SPT Cricket Tournament 2013

TEAM DELL-WYSE STORMS INTO THE KNOCKOUTS

This tournament was an entirely different experience for team as a whole. There was a pleasant change. Finally, there was healthy competition among the squad to get into the playing team. It wasn’t like the past tourney’s where you just turn up and get a bowl or a bat. You had to make hay of every little chances. It was definitely more exciting and challenging, bit like our very own Wyse turning into Dell Wyse. There was some extra feeling of accountability and responsibility. Everyone of us were aware of our roles, this time it wasn’t about an individual performance or personal heroics, but winning as a team, for the greater cause.

Thanks to the internal Cricket league in Dell-Wyse, we had a good pool to pick from. So, after a lot practice sessions and painful filtering, we decided to go with the following team to the tournament - Ela, Pradeep, Santhosh Kanan, Tushar, Sajith, Gireesh, Raveendra, Baiju, Tamil, Luv, Narayan, Raghunandan, Vijay and myself.

The likes of Ponting and Tendulkar sitting out of the team, leading to the ultimate victory of Mumbai Indians in the recent IPL were fresh in our memories. We had seen enough of Sachin’s career and umpteen amount of interviews, where it was made clear to us that ‘ You play for the name in-front of your jersey, and the name at the back of it, will echo forever! ‘  Expectedly, some of us had to be the men the team deserved, but not needed, we had to be the Dark Knights!!

 

The tournament format was such that, we would be playing 3 matches in a day, each of 12 Overs. All of us reached the ground the SPT grounds by 9:15 AM, had their famous 1-vada only breakfast and headed to play the first match.

Match-1: First match was against EFI. We won the toss and elected to field first. We restricted them to 115 n 12 Overs. Then, the strong batting line up led by Tushar, chased down the target in just 9.1 Overs, earning us the bonus point.

Match Summary
EFI - 115 all out (12)
Dell WYSE 121/4 (9.1) ,
Dell WYSE won by 3 wickets ,
MOM - Tushar for 34 runs & 1 wicket

Match-2: Without any break, we had our 2nd match against TCS. Again, we won the toss and we elected to field first. We restricted them to 108. Due to some good bowling and some tiredness from the previous match, we were in a tough position at 35 runs required from 2 Overs, with Tushar unfortunately run out in the beginning of the innings. This format had a wildcard option, or you can say a boon in our case, we had to sacrifice 10 runs and an already dismissed batsman can come out to bat again after the dismissal of 4 or more wickets. So, making the full use of this wildcard, which turned out to be a masterstroke, we sent Tushar to bat again. The target was revised to 44 runs of 17 balls.

After a good penultimate over, we required 23 of 6 Balls. Narayan glanced the first ball to 4 and the next ball the strike was rotated back to the go-to man, the man who had all kinds of pressure from opposition as well as our own team to delivery a boundary, and he delivered and delivered n style. Sent the ball right through the MAX zone flag posts, which meant the runs scored would be doubled! The target now reduced to 6 runs of 3 Balls, this was clinically finished with a four and 2 singles. We had clenched a victory from the jaws of defeat!

The man of the match was awarded to Sajith for a good bowling performance and stabling the batting in the middle overs.

Match Summary
TCS - 108 all out (12)
Dell WYSE 109/5 (12)
Dell WYSE won by 2 wickets
MOM - Sajith for 52 runs & 1 wicket

Match-3: After a memorable match we had a good lunch break, and now with a reputation as great chasers and confidence sky-high, we were off to face the former champions, Infinite in the final match. The had kicked us out of the tournaments previously, so a bit of vengeance was in the heart. Due to overcast conditions and time constraints , it was reduced to a 10 over per side game. We lost the toss and were asked to bat. We had a new combo of openers this time, it was Sajith and Gireesh, they gave us the best possible start, belting each and every ball to all corners of the ground. Gireesh was at his best, middling just about everything and sending not only loose balls, but even some good deliveries out of the fence! We ended up setting up a Target of 110 in 10 overs, which was defended easily by some excellent catching and good bowling, restricting them to just 65 and gaining a bonus point once again. The man of the match was awarded to Girish.

Match Summary
Dell WYSE 109/7 (9.3)
INFINITE 65 all out (7.2)
Dell WYSE won by 44 runs
MOM - Girish for 51 runs

We did have a Super-Sunday, where we enjoyed each and every moment. I'm sure each and every one of us, on and off the field cherished the moments both the ups and downs, to the fullest!

This is how the group table reads :)

In two weeks time we'll be playing the knockouts, and this time probably as the table toppers and maybe the favorites!