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.