After last week’s experience with PHS, this week we settled for Deerfield. After clearing the pitch of excess soil, Radha and Pankaj F (Satish stood in for him for the first couple of overs) formed two teams and the game quickly got underway.
Satish elected to bat and Abhi S opened the innings from the striker’s end. The opening pair did well to score 7 from the first over. Mind you the pitch was very erratic imparting the ball a mind of its own. The next over yielded 5-6 more runs. The opening pair had maintained a good run rate. Radha then brought in Elango and this put some brakes on the scoring. Another thing to note about Deerfield, I am sure you know, the outfield is very slow. The only area which allowed some ground hitting was the covers, otherwise anywhere straight down the wicket or on the leg side the ball traveled just a few feet after hitting the ground. So the players were forced to take the aerial route. Radha’s bowlers used this to their advantage. Elango claimed his first wicket when the batsman tried to go over the deep square leg fielder’s head. Sarvanam followed this with a superb over claiming another wicket. As the run rate started dipping Pankaj F and Samir took over the reins and scored some quick runs. While Samir targeted the on-side Pankaj F concentrated on the off. Some fine hitting helped them put valuable runs on the board. They made 35 runs in 8 overs. If Radha’s team thought they could easily score 36 in 8 overs, they had another thing coming. The pitch was the same and the ball was still being unreasonable. A perfect testimony was Maharaj, who tried his best to time the shots but the most he could do was score a couple of 2 runs. When Abhi S came to bowl the second over, we all were wondering if he would spin the ball or just bowl in the right spots and let the pitch do the rest. After the over he said he did try to spin with about 50% efficacy. Radha’s team lost wickets at regular intervals. They needed about 6 runs from the last over. Santosh who had bowled a great line and length and at decent pace took the ball from Radha. The batsmen just had to keep on scoring singles and rotate the strike. But Santosh was able to keep them on a tight leash. They finally needed 4 runs from the last 3 deliveries. Santosh brought everybody in, but Sarvanan had a different plan. He pulled one over the close-in mid-on fielder and ran for two. Learning from his mistake Santosh moved the fielders a bit farther down, but this time Sarvanan pulled it finer scoring 2 more runs. Radha and his team ran towards him high-fiving and jumping with joy. Earlier Abhi S, Santosh, Pankaj F and Raj bowled superbly. When Radha’s side needed 8 runs from the last 2 overs, Raj conceded just 2 runs forcing the game to the last over affording Santosh a fighting chance. Pankaj and Santosh were at their best not letting the pitch dissuade them and continued to bowl a good line at a decent pace.
It was just 9:15 AM, which meant we had some time for a second game. Prudhvi left and after making one minor adjustment and drinking Satish’s amazing masala tea (Prasad has some serious competition) the two teams tossed the coin in the air. This time Radha was the beneficiary and he sent his opening pair to bat. Second innings are always skewed towards the batsmen, the bowlers are tired and fielders aren’t necessarily keen on running to stop the ball. But Deerfield is different, the batsmen have to hit over the head and that’s exactly what Radha’s batsmen did, especially Raj and Maharaj. They were able to go over the ropes quite a few times. They targeted the leg side more and in 6 overs made 41. Samir was very skeptical if his team would be up to the mark and rued the fact that Radha’s batsmen had fleeced them. Ironically he turned out to be instrumental in keeping his side in the game till the last ball. He teamed up very well with Panaj F to score big. In one particular over the former hit a six and boundary and got a couple of singles and completely turned the game around. He retired and came and continued to hit. Continuing from his earlier innings, Pankaj F again targeted the off side. They needed about 7-8 runs from the last over and Radha handed the ball to Raj, who had bowled a tight first over. But this time he appeared a bit tired (jet lag), which Pankaj F capitalized on and heaved one over the mid-wicket. It fell short by a few inches otherwise that would have been the winning shot. With 2 more needed from the last 2 balls, they scored 2 from the penultimate delivery tying the game. Samir just had to nick the ball and run for a single. Raj came in to bowl and Pankaj F took a head start, Raj stopped in his tracks and took the bails off, this was a warning to Pankaj F. Running in again from the school end Raj bowled on the off, which Samir missed. As luck would have it, the keeper missed too and the fumble gave the batsmen a chance to make a dash to the other side. Pankaj was running fast towards the striker’s end, the closing fielders and the keeper scrambled towards the ball, picked it up and uprooted the stumps. Pankaj F had missed the crease just by a whisker. The game had tied, a perfect end to a great match.
I know the outfield is sluggish and the pitch is a bit wanting but after today’s games Deerfield definitely makes a good case for itself. A big Thank You to Satish for whipping up his own formula and making his version of masala tea. It was as creamy and spicy (don’t worry, I am still talking about tea) as Prasad’s version. As Satish would later admit and Prasad would vouch, it’s all in the ‘stirring’. We had a cup between two dames and then again after the second game. Pankaj B gave us a surprise visit, well he came to meet Satish, but since we were there, he spent some time with us too. We got to see his killer ‘Tauba Tauba’ moves. If you want to see it too, please come to the ground next Sunday. He has promised to show the steps in person. Till then have a great week ahead and see you all next Sunday. Husn tera tauba tauba …