Shorthanded - Redbirds vs Veterans

Click here for a detailed scoresheet
(Please note that the number of balls played by the Redbirds batsmen does not count up to 20 overs. We just went with what was available on the scoresheet. The information was not put down well and in some places its hard to read. So our apologies for any inherent discprecencies.)

In what was going to be a decisive game for both the teams in order to claim a spot in semis, the Redbirds and Veterans faced-off in their third match of the Super 12 stage. The schedule and the venue for this match were changed, but fortunately it was re-scheduled for the same day. The Redbirds took to the field as a depleted side due to the non-availability of Vinod for this match. After winning the toss, Veterans wisely elected to field under the conditions, which were not the most ideal for batting.

Kedar and Imran opened the innings for the Redbirds and took on the Veterans’ bowling in a defensive fashion. After Suraj bowled a tight first over, Sunny sent down four consecutive down the leg side as wides for the Veterans. However this was not to be a sign or representation of what was to follow for the rest of the match. The bowlers kept the tabs on the batsmen and Lenin earned the first wicket as he had Imran trapped leg before off the first ball of his spell.

Lenin struck again off the first ball of his second over as Kiran pegged a fullish delivery back on to his off-stump. Dheeraj and Kedar managed a decent partnership from this stage on and added 28 runs for the third wicket. Dheeraj went for a wild slash and sent the ball soaring high over the covers only to find a fielder. The ball would just not travel due to the east bound winds breezing through the ground.

Along with Varun, Kedar put together another valuable partnership for the fourth wicket and added 27 runs to the scoreboard. As Varun and Kedar kept fighting the conditions and took on the bowling, Redbirds appeared to be in a comfortable spot to reach a score around high eighties or even low nineties. This wasn’t however meant to be as the middle order and tail made a mess of the contributions from the top order and the Redbirds lost 5 wickets towards the close of their innings for a meager 7 runs. Veterans did extremely well by restricting the Redbirds to only 73 runs from 20 overs.

The Redbirds started their bowling without having the services of Vinod and this was to be a crucial factor in how they were going to defend their score. Kedar and Dheeraj opened the bowling for the Redbirds and kept things extremely tight with Kedar bowling two consecutive maidens. Kedar sent Andy back to the bench after bowling him out in the third over (click here for the video). Imran was brought in as the first change and was able to send Vinny back after RK latched on to a blinder at silly mid-on (click here for the video). Imran sent Lenin back as well after he edged one back to Kedar (click here for the video).

The Redbirds did well until the first break to keep things under control as the Veterans score was 16 for the loss of 3 wickets. It was at this stage that the Redbirds felt really shorthanded due to the unavailability of Vinod as a fourth bowler. As Krishna and Dinesh played sensibly, Dheeraj was running out of bowling options. Sudheer and Kiran were used for a couple of overs and as expected the batsmen were able to take advantage of the conditions.

Krishna took on Kedar in his penultimate over and hit him for a six and a boundary in consecutive deliveries over short fine leg. Kedar however avenged those shots as he sent Krishna’s leg stump cart wheeling after one delivery (click here for the video). The damage had already been done at this stage and everything that followed was just a formality as Dheeraj claimed the wicket of Dinesh who was caught at mid-on by Sudheer (click here for the video).

With this loss the chance of Redbirds to move on the semi-finals stage have virtually been erased. Even though the Redbirds were shorthanded due to various factors: non-availability of players, horrendous batting conditions at the start of the game, credit should be given the Veterans’ bowlers who didn’t allow the batsmen to gain any room. A special mention should also go to Kedar for his brave and amazing knock of 37 runs from 24 balls given the conditions. His innings included 2 sixes and 2 boundaries. He also bowled his best so far in the Super 12 stage giving away 15 runs from five overs and claiming 2 wickets. Inspite of incurring a loss, Kedar was adjudged as the man of the match.

The Redbirds face-off against Bindasht this weekend.