HT Media dwarfs Hafelle India in a collective team perfomance led by skipper Kavaldeep in the Times Cricket Shield ‘18
A lion alone is enough to rule the jungle but when there are group of lions attacking together and marking their territory it becomes all the more difficult for anyone to tame them. A similar sort of event occurred in the F Division Times Shield Match which was played between HT Media and Hafelle India at the DPC Matunga ground in Mumbai.
Hafelle India who won the toss elected to field first with an aim of restricting HT Media to a low total. However, they were in for a shock as HT media registered a mammoth total of 415/7 in 45 overs on the back of their solid batting line up. Team totals like this are not achieved everyday and that too in mere 270 deliveries but it was all possible because of collective team perfomance by the HT boys. HT media were off to a flying start by their openers Prithvi K (48) and Swapnil B (91 off 38 deliveries) as they notched up 139 runs for the 1st wicket in the 1st 12 overs which developed a great positive momentum. Swapnil missed out on mere 9runs on what could have been the fastest Times Shield ton of 2018. That was not all as Vaibhav P and Fazil M also chipped in with 42 & 50 respectively to continue the good start left behind by the openers. Mohsin M who smashed a brilliant hundred in the last match continued his good form smashing a solid 67* off 50balls while skipper Kavaldeep Singh who came at no.8 proved to be quite costly for Hafelle as his late blitz of 41ball 71 down the order took the team total to cross the 400 run mark. HT media who were 270/6 at one stage further accelerated due to Kavaldeep’s onslaught at the lower middle order. What’s more he also plonked one bowler out of the park for as many as 28runs in the 38th over. In a carnage of sorts, almost all the bowlers went for a thrashing as every corner of the ground were laced with 4”s and 6”s by the HT batsman.
Chasing 417 in 45 overs is always difficult and a pressure situation. Hafelle must have experienced the same while chasing as they were skittled out for just 57runs in 13.1 overs. Skipper Kavaldeep (Right-arm fast) who was the 2nd highest scorer with 71 was also amongst the pick of the bowlers taking 3/14 in 3 overs while left arm quickster Fazil with 3/9 in 4 overs was the pick of the bowlers for HT. Spinner Kunal N. also bowled well chipping in with 3/20 as three of them kept a tight line and length to trouble the batsman.
It was a perfect team perfomance by HT Media team wherein all the boys chipped in their capacities which eventually help them register a big win by 358runs.
CRICKETGRAPH
Comments are closed.