RPICC vs CCCC at Burlington VT
~Aravind Vijayaraghavan~
It was one of those rare, perfect days for a game of cricket, but our performance was anything but perfect. I have to say, this has been one of the poorest performances by this immensely talented team, not just because we lost so badly, but because we lost to a team that was definitely not Tricities.
The team that reached Burlington was not quite what we had in mind, thanks once again to last minute disappearances, last minute indeed, for three guys didn’t turn up on the morn of the match. Thus we were forced to play a guy who has never before in his life touched a cricket bat or ball. And, we were left without a keeper!
Electing to bat, our openers were at once put on their back foot by some fiery pace bowling by Vishy and Salman. We struggled to score at even 3 an over, infact the ball hardly touched the bat and most of the runs came form extras. Cloud cover didn’t make things any easier for the ball swung like crazy. Aravind S was the first to go, his stumps in disarray. Next Abishek played an irresponsible shot indeed to hole out at third man. As wickets tumbled at one end, there was a ray of hope at the other, where Ronnie crafted another responsible and masterful innings. Without support, however, we were faced with some very forgettable memories form our previous match. But our famed tail wagged once more. Anurag threw his bat at everything that came his way, while giving Ronnie the company he needed to secure a beautiful 50. After his demise, Aravind V kept his cool against the determined seamers and stayed out in the middle to make sure RPI survived their complete quota of overs.
Going into bat, CCCC went on the charge form the word go. A little, unfortunate scene with their notorious umpire did our concentration no good. Our bowlers bowled very poorly indeed, infact the only person to finish with respectable figures was Praneet. Vishy and Raju of CCCC played great innings to secure a easy win, and also their half centuries. Special mention needs to be made of a confident and impressive debut by Sathya as our wicketkeeper… if only the rest of us had played half as well.
And of course, Ronnie got his well deserved half-mango.