Sparta won the toss and chose to bat first, which VCC liked, as they wanted to chase on their own turf and understood that conditions were favorable for chasing.
The opening innings were led by Ahsen and Mohsen. Mohsen did well in his first two overs to break up Sparta’s explosive batting on the powerplay and was well supported by Ahsen to limit run leakage. After 2 explosive overs of 20+ runs, Sparta stood at 91/2 after 10 overs.
VCC spinners Usama and Vishal had other plans and their spell of 6 overs produced only 39 runs, with Vishal grabbing a wicket to get the team back in the game.
It was again up to the pacers (Kartik, Mohsen and Ahsen) to finish the innings well and limit Sparta to a chaseable score, the last 4 overs went for only 32 runs. Mohsen picked up three more wickets in his second spell and finished the match with a five-run win. He led the bowling attack and looked dangerous in his spell, bringing VCC back into the match. In the first innings, the VCC team delivered outstanding fielding performances, with Kartik taking two stunning catches and holding Sparta to 162/6 after 20 overs. Mohsen was undoubtedly the star of the match with his 5-34 in 4 overs.
VCC openers Samrit and Ayub started explosively and tested the Sparta fielders with their beautiful, grounded shots all over the field. Samrit went run out after a solid start, followed by Sundeep who kept the momentum going with two boundaries off the first two balls he saw. Sparta bowled well to get back into the match and picked up two quick wickets from Ayub and Sundeep, who unfortunately could not continue the start they had made.
The captain (Naman) returned from his injury, along with Usama who looked positive after conservative bowling in the first innings. They had a huge challenge to chase a big total with a required run rate of 10 per over.
They began steadily, but without losing sight of the required run rate. After they were settled, both batsmen proceeded aggressively, with Naman taking the lead and hitting the only six of the match towards square leg! It was an exciting chase and what once seemed a difficult goal to achieve seemed very easy thanks to Naman’s intent and Usama’s good support at the other end. Naman also scored his half century and went all the way to the end of the game with a boundary. He scored 69* off 40 balls and Usama provided the anchor roll at the other end with a score of 39* off 30 balls. VCC chased the score to 164/3 in 19.1 overs.
VCC started the T20 competition with an exciting chase and ended the opening game on a good note!