CRICINFO PLAYS OF THE DAY WIDE, WIDER, WIDEST 1) MCC are known to be slow starters and have one of the poorest record in the powerplay. Wasim Aslam wanted to capitalize on this by giving RCC a good start in the very first over He started dreadfully and ended up bowling the very first over for 11 runs - all of them wides. To add salt to the wound the first ball of his second over also went for 5 wides and laid the foundation to a good MCC start. THE BOUNDARY HUNTER 2) Rocky is always up for the challenge to take on any catch in the deep. He often sacrifices the ability to marshall his troops from within the circle by placing himself in the boundary. Mahendra Shinde was well set when he sliced one to the deep extra cover region. The ball was travelling and Rocky placed himself comfortably underneath to take a well judged catch - only to realize he has just lost his balance and hit the fence with his back - quite astonishingly giving a valuable and the only six to MCCs innings and set the tone for things to come. TWO BALLS THAT CHANGED THE MATCH 3) After two very expensive overs from Otmar and Aman, MCC were cruising at 113-2 off 12 overs when Rocky decided to come into the attack. His first ball went for a boundary to fine leg but the second delivery saw Deveshs well-timed straight drive going straight into the throat of Wasim at long-off. The batsmen had crossed and the very next delivery saw Mahendra Shinde plumb off-guard hence introducing two new batsmen and putting RCC right back into the match. ABHISHEKS EXPENSIVE RAINDANCE 4) MCC had the perfect start to RCCs reply getting rid of both openers cheaply and at 22-2 off 3 overs RCC badly needed a partnership between Hitesh and Upendra to revive the big chase. Bitter rivalry between Upendra and his former club is evident every time he comes to bat against them and this time was no different. Words were exchanged and MCC were feeling the heat as the pair added 54 runs in 5.4overs when Upendra chased one wide outside off edging it to the keeper. MCC were ecstatic as they had their big wicket and Abhishek Kumar ran down from square leg and gave Upendra a fiercesome stare and dance of glory ... only to have 30% of his match fee cut for misconduct by the match referee post proceedings. THE LUCKY ESCAPE 5) It was Chanaka and Wasims heroics that blasted RCC to the final but this time a man hailing from Maharashtra and playing his first season with RCC - Sagar Patil held the innings together as first Chanaka then Wasim played the finishers role to the high pressure chase. Pressure was visible not only on the batsmen but the fielders as well - RCC had just lost Chanaka and needed 21 off 14balls with 2 wickets in the hut when Wasim hit a groundshot to deep mid wicket. The deep mid wicket fielder slipped on a simple take which allowed the ball to go through for a lucky boundary for RCC. With 17 required off 13, Shrikkant bowled a fantastic 19th over leaving RCC with 11 off the final over. Manish Singh had bowled out all his top bowlers and had a choice to make between putting Tanveer Khan back on or introduce a new bowler. He decided to bring himself for the first time in the innings and started off well with just a single off the first two balls.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 11:53:07 +0000