Interhouse Cricket Matches Underway

Houses’ attempt to knock it out of the park !

Eshan Gupta, Meghna Mishra

The inter-house cricket tournament commenced on 25th August 2019 with two amazing matches taking place. The tournament kicked off with a low scoring nail-biter between Prithvi and Akash. With just 8 required off the last 6, a great first delivery was followed by a poor second one that was struck out of the park by number 10 batsman which brought down the equation to just 2 off 4. This was easily dealt with next ball played for a double and Akash moving to the top of the table. In the course of the match, Akash showed disciplined bowling restricting Prithvi to merely 83/8 after 20 overs. Starting out slow, Prithvi not only lost wickets at regular intervals but also failed to keep the run rate par 6 an over. However, while defending a low total, the bowlers bowled with patience and discipline to keep Akash under pressure for both run rate and wickets managing to almost snatch a victory.

Prithvi: 83/8 (20 overs) Avlok 15(22), Shashank 14(8), Vishal 17-2 Saharsh 19-2

Akash: 84/9 (19.3 overs) Harsha 23(13), Saharsh 12(10), Salay 12-3, Shashank 13-3

This was followed by the second match of the day played between Agni and defending champions Vayu. Winning the toss, Agni elected to bat first and posted a mammoth total of 122 runs on the board. In reply, Vayu played some good cricket but ended up falling short by 8 runs, which brought Agni at par with Akash at the top of the table. While starting the chase Vayu batsmen took time to settle and lost wickets at regular intervals taking the match away from them. However, towards the end cameos by Vasant and Surendra made the chase interesting with some towering sixes but that was just not enough to push Vayu through.

Agni: 122/6 (20 overs) Nikhil 23(25), Rohtith 23(28),  Mittal 15-2, Vasant 5-1

Vayu: 114/8 (20 overs) Vasant 24(13), Sashwath 23(27), Raghava 13-2, Nikhil 20-2 

The second matchday started with a match between Prithvi and Agni. Agni won the toss and asked Prithvi to bat first. Prithvi started off well with openers getting good starts. Swapnil and Srinivas added 32 runs for the first wicket but then Swapnil lost his wicket to Bijjam. This was followed by a string of wickets as Prithvi were reduced to 50/4 in 9.2 overs with Mayank, Souparna, and Shashank returning falling quickly. Vaibhaw held one end along with Srinivas before Agni was provided with a  breakthrough yet again by Bijjam breaking a 24 run partnership. Prithvi lost 4 wickets in six runs, with Vaibhaw falling after a steady 25 run knock while Salay and Daksh fell in quick succession. At 81/8 in 15.4 overs, Koushik Abhishek and Pavan added 10 more runs before Prithvi was bowled out for 91 runs in 18.4 overs. Bijjam, Raghava and Jayanth took 3 wickets each to restrict Prithvi under 100.

Prithvi got off to a flying start as they stepped up to bowl. Koushik cleaned up both the openers in the first over itself giving away just one run. In second over Salay got Hitesh for 4 runs and by 2.2 overs Agni were reduced to 6/4 with Koushik yet again striking. From here Agni started a massive comeback with Bheemla and Raghava sharing a partnership of 56 runs off 74 balls. Pavan provided breakthrough as Raghava was short of the crease after a good effort in the field. Then a quick partnership of 17 runs in 19 balls was broken by Koushik again. Needing 12 off the last two overs, Bheemla departed after a knock of 30 runs courtesy some brilliant fielding effort by Salay. From here Shashank defended 6 runs off the last over conceding just 1 and taking a wicket as Agni was bowled out for 86 runs in 19.5 overs.

Prithvi: 91/10 (18.4 overs) Vaibhaw 25(27), Swapnil 21(19), Raghava 11-3, Bijjam 12-3

Agni: 86/10 (19.5 overs)    Bheemla 30(48), Raghav 22(27), Koushik 11-4, Pavan 9-1

The second match of the day was played between Aakash and Vayu. Winning the toss Aaskash opted to field first. The decision seemed to go well as Vayu lost their first wicket at 9 runs in just 2.1 overs with Sashwath departing for a mere 2 runs. Aakash scalped the second wicket in the 6th over as Saharsh sent the second opener Surendra for a steady 12 runs. However the defending champions played carefully there on with Mittal and Shanmukh taking the score from 24/2 in 5.2 overs to 99/3 in 17 overs. The last ball of 17th over ended Mittal’s innings of 28 runs which included a maximum as he was caught off Anji. Next two overs Vayu lost Shanmukh once again caught off Anji after a brilliant knock of 41 runs as they were reduced to 113/5 in 18.5 overs. Vayu managed to take 12 off the last over, courtesy Vasant scoring a quick 11 in 8 balls to take Vayu to 125/6 at the end of 20 overs. Anji took 2 crucial wickets while Saharash and Rohan provided the initial breaks with a wicket each. Harsha managed to send one batsman back towards to the end helping Akash to reduce the runs conceded in final overs.

Coming to bat Aakash lost their first wicket in 4th over as Tanishq departed for 3 runs off 14 balls.  Aakash lost their second opener in the 7th over as Ahish departed for 9 runs and team reduced to 28/2. The third wicket came in quick succession as Saharsh was run out by a brilliant effort in field by Mittal going back after scoring 4 off the only ball he faced. Aditya held one end and stitched a partnership of 34 runs before Bharath was sent off on the other end by Vasanth. From here Akash lost 4 wickets in 8 runs, with Vasanth almost snatching a Hattrick while Aditya going back after a good knock of 37 off 40. At 74/8 in 15.3 overs, Aakash were almost out of the match before Vinay played a great cameo of 20 runs off 11 balls but the other end failed to keep up as Aakash were all out for 105 runs in 19 overs, as Surendra completed formalities of removing last two wickets.

Vayu: 125/6 (20 overs) Shanmukh 41(50), Mittal 28(33), Anji 34-2, Saharsh 10-1

Aakash: 105/10 (19 overs)  Aditya 37(40), Vinay 20(11), Vasanth 17-3, Surendra 27-2

Matchday 3 started off with a clash between Prithvi and Vayu. Winning the toss Vayu elected to bat first being good with the bat throughout the tournament. Vayu were handed first blow by Daksh as Surendra departed for 2 off 10 balls in the 5th over. From there Shaswath and Shanmukh played well taking Vayu to 71/2 in 12 overs as Shanmukh fell for 26 off 25 after a nice catch by Koushik off Pavan. Then Salay removed Shaswath as Eshan took a great catch in the deep reducing Vayu to 92/3 in 16 overs. However, from here Mittal started a brutal onslaught hitting 5 sixes and 3 fours as he scored 55 off just 34 balls. The other end kept losing wickets but that provided no scars as Vayu posted a mammoth 145/6 in 20 overs. Pavan got 2 wickets in the middle while Salay and Daksh got one each.

Coming to bat needing 7 an over the task was a huge one. Prithvi managed to keep run rate par 7 for first seven overs losing 2 wickets in the process. Both openers departed by the end of 5th over but somehow managed to keep scoring. However Vasanth bringing his classic leg spin conceded just a single in the 8th over. From here the run rate was never par 7 again as Vaibhaw departed in the next over scoring 12 off 12 as Yash took a great catch at the boundary off Mittal. Prithvi were reduced to 67/6 in 11.4 overs as Srinivas departed after a steady 21 off 24 along with wickets of Mayank and Daksh in quick succession. Salay and Koushik tried to get a partnership but Koushik eventually was bowled by Vasanth in the same way he took Mayank and Srinivas. Eshan tried to pull off another partnership playing a steady knock of 18 off 23 including 2 fours but with Salay caught off Chandu the match was already over. All Prithvi could manage was 106 runs in 20 overs 39 short of what was required. 

Vayu: 145/6 (20 overs) Mittal 55(34), Shashwat 44(49), Pavan 17-2, Salay 25-1

Prithvi: 106/10 (20 overs) Srinivas 21(24), Eshan 18(23), Vasanth 14-3, Chandu 12-2

Matchday 4 began with clash between Vayu and Aakash. Having beaten Vayu in their previous encounter Aakash came in to bat with high confidence. Due to a delayed start the match was reduced to 18 overs a side. Starting off well Akash managed to score 30 runs in the first 5 overs before Surendra removed Adithya after a great knock of 23(15) including one maximum. Shanmukh picked up second in the next over reducing them to 32/2 in 5.3 overs. Rohan and Ahish then stitched a great partnership but Ahish was forced to retire due to injury at 20 off 33 balls. Rohan departed in succession off Surendra scoring 28 off 31 as Aakash stood firm at 101/3 in 14.5 overs. Surendra scrapped two more wickets in the 17th over removing Vinay and Harsha but at the other end Kishore was playing a fabulous knock scoring 35 off 19 including one six which helped Aakash post a total of 128/5 in 18 overs.

Coming in to bat Vayu received an early shock as Anji took his first wicket on 3rd ball itself as Nishant departed for 2. Shanmukh and Shashwat tried to steady things down but once again Anji removed the opener Shashwat for 6 off 14 reducing Vayu to 22/2 in 5 overs. Shanmukh and Mittal stitched a great partnership of 58 runs at almost 7 runs an over before Rohan got Shanmukh in 14th over, Shanmukh scoring a great 46 off 37 with two maximums. Needing 49 off the last 5 overs, Mittal and Vasanth played explosively to bring down the equation to 18 off the last two. The second last over was hit hard for 14 runs which left the equation to merely 4 off the last 6 deliveries. However, Vayu lost Vasant after a quickfire knock of 20 off 10 including one six to Vishal off the first delivery off the last over. However, there was no late drama as Mittal easily finished the match being unbeaten on 47 off 40 and Vayu chasing down a mammoth target in 17.3 overs.

Aakash: 128/5 (18 overs) Kishore 35(19), Rohan 28(31), Surendra 21-4, Shanmukh 9-1

Vayu: 129/5 (17.3 overs) Mittal 47(40), Shanmukh 46(37), Anji 21-2, Vishal 16-1