Vikings make it a winning weekend

 Another one by Dhruv 

A slugfest at the maidaan

After an intense match the previous day, you could tell that the Infernos were hurting after the 17 run loss. The captain was on the field before anyone else warming up and rallying his troops. The stage was set for another cracker of a day and the competitive (to put it mildly) spirit was on full display from ball 1.

Some things never change though, as Shiten won his 15th toss in a row despite Sathya sourcing a new coin and Aashish calling the toss. 

Shiten stuck to the time tested formula of putting the Vikings into bat.

Innings one-

The father son duo of Arjun and Ahaan were sent into open with Ayush bowling the 1st over. The Vikings got off to a steady start and made 10 runs of the first two overs with the loss of Arjun's wicket. Enter the wily old fox, Vikram who struck off his second ball getting Bipin out followed by a terrible mix up between Kings and Ahaan. Kings got out in the next over and the Vikings were at 21/4 after four overs.

Next in was Gopi sir and with Chaitanya, provided the much needed stability to the Vikings innings hitting the occasional boundary and running quick singles. Chaitanya got out trying to play a shot too many and Ashish fell soon thereafter.

Enter Hari, the danger man from the last match with the score at 44 off eight overs. Infernos were desperate for this wicket and Hari was greeted with a lot of "encouragement" from the fielders around him. Vikram had his tail up and bowled a nice low full toss on the legs, Hari took the bait but Sushmit could not hold onto a difficult chance at mid wicket. Hari dropped on ball one!

Hari made the most of the chance and propelled the Vikings innings with the able support of Gopi sir and Sathya to 78 in 12 overs before falling to a brilliant running catch by Viky at long on (near the marble ledge and 10 meters inside)

The stage was set for the finishers to take Vikings past 100 and they did not dissapoint. Kishore, Piyush and Dhruv finished the innings at 104 with Kishore possibly playing the shot of the match: hitting a six with the finnesse of a butcher chopping a lamb- raw power on display which yours truly was fortunate to witness at the non strikers end.

Target- 105 in 15 overs

Innings two-

AK Sir and Vikram were sent in to open the innings with Dhruv opening the bowling. The infernos got off to a quick start scoring 23 in the first 3 overs but lost the crucial wickets of AK sir, Manoj and Vikram in the process with Piyush doing most of the damage. 

Next in was CP with the infernos in a bit of bother. Not to be bogged down, he played a top innnings hitting 4 fours and kept rotating the strike. When CP finally got out the Infernos were well ahead of the rate at 49 runs off 7 overs with HK and Samir at the crease. 

The game  was on a knife's edge and both teams could feel the pressure. The next phase was punches, counter punches and a lot of on field drama. HK kept hitting the bad balls out of the park but on the other end Arjun took two crucial wickets of Samir and Shiten off back to back balls making it anyone's game.

After 10 overs Infernos were at 77 with 28 needed off 30 balls with HK, Viks at the crease but only the wickets of Sushmit and Ayush to follow. The next three overs were crucial and the team that held their nerve would get the spoils.

Arjun got HK out in the next over off a forgettable ball whose rightful place was in the pool but the top edge found the outside of the maidaan. Vikings could now sense blood and Viks fell soon thereafter. Sameer bowled a brilliant 14th bowling Sushmit out off a screamer (a low, fast yorker kissing the off stump). With only Ayush at the crease now, 9 runs were needed off the last over but Sathya was in no mood to lose now. He finished the job off the 2nd ball with Gopi sir fittingly taking the catch at long off. 

Final result- Vikings won by 7 runs

MoM- Arjun

P.S- Documenting all the on field drama today would be a 4 pager in itself :P

P.S- Apologies for any missed contributions/mentions