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

Game #9: Gladiators def WVUCC by 86 runs

A much awaited game. It was a contest between Sohail and Gladiator's bowlers, or perhaps a mind game within the heads of Gladiators. We've lost to WVUCC 3 times in the last 2 years and it was back in 2006 when Zeeshan's whirlwind 63 of 26 balls gave Gladiators their only victory over WV in PCA tournaments. And strangely, in none of the matches did Sohail play a crazy knock. It was mainly Gladiators losing their nerve and giving away an easy win. But not this time. This time, we were a lot better prepared and a lot more determined. And riding on the confidence due to our successes since the middle of last season, we truly were the favorites.

Sohail won the toss and asked us to bat. We scored 191 in 25 overs. But against WVUCC, you never know what score it good till you get Sohail out. And it was one of those days when Mansoor put his hand up and his first bowl turned out to be the most important delivery of the game. And Arpit, phew... I can imagine what was going on in his head in the 5 seconds after the ball hit the upper edge of Sohail's bat and landed in his safe hands. With Sohail out and score reading 0/1 in 0.1 overs, you know who would win the match.

Earlier, Gladiators posted a healthy 191. I scored my first fifty in 3 years (Arpit had just challenged me a few days back to score a 50+ score and that he would make a nice dinner for me if I did. I will keep you updated on what he makes and how it turned out to be :) ). Asghar continued his golden touch and scored 23 with 3 glorious out-of-the-park hits in no time before getting out at long on off Sohail's bowling. After I got out, Ahsan took charge of the scoring and make a healthy and brisk 40 (5 sixes). Good to see him in action after a string of low scores and strange dismissals. He is too good to be out of action for so long. After reaching around 170ish, it was another near collapse at the end and we got out in 24.2 overs. And Sameer, yet another failure. Ok.. I believe in the law of averages. And I just pity the team who would first bear the brunt.

When we took the field, well most of the interesting stuff was over after 0.1 overs. Mansoor was at his firy best and eventually took 4 wickets in his 5 overs. Add to this a brilliant run out by Yasir-Sameer, and WVUCC were 5 down in the first 9 overs. The rest was regulation. Imran, YasirM and I bowled sensibly and shared the remaining wickets. Mohsin had a day off with the bowl and I am sure he will be back with a bang in the next match.

Arpit showed some exceptional fielding throughout the innings. Apart from the the first ball catch-of-the-match, he dived around to keep the energy in the field high throughout. And did I mention he played a handy knock of 15 with a clean straight 6 and a stunning grounded 4.

Well, in the end.. a great all-round performance by Gladiators. We now have 8 victories in 9 games (aah.. that Blitzers game) and 6 of them with bonus points (aah... the first of the non-bonus victories was 1-run away from that bonus point). :) Ok.. lets not be too greedy!

My batsman of the day: Mudit (holding the innings at the top)
My bowler of the day: MANSOOR... no 2nd thoughts on that
My fielder of the day: Arpit
My man of the match: Mansoor... 4 wickets in 5 firy overs and that ball-of-the-match :)
My ball of the match: you know it right ...

Game#8: Gladiators def Yorkers by 96 runs

Another good day of cricket for Gladiators, displaying their lethal bowling attack once again. Sent in to bat first, Gladiators posted a modest 166 with a danger of getting all out below 150. A sensible unbroken last wicket partnership of 20 took the score to a more respectable one. Earlier, Sameer and to some extent Imran were the only players making any impact with the bat. The highlight of the innings was the spell by the Yorkers' leggie Sandeep. It was a spell which despite being on the opposition, you had to stand and appreciate. He contained runs as well as took wickets and his spell of 4/18 in his 5 overs and was the main reason why most Gladiators could not get some easy runs. I must also mention their opening bowlers - Ravi and Rajesh who bowled with great heart in their opening spell.

Sameer batted extremely sensibly till he was Sandeeped. And yet again, another 40ish score. Its amazing that a batsman of his class hasn't really made a great impact in this tournament so far (averaging only 28 and not 50+ score!). Not that he has looked out of touch.. but he's got out to some strange shots, strange dismissals and strange umpiring decisions. Imran too played a handy knock to bail us out of a near collapse. But then, of course, we are better at averting dramatic collapses than our national teams back home.

Yorkers' batting lineup isn't the one to give shivers in your spine, but the bowlers still had to bowl well to contain them. M&M (you ought to know who I am talking about) bowled a super opening spell, yet again. The batsmen played and missed on a regular basis. Mohsin took one but Mansoor was unlucky to be wicketless. The bowlers that followed - YasirM, Imran, Mudit and Arpit - all bowled well and shared the remaining wickets. Oops.. not Arpit, who was unlucky to have 3 dropped catches in 1 over! And I was the criminal in 2 such occasions :D

In the end, a convincing victory as the entire Yorkers' team collapsed at a score of 70 making even 166 look like a very good score.

My bowlers of the day: No single one. Mohsin/Mansoor provided a great start and all of the remaining 4 bowled quite well too. So laurels shared.
My batsman of the day: Sameer (though I am seriously looking fwd to some more runs from him. But if you believe in the law of averages, then its good for us).
My fielder of the day: Ok, time for some fun : Mansoor (he dropped an easy one of Arpit's bowling, but took 2 good catches)
My man of the match: Imran (20 runs & bowling figures of 2.4-0-3-8)