Sahil brutalises Strongroom
Jamia Hamdard University, Delhi, India, 2/28/2013
Delhi 69ers won by 10 wickets
Strongroom: 155-2 [J.Hall 46*, O.Moore 51]
Delhi 69ers: 156-0 [S.Kashab 102*]
View the Scorecard
Dave P appointed and anointed Andy Orme as skipper for this floodlit T2o match against the unlikely named ‘Delhi 69ers’. This team has infact been created by the Katariya brothers, as a by-product of seeking fixtures for the Strongroom tour. The match was again hosted at the Jamia Hamdard University ground. We were boosted by the arrival of Olly Moore, yet we also lost Will Davies to the infamous Delhi Belly.
Andy won the toss and elected to bat first, and openers Olly Moore (51) and Jimmy Hall (46 retired hurt) responded with a delightful stand of 100+. Both batsmen timed the ball beautifully, in what was a welcome return to form for Jimmy, and a ‘welcome to India’ for Olly (only hours after landing in Delhi). However, soon after posting their century stand, Shivam accidentally let slip a beamer which tonked straight onto Jimmy’s (helmetless) head, in what appeared to be a horrific injury. However, his last minute twist of his head to the right averted the worst, as the ball clipped the right side of his cranium, resulting in a walk to the campus hospital for four stitches.
This injury stemmed our flow of runs though, as Olly was out soon afterwards, and only myself (27*) and Dave P (10) managed to contribute to our final total of 155-3. All in all we were quite content with our total.
However, Sahil Kashab had other ideas! Sahil quite simply set about our bowling with a calm violence. A tall, well-built guy in his physical prime, Sahil blends a wonderful eye with awesome power, and delighted in striking fourteen 4s and four 6s in his innings of 102* off only 47 balls. Simple, strong strokes in the ‘V’ with extended forearm pushes formed the majority of his scoring shots, and he proved unstoppable. Rishabh was his perfect foil, accumulating 29* off 30 balls, and rotating the strike with singles to let Sahil unleash his power.
Delhi 69ers stormed home to win in just 12.2 overs!
On the positive side, our fielding was much improved, and Andy Orme bowled a wonderful over against Sahil, including one put-down chance behind.
Again, we lost very significantly...but it was another incredible experience of Indian cricket. We headed back into New Friends Colony and drowned our happy sorrows in Pebbe St.
Written By: J.Gower
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