Final Frontier....still remains to be broken !!!!

IVS Cup finals truly lived up to its expectations with hard fought cricket being the mantra for both the teams. It was one day, I was waiting for a long time for two reasons. One, to be a part of the team to reach the final and my thirst and hunger to meet "All Stars" one day in a cricketing field. All Stars are a tremendous unit on the field and the character they displayed throughout the tournament was simply amazing and I must admit at this point of time that they were many-a-step ahead of all other teams in this tournament, but I suppose "Chak De ABN" were the next closest to the "All Stars". If it was one team I wished to play other than "Chak De ABN" it would be "All Stars" :) :) :)

I was waiting for a long time for the clock to strike 16:30 and finally it did when we went into bat after winning the toss. "All Stars" showed their skill on the field and the bat throughout the tournament and the bowling was viewed a weak link. But, I suppose they had reserved the best for the finals. First 5 overs of our innings and we lost a couple of wickets. What do you expect? A score of 35-40 in an 8-over game? We couldnt even manage the sum of the individual digits. Only 5 runs came off the bat and 4 extras helped us reach 9 in the first 5 overs. We were hit back hardly, by some really good bowling and the timely wicket of Rajneesh, one player who showed his class in this tournament with 106 runs in 6 wickets in 5 games (10 overs and 6 wickets...wowowow!!!) Great Stuff Rajneesh. But, it wasnt enough to win us the game.

Skaria was on the money and we had planned to play him safe. But I felt we were extremely cautious and over-defensive. We were in the mindset to not collapse quickly in the finals. Truly we dint collapse but, it was never sufficient against AllStars. When Sam got Rajneesh, we completely went defensive. But the last 3 overs saved the day for us as we had some score to fight for. 31 came off the last 3 and we reached 40 runs !!! The situation was so bad that I was advising Fathima (our female player) to bowl as tight as possible so that we dont lose the game in the first over itself :) :) .Highlights of the first innings were some gritty knocks from Shino, Richard and some absolutely tremendous fielding by All Stars. They had easily saved 3 boundaries which would have enriched our score tremendously.

When we went in, we had to take wickets quickly and at the same time not give away freebies. We were against the strongest batting line up in the tournament and "All Stars" according to me were against the strongest bowling line up. This was the match up that everyone wished to see. The fight was awesome with Vishal, Nikhil, and Karthik strongly facing a bowling attack that boasted the likes of Shino, Rajneesh and me :) :) :) People say I am good bowler ;) ;) ;)

As the score wasn't huge and more importantly "All Stars" played some crazy cricket in the semi finals, they made sure they will not make that mistake again. Karthik and Nikhil never looked like giving away their wickets. Shino got us the first breakthrough by castling Vishal. That brought the pair that made the highest partnership of the tournament together. We had a hard task in our hands. I tried a lot to breakthrough Karthik and Nikhil. It never happened. But there was a glimmer of hope when Karthik was out of a controversial runout. In fact, we turned that into a great possibility of winning the finals. Rajneesh bowled a splendid penultimate over to pick up a wicket giving away 4 runs.

Amit came into bowl the last 6 balls of the game. I had actually told Amit that, there is a big possibility for him to be bowling the last over of the final even before "All Stars" innings' started. I kept on reminding him every over. And that actually happened. For once, I thought of asking my captain to get Richard bowling because he has had a better match and infact has been batting well right from the quarter finals. Amit had a disappointing run from the quarter finals. 2 ducks and 2 run outs in addition to some ordinary bowling couldnt help his cause. But again, I thought Amit could well spoil All Stars party like the same way he did against "Sher-e-BT". Before he started I was asking him if he needed the fine leg, but he never replied. May be, he was tensed. May be, the pressure was too much on him.

He started his runup and all our fielders were on their toes. But much to our dismay, Amit bowled a short ball on middle and leg that Sam cleverly guided to the fine-leg boundary. Alas !!!! 1 run needed off 5 balls and "All Stars" were ecstatic. Sam punched the air and hugged Praveen as they knew they were very close to victory. The next ball that Amit bowled was of the same line and length and it went to the boundary. Amit is not the player to be blamed here. We should have had some sense and batted with some purpose in the first 5 overs when we scored a mere 5 runs. That is where we lost the game. Would you believe that 26 balls were dot balls of the first 30 (3 singles and 1 two in the first 5 overs) !!! We should have scored atleast 35 off the first 5 to give some fight against the tournament favorites.

The "All Stars" supporters just ran into the field with so much of joy and passion. It truly showed the spirit of the team. Every team from IVS-IHL that took part in the tournament was very well supported by a strong contingent from All State. It really showed, how united they are very much unlike other teams at least in the fray ( may be they had lot of work and project pressures).

Nevertheless, we had a stunning final and a grand end to the month long tournament. But, to be a part of a losing side in such a close final was heart breaking. Here, the "winner" takes it all. "All Stars" showed how to play a 8- over match. Their brutality on the field was evident in the first 2 rounds when they amassed 241 runs off 16 overs !!! They showed some sense while batting against the best possible bowling line up in this tournament. Karthik who was adjudged the Man of the Series, truly represented the spirit of AllStars on the field and a deserved winner of the Man-Of-the- Series. But, I feel it would have been even better had the trophy been shared with Rajneesh. He had a dream run in this tournament.

I was happy with my personal performance in the tournament. 5 wickets in the 10 overs I bowled in the tournament with a maiden as well :) :) But, I was visibly upset that we lost a close final against the favorites and the champions.

VC (delivery head here in IVS) gave away the medals and the trophy. When I went to collect it he said, "Dont worry that you lost the match, you won the hearts of many by showing your passion on the field." I was very happy that my efforts were recognized and also won many hearts during this hard fought tournament.

I am waiting for the same tournament to kick off again as soon as possible.

This my ALL- IVS TEAM

1. Rajneesh
2. Nikhil
3. Karthik
4. Lionel
5. Srikanta
6.Skaria
7. Shino
8. Sudheer

9. Sooraj
10. Mitesh

11. Vasanthi / Fathima.

This is just my vision of the possibly the best players in the tournament. But as it was limited to 8, I cant push in the other wonderful performers in the tournament.

Some of them showed the strength and helped their team go through to finals and win it and some of them failed as their team collapsed at some point of a crucial match.

A great tournament comes to an end and also ends the year 2007 in a memorable way.

I should see the 2008 version of this tournament soon.