| Saturday, September 27, 2008 |
| Match# 08-53-I: Microsoft Reds won by 22 runs |
| Marymoor Park, Redmond, WA |
| Toss won by Microsoft Reds and elected to bat |
| Microsoft Reds: 146 for 8 in 40 overs |
| Batting highlights: Bhargava Vadapalli (MoM) 33* (33 balls - 2x4, 1x6), Avinash Upadhyay 29 (65 balls - 1x4), Murthy Pappu 25 (23 balls - 1x4, 1x6) |
| Bowling highlights: Samarth Shah 8-0-38-2, Srikanth Sundaragopalan 7-1-19-1, Rajesh Ganesan 8-1-21-1, Harish Mohanan 7-0-24-1, Maheshwar Jayaraman 8-0-24-1 |
| Microsoft Greens: 124 for 10 in 35 overs |
| Batting highlights: Naveen Kumar 15 (12 balls - 1x6), Srikanth Sundaragopalan 14 (21 balls - 1x4), Samarth Shah 14 (50 balls - 1x4), Ashwin Karuhatty 14 (26 balls - 2x4) |
| Bowling highlights: Bhargava Vadapalli (MoM) 8-2-13-4, Sanjay Rama 8-0-22-3, Rajesh Munshi 1-0-3-1, Rajiv Nandivada 7-1-27-1, Avinash Upadhyay 3-0-18-1 |
| Man of the match: Bhargava Vadapalli from Microsoft Reds |
| Other notables |
| • MS-Reds opted to bat first on a day with ideal weather conditions for the season finale. The MS-Greens pushed Reds on the back foot in the initial overs giving nothing away. The initial breakthrough came in the form of Rutwick Bhatt’s wicket off Harish Mohanan in the 5th over. The 2nd wicket partnership of 42 runs between Sandeep Parab & Avinash Upadhyay took Reds to 48/2 in the 19th over when the former was dismissed by Samarth Shah. Greens captain Srikanth Sundaragopalan and Harish Mohanan and later on Maheshwar Jayaraman & Samarth Shah bowled immaculate line and length in the first 20 overs to keep the Reds scoring down to 50/2. |
| • Maheshwar Jayaraman got the prize wicket of Vijay Beniwal caught in the deep with Reds score reading 59/3 in 23.4 overs. Avinash Upadhyay was next to go when Nikhil Patel affected a run out with a smart piece of fielding and further reducing the Reds to 66/4 in 26 overs. Bhargava Vadapalli joined Sanjay Rama and put on 23 runs inside 6 overs. Sanjay Rama was run out by the bowler Rajesh Ganesan while attempting a quick single leaving the Reds struggling at 89/5 in 31.5 overs. Wickets of Reds Captain Rajiv Nandivada and Siv Nagalingam fell in quick succession with the scorecard reading 102/7 in 34.2 overs. Rajesh Ganesan bowled a great spell and made it difficult for all Reds batsman to score |
| • Murthy Pappu, with clutch performance in similar situations in the past, batted with great calm and composure and combined with Bhargava Vadapalli collecting runs at will and scoring run a ball from the 35th over to 40th over. The duo of Bhargava Vadapalli and Murthy Pappu put on a crucial 36 runs in 30 balls for the 8th wicket in what eventually turned out to be the match winning partnership. Scoring 14 runs of the last over Reds finally finished with a challenging total of 146/8 in 40 overs. Bhargava Vadapalli remained unbeaten on 33 along with Sairam Kandabhattu |
| • When Greens started the chase, it looked like the strategy was to get the innings started off with brisk scoring and take advantage of the left and right opening combination. It was evident in Ashwin Karuhatty's batting as he came down the track several times to dominate the bowling attack where as Samarth Shah was happy to block and take the singles. |
| • Reds captain Rajiv Nandivada got the first break through when he got Ashwin Karuhatty LBW. Greens captain Srikanth Sundaragopalan joined Samarth Shah and put on a quick 27 run partnership for the second wicket. Avinash Upadhyay, who came in as first change, got the important wicket of Srikanth Sundaragopalan caught smartly at deep cover by Sanjay Rama when the Greens were cruising along. Naveen Kumar joined Samarth Shah at the crease and batted sensibly for a while |
| • Sanjay Rama and Bhargava Vadapalli bowled economically in tandem and put the brakes on. From 58/2 the Greens were pushed back to 75/4 when Bhargava Vadapalli got Samarth Shah and Nikhil Patel out caught behind in the same over. At the drinks break, Greens were 83/4 (as opposed to Reds score of 50/2) and with Naveen and Ganesan at the crease they seemed to have the advantage. Bhargava Vadapalli struck another big blow when in the 22nd over he got Rajesh Ganesan out clean bowled. After two overs Sanjay Rama followed it up with the wicket of danger man Naveen Kumar, out LBW to reduce Greens to 88/6 in 22.2 overs |
| • But after every wicket the Greens consolidated with steady batting and kept themselves in the game. At this stage the match was evenly poised and had all the ingredients of being a thriller. Before finishing his spell, Bhargava Vadapalli dealt another blow when he got Sanjay Tikku plumb in front to further reduce the Greens to 103/7 in the 28 overs. Bhargava’s bowling figures were 8-2-13-4. He bowled his heart out first to ensure that the batsman was never able to dominate and then cashed in to earn 4 important wickets. Sanjay Rama bowling from the other end was supported Bhargava really well and together they bowled the match winning spell for Reds – 16 overs costing only 35 runs and 7 wickets in return |
| • Sanjay Rama had Aniruddha Daptardar caught behind by Sandeep Parab in the 33rd over to take the Reds within 2 wickets of victory. Rajesh Munshi was introduced into the attack in the 34th over. He responded well under pressure and cleaned up Maheshwar Jayaraman's stumps to take the Reds within 1 wicket of a dramatic victory. It looked like the Reds had won the game when Srikanth Vemparala hit a skier. But Siv Nagalingam misjudged the catch at long on and the drama continued. Greens had one more chance to rally with the last wicket and get to what seemed to be an unlikely victory at that point |
| • For the Reds the missed opportunity could have been expensive as the fifth bowler was yet to bowl 2 overs. It ended on dramatic note when Sanjay Rama got Srikant Vemparala's bowled off the last ball of his spell. Greens were bowled out for 124 and Reds won the game with 22 runs and with 5 overs to spare. The final game signified the roller-coaster season for the Reds. They were below 500 at one point and faced the possibility of being eliminated from the playoffs. But some great team work and experience came in handy and they won on the days it mattered the most |
| • Overall, Two MSCC teams have contested in the Division I final for the third consecutive year and MSCC as a club has now won 6 championships in the last 8 years |