Arun’s heroics help Lowe Lintas thrash Zeus in a low scoring thriller.
Venue: Plot 4, LIC
All of us have heard that Cricket is a batsman’s game. It indeed is. But we also forget a bowler’s role in the game, time and again. It’s really the bowlers who “defend” a total, whether big or small to win a match for their teams. That is exactly what happened in a match between Lowe Lintas and Zeus Systems in Milan Cricket Club T-20 tournament.
After scoring less that run a ball in the shortest form of the game, no team would feel confident of defending it, let alone win by a big margin. Lowe Lintas, after being put into bat by Zeus Systems just could not increase the tempo throughout their innings and eventually ended for a comparatively low total of 118 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in their allotted 20 overs. Rather than keeping wickets in hand, they must have felt that 150/8 would have put them in a better situation.
Opener Nakul top scored with 36 (41 balls) and was looking good for more when he was castled by a Pankaj Sisodia delivery only to be stumped by Harshit. Amit Narkar (23) and Aniket Vaidya (25) steadied the ship for Lintas but it was the acceleration that was lacking throughout the innings. It never really came though. ArunKelaskar made some effort towards the end with a 10 ball 18 that move the score past 100. It was a combined bowling performance by Zeus Sytems with four bowlers capturing a wicket each and helping their side to restrict the opponents to a below par score.
But Zeus themselves were to face a reality of 118 being a score way beyond their reach. The fact that the highest score in their innings was made by “extras” bowled by Lintas bowlers, suggest a lot about the extent of batting failure. It was clearly a match to be won by Zeus but taking no credit away from Lintas who bowled extremely well while defending a low total. Top half of Zeus batting line up was back when the scoreboard read 19. The writing was on the wall. The question was when. The innings stretched till the 19th over but the match was over much before that. Only MaitrayJukar and Parth Shah could enter double digits in Zeus’s innings.
All 6 bowlers use by Lintas claimed at least a wicket each with Aditya Pratap taking a couple. But the chief tormentor was man of the match ArunKelaskar who bowled 2 maiden overs out of 4 and scalping 4 wickets in the process. This win will give a lot of confidence to Lintas which will help them later in the tournament. Zeus will have to get together quickly and move on to their next match and forget this as one off day.
Brief Score:
Lowe Lintas: 118/5 in 20 overs (Nakul 36, Aniket 25*, Ramarishnan 1/12)
Zeus Systems: 82 all out in 18.4 overs (Parth 18, Maitrey 16, Arun 4/04, Aditya 2/24)
Report By:
Sumanyu Jain
Regional Manager & Editor|www.cricketgraph.com