Winning the toss VRA asked VCC to bowl.
VCC opened their bowling with Sivaji and Annemijn and both started with tight lines giving nothing away to VRA, keeping them to a modest 24 runs in first 10 overs. First change Nitesh then got a breakthrough in the 12th over followed by Bart who got another crucial wicket in 13th over. With the scores reading 31 for 2, VRA looked in difficulty but they steadied the ship for a while. Same duo struck again in 18th and 19th over respectively and the scores read 74-4 in 18th over. Kalyan then smartly manoeuvred his attack and got in Mirwaiz who got a wicket in his very first over with an exceptional front dive caught and bowled in 24th over. Richard on the other end was also motivated by the efforts of his fellow mates to get solid-looking Keshav out at covers. By 30th over scoreboard read 126 for 7 as VCC, as Bart and Mirwais were trying to run through the tail. Eventually Bart ended with 3 wickets, while Mirwais and Nitesh ended with 2 wickets each. VRA tail showed some resistance ending with 180 on the board with Annemijn taking on the last wicket.
With a modest target, Kalyan decided to go in with a flexible batting line up to ensure we balance our chase. This later proved to be a masterstroke. With this strategy, Mirwais and Babbette were sent into open VCC innings, as VRA started with an extremely aggressively bowling attack. VCC lost Mirwais in 7th over while VCC score read 25 runs. In 10th over Babette was caught who was later followed by Kalyan in 11th over as the scores were 35 for 3. This brought in veteran Amiet who looked in no hurry stealing singles every over. However on the other end VCC saw a flurry of wickets as all batters perished after showing signs of promise. In 20th over VCC was 78-6 as Nitesh was sent in with VRA’s tail up. With calm Amiet on one end Nitesh started cautiously, hitting bad balls away for boundaries. The duo formed a perfect pair as Amiet nudged singles and doubles while Nitesh went for aggressive stroke-play. Both looked rock solid as scoreboard kept on ticking at a good pace, unfortunately Nitesh perished scoring 44 runs in 33rd over with VCC on 156. With another 25 runs needed for victory and 3 wickets in hand, VCC were well placed but off course we needed to see some drama as Annemijn got out the very next over bringing in Sivaji. Amiet looked at ease all this while which reflected on Sivajis batting as he scored a quick runs to chase down. During this drama was unfolding, Amiet completed a fine half-century returning 52 not-out and we chased down the target 181/8 in 39.4 overs.
VCC won by 2 wickets!!
