Season 15 finally finds it feet!!! Wolves go up 3-0

After a start stop weekend the previous week, and a lot of regulars not being available this weekend, there was a fear that we would have another washout. Thankfully the two teams stood up to face each other and finally get Season 15 underway. 

Game 1 on Saturday was a fairly lame affair and there were more questions than answers around team composition, energy levels, combative spirt, game start times and much more. The Wolves drew first blood with a fairly easy win but no one was really celebrating. 

Overnight the captains got together and there were conversations around player transfers. It finally resulted in the redoubtable Vicky moved over to the Hurricanes to better balance their team.  And what a change that turned out to be. Vicky brings in more than just cricketing nous. What he adds is the spice, back talk, HR skills and passion which any team can gain from. 

Aashish won the toss and decided to set a score today to give his batting group a chance to express themselves. CP and Pranav opened the batting but it was a very sedate start before the openers gave up their wickets. Anand came in first drop and was soon joined by Arjun. Three fours on the trot by Arjun got the innings some momentum and despite calls from his teammates to show the bowling respect and a dropped catch, Arjun chose to hit everything he saw and perished off Shiten. At 22 for 3 in 4 overs, it was the perfect start for the Hurricanes. 

This was until Gopi decided to turn the clock. I would say one more time because last season he came into his own. But what he did today just outdid everything. It was hot conditions and the sun beating down and a bowling unit that was on the up. He literally shut them down with one clean hit after the other and running between the wickets like a 15 year old. 

With strong support from Aashish, Anand and Dhruv in the end, the Wolves ended up at 103 in 15 overs which was a above par score considering the bowling unit they had. Satya bowled very well for the Hurricanes mixing his pace and length. 

The stage was now set for either team to make a statement. The Hurricanes opened with a new combination of Raghu and Ahaan. The Wolves assumed this would be some easy meat but the duo proved them wrong. Ahaan was being watchful but Raghu took charge. The first 3 overs leaked 23 runs and the Wolves knew they needed to break the partnership. 

Aashish brought in Arjun to bowl to Ahaan. The first couple of balls were untoward but Arjun had to egg Ahaan on. The words were " Can't you hit? Why are you wasting your time?" And next ball, which was a perfect leg break, he tonks straight into the tennis court almost going the distance. The humiliation out of the whole thing was that the Wolves were also cheering Ahaan on. 

However the last ball of the same over just to add some drama, Susmit pulled one out of the hat. He had planned this out. Keeping wickets, he picked up a loose ball and went straight for the non strikers end to find the belligerent Raghu short. A wicket out of nowhere.  

Manoj then joined Ahaan and they kept the score board ticking at a rapid rate. At 46 for 1 in 6 overs, it was looking like the Hurricanes had the chase under control. That is when Aashish decided to take the fight to the Canes and brought on Dhruv and Arjun to control the chase. Before you knew it, the next 3 overs went for 5 and the Canes lost 4 wickets. That took the wind out of their sails but some bold hitting by Shiten and Sameer meant that the game was far from over. 

Sameer who should learn a trick or two from Gopi asked for a runner because he was in the sun for 10 minutes. Vicky is a great runner but he can cause mayhem for everyone around him and that is exactly what took place for no fault of Vicky's. Sameer takes off on a non existent single with Vicky his runner outrunning him. Shiten is also running to the strikers end and we finally have Sameer basically 2 feet behind the bowlers end. He is rightly adjudicated run out after a brief furore but the sight was priceless. 

From there on it was a procession and the Canes finally lost by 17 runs. 

MoM: Gopi for his blistering knock of 60.