Vikings finally lead the series....

August 3rd 2023 was the last time Vikings won a season. Since that eventful day The Infernos led by the unassuming Shiten have literally pulverised the Vkings in every season. As of this morning, Infernos have won 20 official games as against 7 by the Vikings. 

Going by that, on the face of it, this appears to be one team repeatedly bossing over the other. Interestingly, the games in the last two seasons were extremely close with the Vikings basically unable to cross the finish line thanks to the brilliance of Samir and HK on most occasions. 

This season has been rather strange going by past records. For one, The Vikings went into the game today having won 4 games this season, something they had not done in the past two seasons. A majority of the games have been one sided expect for a few. However you could sense that the tide was turning in favour of the Vikings. 

Coming to today's game, as always a bunch of enthusiastic cricketers decided to make the most of a mid week holiday and we managed to string together 2 teams perfectly aligned with 7 folks on each side. With most folks missing, it was easy to play a nice friendly game but everyone knows that its the official games that get the most out of everyone. 

Even as late as 8 AM, with our floater Pravir not coming, it looked like we would play a friendly but like a ray of sunshine which we have had plenty of, out came HARSHA. With a few last minute parlays around playing rules and the toss it was decided to play an official game. A small change agreed pre game was play a 12 over game with a 5 over max per bowler and the Vikings to bat first since we were supposed to lose some players mid way. On most days, the Infernos would probably never agree to these terms but when they saw the team the Vikings had, they probably felt the win was going to be a mere stroll in the park. And as Kiran rightly pointed out " its our swagger pre game that lost us the game. We took the Vikings for granted." 

Missing HK, Satya, Bipin, Manoj, CP, Kishore and Eshan, the odds were stacked against the Vikings. However cometh the hour, cometh the team. 

Vikings lost Gopi early but the 2 young men, Pranav and Ahaan basically took control of the game. They added 38 runs and the end of the 4th over, the score had touched 41. This was a better than expected start and the Infernos looked dazed. Then came the partnership that literally knocked the stuffing out of the Infernos. While they were missing a few bowlers, they still had Ayush, Susmit, Dhruv and Aashish at their disposal. In came the two coolest dudes on the cricket field - KG and Harsha and they just got to work ensuring that the solid start would not go wasted. The scoring rate was above 10 and they were hitting boundaries at will. Towards the end, Harsha took control of the finish and and the Vikings ended with an impressive 128 off 12 overs. 

The maidaan has been a batting beauty this whole season with some astronomical scores and batting. Samir was back for the Infernos and with Hari in the form of his life, it was still an open game considering the Vikings did not have a repertoire of bowlers to choose from. Infernos got off to a rollicking start scoring 25 after 2 overs and the Vikings fielding dropped a few catches that also went for boundaries. The Infernos probably felt confident at this stage but with AK getting out unfortunately and Hari getting out to Pranav almost in similar fashion to the last game, the Vikings started believing that this could be a special day. 

Almost everyone in the Vikings got a bowl. Aashish who has rediscovered his batting mojo was threatening to take the match away from the Vikings and the equation came down to 42 needed off the last 4 overs. A few wickets and the scoring rate dipping meant that the Infernos needed 25 off the last over with Kiran and Vicky at the wicket. In the end the margin of victory was about 12 runs but the way the Vikings controlled the chase with Gopi being outstanding behind the wickets, Aditya sharp as ever at short mid wicket and Harsha and Kings taking a few steeplers, it was a complete team effort. 

A great end to the match if you were a Viking. 

Vikings lead 5-4 ..

MoM : Harsha. We will be looking for a new place here for you now !!