TROJAN CRICKET CLUB

How did it come to this?

After 3 hours of a pulsating cricket contest at Cromwell, Alpha Magnificent seemed to have victory against Popovich Patriots in their grasp. Three runs needed off four balls, with Jay Patel on strike having slogged a 4 of a previous Krishna Sai Tarun delivery. The game should have been done and dusted, and Patriots were staring at their first defeat of CPL 2019.

However, Alpha Magnificent proceeded to remarkably offer Patriots a way back into the game. With 3 needed off 4 balls, Jay managed to get a single which brought Prabjot on strike with 2 to get off 3 balls. Prabjot swung hard but was caught brilliantly at midwicket by Prashanth Natarajan off Sai - a few inches either side of Prashanth and this would have been a sure shot boundary. 2 needed off 2 now with Akshay Haylal on strike . Sai bowls a slower one outside off- batsman misses - Two needed off one now, and suddenly, it was Alpha Magnificent feeling the heat. AM needs at least a single to take this game into Super Over. They Must!

Sai ran in for the final delivery, bowled another slower one outside off, batsman misses – they try to steal a bye , wicketkeeper Sushil Premjanicollects it clean and runs toward stumps and knocks it down with non striker Jay – a feet short. Patriots Win by a run –Alpha Magnificent loose from a position from which loosing is probably more difficult than winning !

Alpha Magnificent seemed heartbroken, having done all the hard work, but falling short by a few inches, quite literally. What a game of Cricket !!

Some noteworthy contributions: -

The Batting innings for both teams was quite rusty with batsmen struggling to middle the ball on a difficult batting pitch amidst chilly conditions with drizzle and wind playing a part.

Rohit's spell of 3-0-14-3. He got top 3 Patriots batsmen including the wicket of in form Deepanshu Jain who had just hit 2 well timed boundaries in the previous over.

Harshit Joshi's intelligent and miserly spell of 3-0-10-1. None of the Patriots batsmen had measure of his slower ones. He was well supported by Javed Patel who finished with 3-0-14-1.

Probably the only bright spot as far as batting is concerned in this game was Akshay Modi and Harshit’s partnership of 30 odd runs - added in quick time with both batsmen running aggressively and looking threatening to take the game away from Patriots.

Sneh Kishan's deadly spell of 3-1-8-1. His most important and match defining over came in the last batting power play when AM needed 24 off 4 overs with Ravindra Jain on strike. Sneh bowls a maiden wicket tilts the game in Popovich’s favor !

Excellent bowling spells by Prashanth Natarajan (3-0-19-2) and Krishna Sai Tarun (3-0-22-2) with both bowling crucial spells in pressure situations.

Last but not the least – Man of the Match Rushabh Rupani (3-0-13-2) who got both the AM openers in his fiery opening spell and put Alpha Magnificent on back foot. AM batting struggled from there on.

Though Patriots ended up winning the game by a whisker –Thanks to the thrills, drama and the fluctuating fortunes - Cricket was the true winner tonight !