The Finals - BoB shows no mercy!

What a cracker of a match! It was nothing short of a war on the field. Both teams had nothing to loose and everything to play for! The war of words had started between them even before BoB had reached the finals! This was a showdown both the teams were waiting for. With a loss at the finals of NPL 3.0, LBC were sniffing revenge. BoB, getting beaten by LBC in the league stages of the tournament, were hungry for blood. Needless to say ... it was mayhem on the field! 

The match began with BoB winning the toss and electing to field. LBC started cautiously with some quick singles. They saw through the initial few overs without loosing any wickets. Although there weren't any fireworks, but they maintained a healthy run rate with steady running between the wickets. Both the openers Manish and Sachin were looking good before Himanshu Shivnani bowled an excellent delivery to get Manish caught behind. With Manish getting out,  the danger man Piyush came in next. However, BoB were in no mood to let Piyush go berserk like their last match. Himanshi Shivnani bowled a very tight line to Piyush with every ball in the block hole. Ultimately, seeking a run after soo many dots, Piyush found himself stranded midway on the pitch with the ball going straight to the keeper. Deepak Pant (the keeper for today's match) didn't waste a single moment in hitting the stumps and getting the danger man out! With Piyush gone, things started to look up for BoB. To make matters even worse for LBC, Sachin departed in the very next over getting caught behind off Amit Singh's bowling. BoB were ecstatic. There were literally celebrations all around the field. But were they celebrating too soon? LBC were struggling with their best batsmen back in the pavillion. However, Girish and Amit Singh came in to the crease with a mission. They provided a nice platform for LBC. The second spell from the BoB bowlers was very unimpressive. With lot of wides, no balls and over throws, BoB gave far too many runs at the death. Girish and Amit also took the game away to an extent with some monstrous hitting all over the park. LBC ended up with 98 off their 12 overs. A total which was definitely competitive in an all important final.

BoB got off to a very nervous start with Himanshu Shivnani getting out in the first over itself, trying to heave a six off Girish. He was brilliantly caught by Piyush at the boundary. With a wicket falling in the very first over, BoB looked to be going down. However, Himanshu Shivhare came in next and he was in no mood to relent. They say...cometh the hour..cometh the man! And Himanshu was the MAN today!. He went after LBC from the first ball he faced. He started off with a 20 run over of Manish, consisting of 2 H-U-G-E sixes and 2 fours! He treated the LBC bowlers with utter disrespect clearing the boundary at will. He scored a quick fire 33 off just 13 balls before ultimately going down to Girish's bowling. Although he departed, but he made sure BoB was back in the game. It was left for the captain Deepak Pant and the rest of the batting lineup to play sensibly. Deepak played a captain's innings switching gears as and when the situation demanded. He rotated the strike, hit the occasional boundary and made sure Himanshu Shivhare's blitzkrieg would not go to waste. He stayed till the end and saw the team through. BoB reached the target in the last over with a 6 from Nirmal. They won it with 5 wickets in hand...a comfortable win at the end.

With this win, Block or Bleed have won the tournament 3 times, the maximum number of times any team has won the tournament. They also remain unbeaten in the finals with a 100 % winning rate. 

Wow!..what a tournament we've had. From close finishes to downright dominance, NPL 5.0 delivered what it promised - good, competitive, hard hitting cricket. Here's hoping to see even bigger action from NPL 6.0.....coming soon?..we hope.

NPL 5.0 - Day 5

Day 5 promised to be very interesting with a do-or-die match for BoB. They were playing against Dabangg. If BoB won, they would qualify for the finals but if they lost, the NRR would come into play and decide who would meet LBC in the finals.

However, Day 5 started off with some very sad news. BoB's female player - Gunjan Rani met with an accident while coming to the match. She is injured pretty badly and is admitted at the Fortis Hospital - Sec. 62, Noida. Although she is out of danger but her injuries are pretty serious. Let us all pray and hope she has a speedy recovery.

With the first match getting cancelled, both the teams got 1 point each. This essentially meant that BoB entered the final. However, the mood was pretty grim at the BoB camp.

LBC v/s Flame

LBC squared off against Flame in what was an inconsequential match for both the teams. LBC had already reserved a berth for the finals and since the first match was called off, Flame would not have gained anything except pride on winning this one. 

Flame won the toss and elected to bat. The ever dependable Saroj Pradhan and Ashish Jain started the proceedings with the bat. Girish and Manish were the opening bowlers for LBC. Usually Flame have a very smooth start to their innings. However, this time, Saroj departed very early in the game getting bowled to an excellent delivery from Girish. It got from bad to worse when the next batsman Deepak Goel also went cheaply after facing just 2 balls. Things were looking ominous for Flame before their saviour Ramashankar came into the crease. Together with Ashish, the duo stabilized the innings somewhat. LBC bowlers were merciless with their line and length. They bowled pretty well and dried up the runs to an extent. Flame had scored a meager 15 runs after 5 overs! Ramashankar and Ashish tried to up the run rate and get a partnership going. But soon, LBC were able to break the crucial partnership and looked to wind up things pretty quickly. Raghu came in next and started off with a boundary. However he soon saw himself back to the pavillion getting out to Piyush.  When everything seemed to be going the LBC way, out walked Meenakshi. Up till now, female players did not contribute anything with the bat. Well, here was a lady who was all set to change all that! After facing 2 deliveries, Meenakshi  hit a boundary off Piyush! A boundary from a lady means an 8 because every run is doubled for them. It was the first time in the history of NPL, a female batsmen hit a boundary. And she was in no mood to stop too. She ran a 2 and a 1 after that to end up with 14 crucial runs for her team. She became the 3rd highest scorer in her team. Flame ended up with 81 on the board...a total which was pretty good considering the way their innings was going.

LBC had a nightmarish start to their innings. They lost Sachin and Amit in the first over itself. Deepak Goel who lost out with the bat made up with the ball. With 2 runs on the board and 2 wickets down in the first over, it was left for Piyush and Girish to get their team out of trouble. However, Girish too was sent packing by Ramashankar in his first over! 3 wickets down and desperately needing to hang on, Piyush and Amit Anand tried to play the waiting game. However, tragedy soon struck when Amit was run out after scoring just 3 runs. Piyush and Manish then tried to salvage the innings before Piyush got out in the worst possible manner - a hit wicket. He shuffled too far back while facing Meenakshi and found himself commit Harakiri! A spirited Meenakshi took out LBC's and NPL's most destructive batsman till date. With Piyush out, LBC were really in the dumps. Manish tried his best to save the innings but he ultimately ran out of partners from the other end.

LBC ended up 20 runs short off the target and were handed their first defeat of the tournament. Ramashankar was the pick of the bowlers taking 3 wickets from his 3 overs and ensuring that his team won some pride in this tournament.

The tournament's all set up for an exciting finale on Sunday with BoB and LBC facing off against each other. LBC already beating BoB in the league matches, would be high on confidence. BoB on the other hand would be hungry for revenge. Historically, they both have met each other in the finals of NPL 3.0. BoB won it that time but will they be able to repeat it this time? Or will they get beeped again by LBC. Only time can tell. 

Day 4 - Boom Boom Boom

Day 4 saw some monstrous hitting from all the big names of the tournament. There were 2 big matches being played today - Flame v/s Sholay Reloaded and LBC v/s BoB. 

With a humiliating defeat the previous day, Sholay Reloaded were dying to set things straight. Flame on the other hand, were trying to get some momentum going their way, after their win in the previous game. 

The second match was between LBC and BoB. With both teams winning their first 2 matches, whichever team won today would surely get the psychological edge over the other.  Day 4 was slated to be full on awesomeness!

Flame v/s Sholay Reloaded - Fight fire with fire!

Flame started batting first with Saroj Pradhan and Ashish Jain on the crease. As usual, there was the initial flurry of singles from Flame but this time, they weren't successful. Ashish was run out in the first over itself! and so was Vibhor who came in next. 2 wickets down fairly quickly, Ramashankar - the hero of the last match, was all set to save Flame again. However, the Sholay bowlers did not allow him to stay for long. Ratnesh caught and bowled Ramashankar before he could get his eyes in. Sholay Reloaded were pretty good with their bowling and made sure they got wickets at regular intervals. However, the occasional boundaries and the furious running between the wickets saw Flame reach a competitive total. They ended up with 75 on the board after their 10 overs.

Sholay started off with a bang! Both their openers Vinod and Anand welcomed the Flame bowlers with boundaries and sixes. They were cruising away before their aggression got the better off them. Both the openers were dismissed before they could take the game away from Flame. However, Ratnesh on the crease meant that the danger was not over yet for Flame. But wickets kept falling from the other end. Soon it was upto Ratnesh and Abhinav to save Sholay from getting "extinguished". Thats when Ramashankar cleaned bowled Ratnesh. I swear there was a very audible "gasp" on the ground from each one of  the spectators. That was it for Sholay..with the female batsman batswoman Pramita on the crease...the fate of Sholay was sealed. Or was it??? Abhinav, apparently had other plans. He went berserk! No no...he went "godzilla" on them. Literally! God knows what he had for breakfast, this guy wasn't gonna settle for a loss. He heaved 3 consecutive sixes off Deepak Goel's over. Huge ones..in fact, one of the biggest in the tournament.  If those sixes weren't enough, he hit 2 consecutive boundaries and finished off the game once and for all. It all happened so quickly that everyone really dint believe it...till the Sholay Reloaded team were celebrating. A cracker of a match indeed. One of the best in the tournament till now.

BoB v/s LBC - BoB gets *beeped*

Both the teams had won their first two matches and both wanted to get a psychological edge over the other.   BoB lost the toss and were put into bat by LBC. Himanshu Shivnani and Himanshu Shivhare were the openers. Everyone was expecting a blitzkrieg similar to the one they had showcased last week. However, LBC's tight bowling denied them from cutting loose. The initial overs were in fact rather nervous for the batsmen. BoB never got the start they wanted...rather they never got the start they expected. Himanshu Shivnani  got his stumps rattled by Manish after scoring just 2 runs. Amit Singh who came next also departed early after facing just a single ball. Ashish Trambadia came in next and tried to stabilize the initial onslaught offered by LBC. Both of them were doing well before Ashish got bowled by Girish. Things were looking bleak for BoB, loosing 3 wickets with nothing much on the score board. With 15 odd runs after 5 overs, it looked as if BoB would end up with the lowest score in the tournament. Himanshu Shivhare tried to up the run rate by hitting 2 consecutive sixes of Girish's over but found himself back to the pavilion in the very next over getting bowled by an awesome delivery from Piyush. However, captain Deepak Pant and Nirmal held a good partnership and were at the crease till the end. Nirmal hit some good shots in the end and helped BoB reach a respectable total of 71 runs from their 10 overs. A total where they could fancy their chances against the opposition.

LBC came into bat and were subdued a bit by the BoB bowlers initially. However, the occasional boundary kept the pressure off the LBC batsmen. Amit Anand departed early in the second over itself lobbing a catch to Himanshu Shivhare off Himanshu Shivnani. However, the danger man Piyush came in with no mood for mercy. He got into his groove from the very start of his innings. He cleared the boundary at will and made sure there would be no surprise ending to this tale. Both Piyush and Sachin took the game away from the opposition with some powerful hitting. Piyush hit 3 huge sixes off Nirmal to score 21 runs off his 1 over. That kind of finished up the match for BoB. With 2 runs to win and 3 overs remaining, Sachin finished things off with a boundary. An ecstatic LBC marched off the field winning all 3 of their league matches and stamping their authority of being the strongest team in this tournament.

With the last weekend to go and LBC reserving their finals berth, everyone's still guessing who will be the second team to join them. BoB has a do or die match up against Dabangg. If they win, they would be in the finals for sure. If they lose however, things would get pretty exciting with the NRR coming into play. Next week promises to be an exciting affair indeed. 

Day 3 - The action continues

After an exciting start to the tournament last week, this week promised some great action in the form of the biggest rivals going head to head. The weather being at its merciful best, things were pretty comfortable on the field. 

Day 3 started off with LBC facing Sholay Reloaded and Flame meeting Dabangg. This is how the action unfolded.

LBC v/s Sholay Reloaded - The pied piper of NHST 

This was a thriller of a match with the game going down till the last ball of the match. LBC won the toss and elected to field. Girish, who started the proceedings with the ball, gave LBC a dream start with a wicket off the very first ball!! Sumit was bowled out for a duck! However, Sholay weren't going to give in that easily. Ratnesh came in and ensured things wont be that easy for LBC. A nice partnership between Ratnesh and Ashish was brewing before Ratnesh was finally run out after making a decent 40. He had come to the rescue of the team yet again. Ashish on the other hand provided stability to the innings and made sure to rotate the strike constantly. Abhinav came in after Ratnesh and hit some meaty blows..a 6 and a couple of 4s and Sholay ended their innings at 82 off their 10 overs. A competitive total indeed.

LBC began their innings similar to Sholay, losing out Amit Anand in the 2nd over itself. However, Sachin and Piyush stabilized their innings with a 50 run partnership between them. But, things started going the Sholay way after their partnership broke. Ratnesh took the danger man Piyush out of the action and things went a bit sour for LBC. With some decent bowling from Sholay, they made sure there weren't many fireworks from LBC. With 15 required off the last over, things seemed to be out of reach for LBC. Girish and Manish were on the crease and they had to face the final over which was a female over. Just when it looked as if LBC would not be able to make it, there was rain! No..not the conventional one...it started raining wides! Not one, not two, not three..but 8 big ones. Girish commanded the length of the wide and his wish was "granted" as if the bowler was hypnotized. He truly became The Pied Piper of NHST mesmerizing the bowler and made her bowl according to his will. Finally, they were able to reach the target off the last ball much to the anguish of the Sholay Reloaded team. They complained about the manner in which the last over was played, specifically over the antics of Girish, but hey.. this is N-P-L!!..things are not soo goody goody around here..its war! 

With 2 out 2 in the bag, LBC were a serious contender for the finals.

Flame v/s Dabang - Munni badnaam ho gayi (phir se!)

With both teams losing their games last week, they were both hungry for blood. Flame won the toss and elected to bat first. The ever dependable Saroj Pradhan started off the proceedings with Ashish Jain. They began the way they usually do....scurrying for singles and doubles at whatever chance they could get. However, Pravar got Ashish out in the 2nd over of the match. Deepak Goel came in next, but went back to the pavillion with the same speed as he had come in. He was dismissed after making just 4 runs on the board. Things were looking down for Flame, when out came their captain Ramashankar; and played a captain's innings. With the occasional boundary and loads of running between the wickets, he was able to steer his team to safety. The number of wides and extras given by Dabangg did not help the situation as well. Ramashankar and Raghu helped the team get to a competitive total of 89..the highest in the tournament so far!

Dabangg started off nervously with their opener Nawajish getting run out after making only 1 run. Shashi too went back after scoring 7 measly runs. With both their openers failing to fire, they needed someone to stay there and keep the required run rate in check. However, Flame, with their immaculate bowling, tied up Dabangg and ensured that they dont go all "Salman Khan" on them. With wickets falling regularly, it was soon a matter of time before Flame finish things off pretty comfortably. They restricted Dabangg to a paltry 51. Dabangg guys -- Munni wont be happy at all!

Day 2 - Balls flying all around

Day 2 was no different from Day 1 in terms of the temperature but very different in terms of the atmosphere. There were 2 matches for the day - BoB v/s Flame and Dabangg v/s Sholay Reloaded. Since there wasn't much fog today, play began earlier than yesterday. This is how it all happened.

BoB v/s Flame

A li'l history lesson first. Flame (including their old avatar) have won the tournament 2 times (Season 1 and 4). In NPL 3.0 and 4.0, they had an alliance with the Middleware group and named themselves - Flame (Flamboyant Alliance of Middleware and Embedded). This time around, although the alliance is broken, but still they shamelessly decided to keep the same name. Anyways, this was a match between 2 champion teams...with both of them winning the tournament twice. Also, both of them are known for their "friendly" banters on the field. Today was no different. 

Flame started batting first and got off to a decent start. Both Saroj and Raghu were pretty busy on the field, running quickly between the wickets. Raghu got out in the second over to Himanshu Shivnani. However, Saroj Pradhan made sure things were under control with quick singles and doubles with the occasional boundary. BoB was all over the place in the field. There were far too many extras and a lot of mis-fields which cost crucial runs. Himanshu Shivnani was the pick of the bowlers with 19 off his 3 overs and picking up 2 crucial wickets. The rest were pretty ordinary and never looked too dangerous. Ramashankar held the innings after the departure of Saroj Pradhan. Deepak Goel also scored a quick fire 13 to help them reach a decent total of 87. 

87 was always going to be a difficult target to chase. However, BoB openers, Himanshu Shivnani and Himanshu Shivhare had other plans. They literally pummeled the Flame bowlers scoring at 12 runs an over. Both of them provided an explosive start and dint show any signs of stopping. Himanshu Shivhare hit 4 H-U-G-E sixes and top scored with 41, the highest in the tournament so far. He was ably supported by Himanshu Shivnani who also was striking the ball hard. By the time both of them got out, the situation was very comfortable indeed. Partha and Deepak Pant finished the proceedings and BoB won the match in the 7th over itself!!

Dabangg v/s Sholay Reloaded

Both teams had everything to play for since they both had lost their matches on Day 1. Due to a delayed start, they were forced to play an 8 over match instead of the usual 10 over.

Dabangg started batting first with Sangharsh and Pravar as the opening pair. However, they were denied an explosive start by some nice bowling from Abhinav Mishra and Ratnesh. Sangharsh departed in the 2nd over itself, after he mistimed a shot off Ratnesh's bowling. Pravar meanwhile hung in there with quick singles and doubles. Abhinav from Dabangg provided some meaty blows from time to time to help them reach a target of 55 from 8 overs. He top scored with 26.  Sholay's tight bowling ensured they were always in control and restricted Dabangg to a modest total.

Sholay dint have to worry much about chasing the target set by Dabangg and went on to win quite comfortably. They reached the target in the 6th over itself with 8 wickets in hand. All thanks to some aggressive batting from Ratnesh who made sure there would be no surprise ending to this story. Sumit was on the other end constantly rotating the strike and taking those all important 1s and 2s. Ratnesh again top scored with 32 of 14 balls...hitting a 6 to finish the match in style. 

After Day 2, BoB won their second league match and Sholay Reloaded also registered a win. The tournament is poised for an exciting finish indeed.

Next week we would see important questions being answered:

1. Will Dabangg finally play like "Dabangg" or will they be renamed?

2. Will LBC *beep* BoB this time?

3. Will Sholay Reloaded make a Basanti out of Flame? 

4. Will anyone ever comment on this f*@#$!g blog!!!???? Stop being a bunch of pussies and let the verbal banter begin!! Cricket was never a gentleman's game.

Day 1 - An affair with the fog

NPL 5.0 started off with a bang this weekend with all the 5 teams in the competition getting a taste of the action. Everyone's already playing the guessing game, trying their best to predict this year's champion.
Saturday saw temperatures reach as low as 5 degrees at 8:30 am in the morning! There was a thick fog cover over the ground which caused a delayed start. Nevertheless, no amount of fog or cold could dampen the spirits of the players and the show was on. It went on something like this.

LBC v/s Dabangg

The first match up was between LBC (Love, Beep aur Cricket) and Dabangg (no..seriously thats the name of the team!!). 

LBC has always been a dangerous team. In their old avatars, throughout the NPL tournaments, they have been notorious for their "wild" banters on and off the field. They have constantly been in the midst of action in terms of results. They came third in the first two seasons and as runner ups in NPL 3.0. 

Dabangg always held high expectations right from season 1. However, they never could make their venture successful till now. They have been part of many upsets...with them being in the wrong end of the upset.

Anyways, LBC won the toss and elected to field. They restricted Dabangg to a modest total of 63. Compared to the high scoring matches we have seen on the Billa Bong ground, 63 in 10 overs was definitely not competitive. But no one could bet on it because of the ground conditions. Piyush was excellent on the field taking 3 wickets and giving away only 16 runs from his 3 overs. He also featured in the run out of Dharmendra.Ably supported by Girish, they prevented from Dabangg going all...well.."Dabangg" on the field. 

Chasing 63, LBC were always gonna be favourites, unless there was a collapse. They started nervously with Amit Singh falling to Pravar after facing just 7 balls. But Sachin, Piyush and Amit Anand stabilized the innings and reached the target in 8.1 overs. Piyush provided some fireworks at the end hitting consecutive boundaries and re-enforcing his reputation as a monstrous hitter of the ball.

Sholay Reloaded v/s BoB

The next match was between Sholay Reloaded (another bollywood crazy team) and BoB (dont search for the missing O..its not a typo...BoB stands for Block or Bleed you perverts!). 

Sholay Reloaded is a team with many new faces and full of young blood. In their old avatars they have had names like WIN (What's in a name) in the 1st season and WON in the 2nd season. Its another story that they dint "win" or "won" those 2 seasons. However, they were a part of the biggest "alliance" in NPL called Flame. Teaming up with the EMPD team, they finally ended up winning NPL 4.0. This time around, all the old faces have given way to newer ones. It would definitely be exciting to watch them.

BoB has been a seasoned campaigner right since NPL began, winning 2 out of the last 4 tournaments. They boast of a fiery bowling attack and have won with the biggest of margins in NPL. But they also have a reputation of losing out very unexpectedly. In a sense, they play like their name. 

Anyways, Sholay Reloaded started batting first. BoB started off well with Subhash taking a wicket in the very first over itself, dismissing Sumit for a duck. Sholay was pushed back to their crease from the initial spells of BoB's bowlers. However, they got away to an extent in the middle overs due to too many extras being bowled and some nice batting by Ratnesh. He top scored with 23. Apart from him, nobody else really looked to do any damage. The best moment of the match was BoB's female over. Gunjan gave away just 4 runs from her over (of which 3 were wides)..so basically...just 1 run off the bat. To rub it in, she also took a wicket. Sholay Reloaded ended up with 67 runs at the end of 10 overs.

BoB started off with Himanshu Shivhare and Sanjay Kumar. Things were looking to be all set for BoB when they suddenly lost 3 quick wickets. Both the openers and the captain Deepak Pant fell in quick succession all thanks to some nice bowling from Abhinav Mishra and Ratnesh. However, Subhash and Himanshu Shivnani did the rescue act and constantly made sure that they were above the required run rate. They eventually reached the target in the second last over itself.  

At the end of the first day, BoB and LBC both registered their wins pretty comfortably.    

Let the games begin!

Its that time of the year again...when friends become foes and foes become friends. With fresh young blood infused in every team, the alliances getting bigger and the cold being at its peak...the stage is all set for a monstrous showdown. The age old encounters will resume and new battle lines would be drawn.  NPL 5.0 - its gonna be war!..and a new champion would be born.

NPL 5.0 - Starts from 8th Jan 2011.
Venue: Billa Bong
Caution: Pussies and Pansies, please stay at home and avoid getting run over.