PRE-QF : Thunders v/s Warrangers

What could have been a cakewalk turned out to be a Roller-Coaster of a ride till the end of the match. Bringing to the fore that nothing comes easy in the Later stages. This match saw Thunders see-sawing from highs to low, and then Highs again to finally Cross the finishline in the end.

Seeing a damp mat Anand won the toss and rightfully elected to field; to make use of the skid in the mat that helps initially when wet. It was again a tidy performance with the bowl, which has been a balancing factor through the tournament. Keeping a tab on the extras was neccessary, and this time; learning from the last match it was indeed a tidier performance. The fielding effort again showed the spark it was missing in the match against the Badshahs, and there were some great catches and run-outs that were crucial in keeping the score in reins to 92 for 9 in the allotted 20 overs.

The Battting was not the dream start that we had hoped for;with all the batsmen performing well in the previous matches. The luck seemed to be eluding us with all the wrongs by us becoming wickets for the Warrangers, and before we could realize we were tatterring at 13 for 4 at one time. We had a long lineup but we were hoping to have somebody stay on the wicket. The ship was steadied by Sameer and Adi who both played brilliantly to take the score to well past 60 without any more hiccups. The later half was hurried more by a good knock from Farookh; who went in after Sameer got out trying to hit a loose ball for six. The match seemed in the bag with 8 required of the last three overs, but Farookh got out trying to finish the match early. What followed was not the best of Prabhu that we have seen in batting with him trying to hit every ball out of the park and not connecting any. The bowlers stuck to their line and what seemed to be over came out to be 4 required of 4 balls in the end.

The boundry was finally hit by Prabhu and the celebrations started with everybody running into the field. Special innings by Sameer, who was controlled yet aggresive, and Adi who played a steady chaceless innings rotating the strike and running good this time around.

Bowling effort should be praised for Kalyan , Akshaye , Prabhu , Anand and Gaurav who are doing well in tandem and making sure that Batting does not take all the pressure.

3 matches to win ....but it is a final everytime ...everymatch now !!!!

Date: July 25th, Time: 7:45 AM , Ground: Reston
Toss: Thunders won and choose fielding
Warrangers: 92 for 9 in 20 Overs
Thunders: 95 for 6 in 19.3 Overs
Result: Thunders won by 4 wickets
MOM: Sameer for his 30 runs 38 balls.
Other Performances:
Batting - Aditya 13 no (35), Farook 19 (16),

Bowling - Prabhu 4-0-20-3, Gaurav 4-0-13-2