More than 6 weeks of Indoor tourney, Over 100's of people on the ground to witness the game and stage was all set for the BIG DADDY of all...yes it was "The Finals" of CICA Indoor Tournament 2011.
On one side It was Bloomboys who upset Zunjaar in Quarters and then beat ACC in Semis, on the other hand it was Klasic who was unbeaten in this tourney. Both teams were all charged up for the final encounter.
Klasic who won the toss was not hesitant to bat first and they started with their known openers Aditya and Naveed..Both started the innings carefully and were rotating the strike. It was Vinu Raghavan who broke the partnership in third over and got Naveed caught behind the stumps. Bloomboys were all charged up but it didn't last longer. It was Irfan..Klasic's In-form batsman who did the damage again. Irfan and Aditya (Aadi) hit some glorious cuts and drives all over the ground and kept the momentum going. Watching them bat was just so much of fun. They took the scoreboard to 23 after 5 overs.
Bloomboys broke the partnership when Irfan hit the ball third time to the roof and got out. Next on crease was Klasic's most consistent batsman of the tournament...Yes..it's no other than Reynold.. unfortunately he got run out in very next over. Bloomboys managed to control the game and the runrate started to deteriorate.
It was turn of Klasic skiper Sumit to join the party. He and Aditya started rotating strike and kept the scoreboard moving. Sumit who batted beautifully in the Semis was looking in fine touch again. Trying to score quickly he got caught at long off when Kishore pitched him outside off and trying to clear boundary, it was Sharath who took a sharp catch to send him back to pavillion.
Bloomboys did a great job with fielding and result of which was Klasic couldnt accelerate as they expected. They were unable to take singles during middle of their innings. Vinu Arige and Sharath were amazing in the outfield and saved couple of boundaries for their team.
Aditya along with middle order batsman including Amer and Vishal managed to put 53 on board after the end of 13 overs. It was a good knock by Adi who played sensibly and was in crease for entire 13 overs. He played an outstanding inning and played a major role to put a decent score on board.
Second Inning
Now the Big question was 'Can Klasic defend this total against strong batting line up of Bloomboys?'...and here comes the second innings....
Klasic captain didn't want to take any chance and he started with their top nodge bowlers Venkat and Suri. Bloomboys started innings cautiously and put 6 runs after the end of 2 overs without any loss.
First bowling change was in third over when Sumit brought himself to the attack and the change worked for Klasic..Bloomboys top form batsman Dheeraj got out in long off where Aditya took an excellent catch. Next batsman was Kranti whom Naveed got out in very next over. Naveed bowled a beautiful delivery and Irfan made no mistake behind the stumps.
Bloomboys was nervous watching their 2 top form batsman walking back to the pavilion..It was experienced Kishore who came in crease, he started scoring runs right away by driving to covers and mid wicket. But amazing fielding by Klasic Players sent kishore back to the pavilion. It was turn of Bloomboys skipper Vinu to stabilize the innings and bring his team back on track....Vinu is a devastating batsman and has the reputation to hit boundaries. It was Vinu vs Sumit...Captain vs Captain...Bat Vs Ball and what a breakthrough...Sumit bowled an excellent delivery and Vinu was LBW very first ball. Hemant (umpire) didn't have a second thought of this LBW and his finger was up right away. What a blow!!! It was a big wicket for Klasic which made them feel that they can win this game.
Fun is not yet over...It was turn of Rawalpindi express Venkat. His very first delivery of second spell was a slow ball to the new batsman Shekar..Shekar tried to hit hard in the air from covers and it was Sumit who took a stunner jumping full length towards his left with single hand and they call it as "catch of the tournament"...Klasic showed some disciplined fielding throughout the tournament which was well lead by Vishal and John. Venkat did the damage again, the very first bowl to Ramesh was a yorker and he was bowled!! Venkat was on Hatrick and fielders were close to wickets but he was unfortunate not to get a hattrick. However he was in a hurry to wrap up the match and got his 3rd wicket in a over by getting another bloomboys batsman with a unplayable yorker.
Bloomboys still had some hope seeing Sharath on ground..He opened the innings for bloomboys and played an amazing inning. He didnt get enough support from other batsmen as Klasic grabbed wickets at regular intervals.
Experienced Suri and Naveed were testing Bloomboys tail-enders by bowling them Yorkers and Bouncers...It was just the matter of getting them out and complete the feat as game was very well in control of Klasic.
It was Amer and John who bowled decent 12th and 13th over to send tail-enders back to the pavilion. Bloomboys were all-out for 34 runs and Klasic won the match comfortably by 19 runs.
"History was made by Klasic XI by winning their maiden tournament".
Kudos to Klasic XI who showed great team work, great energy and yes they were unbeaten in the tournament.....Congrats to Bloomboys as well for having a great tournament with pretty new team.
Thanks to all cricket lovers and the crowd. Thanks to every team who participated in this tournament. Cricket in Bloomington is a blessing. Cricket fever...Energy, Enthusiasm of all players out here is amazing. Dont you wonder seeing so many talented cricketers playing in this small town in USA.
The heat is still on with second indoor not too far.
Courtesy- Klasic XI
congrats Klassic XI
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