The ICC won the season opener in style on a cold, wet Saturday morning with a depleted side, invariably sending the team spirits soaring. The Juggernauts having put in to bat managed a paltry 60 runs as the ICC bowlers ran through their side. Giri got the deserved break right away in his second over bowling Viju who has a reputation of blasting any kind of bowling. THe pressure never eased off as Mohan got the other opener soon off a low in-cutter. Pradeep, Satish and notably Anurag bowled accurately to control the Juggernauts. Eventually, Mohan and Satish wiped off the tail to give the ICC a target of 61 in 25 overs.
The ICC batting saw some lovely ground strokes from Babu who made ample use of the opportunity to open the innings alongside of Makarand in the absence of star opener Minal. Makarand, in particular, played a dream innings, with some good defensive strokes and willingly rotating the strike to get Babu on strike. The solid opening stand laid the foundation for victory though there were a few hiccups with both openers leaving in rapid succession and Sridhar and Girish falling cheaply even though just 26 runs runs were required in the last 13 overs. Some resolute batting by Sanjeev, (who had an excellent stint as a wicket-keeper earlier in the innings) and Satish saw the team within sight of victory. An unfortunate run-out by a direct hit from silly mid-on sent Satish back and Pradeep, solid as usual, brought the ICC home safely with Sanjeev at the other end.
Lessons leanred, the bowling needs to be a bit more fine tuned. The team yielded 21 extras! The fielding, too, leaves a lot to be desired. As many as two catches went to the grass. The batting too needs to be a bit more stable as the imminent middle-order collapse nearly occurred, and higher scores to be chased could mount greater pressure.
SCORECARD
First innings:
60/10 in 18 overs (Scorecard Not Available)Second Innings:
61/5 in 18.2 overs
Batting:
Babu b Madhu 17 Makarand c Biju b Madhu 07 Girish runout (Jagan/Shrini) 01 Sridhar c Sridhar b Ram 01 Sanjeev notout 10 Girish lbw Madhu 01 Satish runout (Chalu) 04 Pradeep notout 05
DNB - Anurag, Mohan, Sanjay Narendra NB - 6, Wides - 9
Bowling:
O M R W Chalu 4 0 16 0 Sridhar 3 0 14 0 Madhu 4.2 1 15 3 Ram 4 0 11 1 Anand 2 0 5 0(Mohan Kamath)