The Toss
Harsh went out for the toss hoping to win and bat first and he did. The reason that batting first was the better option for us is because the boundaries were small, the grass was short and we started the game with a strong batting lineup.
First innings
Harsh and Aarush opened the batting. We soon discovered that if we hit hard, boundaries come along the ground, and if we hit soft, fast singles are available. Aarush got a loose ball in the 4th over and did not wait to hit it for 4, but the next ball was caught and bowled. Next came Ruchir, who had proven in the nets to be a worthy hitter, and he came with confidence. He hit 3 fours in a row and formed an important partnership with Harsh. Unfortunately, he played one stroke too many and got a top edge caught by short third man. Good job with 36 runs. Next up was Steve, but he was eliminated by a bang not much later. Next up was Aryan B who took some brilliant shots. In the 22nd over, Harsh went retired with 61*. Second 60* for him in his first games of a season, great work by him. Then the wickets fell and because VCC had one less player than HBS, Harsh came back in. The first ball back he hit a six-over square leg and ran hard. He was the highlight of the first innings with a magnificent 70* off 65 balls. 6 fours and 1 six.
Second innings
VCC was very pleased with the total we had accumulated, but we knew that extras would be very expensive. We bowled very tight and took quick wickets, but one batsman struck out extra, just like last week. Sri bowled some wonderful off spin that eventually took his wicket and from then on we dominated. We kept taking wickets and the last two were on the crease. We went full attack, but they blocked every ball. Second 60* for him in his first games of a season, great work by him. A great decision in the end, as the second ball of the over picked up the win.
Captains Report: Harsh Rathore
I think this game was a big improvement. In the batting department, we managed to score a large total that we were content to defend. I was very impressed with how much my teammates learned from the previous game and how we implemented that today. In the future, I think the most important thing to practice is running between the wickets, especially calling and learning to drop the ball and run when necessary. The reason we need to practice this is that only a few people on our team do it and it can add 20+ runs to our total.
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