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No cricket tournament or a championship is ever complete without the emergence of a team that is a fresh face on the roster with players that are young and oozing with energy and confidence. The Redbirds proved just that as they stormed into the Super-12 stage of the CICA 2007 tournament after they massacred the spirit of the Spirit. Granted that it was a relatively easier team, against whom every other team in the group has savored a few victories, the Redbirds however took the game to another level by breaking several records in the process.
Needing to win this game desperately by a huge margin, everything came down to the toss. Every single individual in the Redbirds camp was praying for a win of the toss and things were going the right way for the Redbirds. Dheeraj won the toss (the only second toss-win in the tournament so far and it couldn’t have come at a more perfect time) and elected to bat. Keeping in mind the number of runs to be scored and the margin required to win, Dheeraj and Kedar came in to bat and opened the innings. What happened next is sure going to be talked about for a while.
Dheeraj was in a belligerent mood and took on the bowling right from the first ball he faced. He played a captain’s knock and delivered a batting performance that was overdue and boy, did he deliver that in style. He smacked the ball at will in all directions sending it soaring over the fence a total of 7 times. He brought out his natural game and hit a fast paced century, the first of the tournament so far, in only 40 balls. This was the first century of the tournament and only the third in the past seven years in the CICA tournament history.
Kedar provided good support and played his usual self. He kept rotating the strike by bringing on Dheeraj and anchored the innings along with the captain. He scored at will and hit four sixers and four boundaries scoring 70 runs from 35 deliveries. His fifty came off of only 24 deliveries with a soaring six over square leg boundary.
Kedar and Dheeraj put together an opening partnership of a whopping 189 runs. It almost looked like they were going to remain unbeaten and see the overs through. After a blistering knock Dheeraj fell at 110 and an over left. Imran wrapped up the innings for the Redbirds with a boundary and taking the score to 203, the highest so far made any team in the tournament.
Facing a ginormous (yes, its officially a word now) 203 from 16 overs, the Spirit batsmen made a, well spirited attempt of achieving it. Vinod and Imran opened the bowling attack for the Redbirds and Imran struck in his first over itself taking two wickets in two balls thereby sending both the opening back. He claimed another wicket in his second again when Guberan took a terrific catch and latched on to the ball above his head in the first slip position. Imran finished with his best figures so far of 3 wickets for 4 runs.
Kedar and Dheeraj came in to bowl and after that continued the demolition. Dheeraj claimed 3 wickets in one over and never let the batsmen take control in anyway. He ended with his best figures too taking 4 wickets for 19 runs. Kedar stuck to usual self claiming 3 wickets and cleaned up Spirit by bowling out their skipper on the last ball of his spell. The Redbirds were able to wrap up the Spirit run-chase for only 53 runs, thereby winning the match by 150 runs, the largest margin so far in the tournament. Dheeraj was adjudged as the man of the match for his century and a 4 wicket spell.
This win gave the Redbirds the much required boost in the run-rate, thereby pushing them past Peoria XI and qualifying them for the Super-12 stage. A hard earned victory for a team that started modestly and kept playing hard throughout the tournament. With a lot of persistence and hard work and little bit of luck, the Redbirds have moved on to the Super 12 stage and will face off in their match on Saturday.
Now all the Redbirds to do is keep up the good form and with the confidence boost they have received with this huge victory, they are sure to play with so much more passion and conviction. If anything, the disdain the batsmen showed towards the bowlers is bound to make a positive impact in the coming matches. So watch out CICA…here come the Redbirds in their blazing saddles!
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