Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Game #10: Gladiators def Chargers by 200 wkts !!!

It doesn't get any bigger than this. A victory margin of 200 runs! Wow !! And how about this for statistics - before this match, Gladiators had scored 200+ just 7 times ever in a PCA game. From 71 runs in 11 overs, the Asghar-powered Gladiator team reached a mammoth 288 in 25 overs - 217 in 14 overs, a run rate of 15.5 !!

And when people thought a strike rate of 205 with an average of 62 can't be bettered, the CA-12000 holder raised the bar once again. The Gladiator run (& fun) machine devastated the bowlers in just 39 balls, scoring a breath-taking 129 n.o. - an innings that included 13 sixes and 6 fours. Thats 19 balls in boundaries. I'll ask him why he wasted the other 20 balls! Rao.. Wow !! With a strike rate of 231 and an average of nearly 90, Asghar now stands at #2 in the whole league in terms of number of runs.

Well, coming back to the game, Imran won the toss and sent Mansoor (awarded batting opening slot for his outstanding bowling in the last match) and Zoheb to open. It started at a reasonable rate (nearly 6 an over), snail pace in hindsight. The scoring rate went a notch higher when I went to the crease and got treated with some short balls which were dispatched to some 4s and 6s. When Bhatti got out to a good running catch just short of a well compiled half-century, Asghar came in to bat. And the massacre started. It was such a one-man show - the last wicket unbeaten partnership of 98 had a contribution of just 12 runs from Ahsan. But to be fair to him, he wasnt given much balls to face by Asghar.

Defending 288 isn't the toughest job on earth. But keeping the focus and intensity was. But Gladiators, for most part ensured that it wasnt lost and kept it tight and within plans. Mansoor was good as usual but the most unplayable that day was Mohsin. He hit the deck hard, with fast swinging balls - too good to kiss the bat. Zoheb did a nice job with the keeping gloves. It'll be interesting to see who gets to keep when Sameer is back. Any bets? All day I felt the ball kept following me. Four successful catches and 2 misses.

It was one of the most one-sided matches where we completely dominated in all aspects of the game. The challenge was to keep the intensity high, in which we succeeded.

Summary:
Toss: Gladiators won, elected to bat
Gladiators- 288/6 in 25.0 overs
Chargers - 88/10 in 20.3 overs

My batsman of the match: CA-1200 Rao
My bowler of the day: Mohsin
My fielder of the day: Zoheb
My man of the match: The centurion.. Rao Asghar

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