37 off 13 deliveries to bring the required run down to just over 8. However, once these two were gone there was little else of substance and Andra collapsed to be all out for 243.