Cheetah's in resounding win

Cheetah's produced a near perfect performance in their first friendly game of the season against a local team last weekend.

Phone buzzed at 7 am on Saturday morning with confirmation for the game, as no one was sure if play was possible with rain lasting for a few days prior to the game day and more overnight rain the previous night. Despite some puddles in the outfield, pitch was considered playable and game started ON time at 8.30 am. Cheetah's went into the game with full strength squad with just one import (Karthik). Cheetah's lost the toss, after Guruji called it incorrectly, and were asked to bowl first. Although players were concerned about the wet conditions in the outfield, it did not deter them from producing a good fielding performance. There were only 2 dropped catches in the game, which is about 5-6 less than the Cheetah's running average for dropped catches:)

Guruji and Ram opened the bowling and a couple of short deliveries were dispatched to deep fine leg area for 4-6 runs. Praveen, Mica, Selva, and Karthik bowled remaining overs till the 10th over break. Cheetah's had leaked 42 runs during the first 10 overs. Some questionable field tactics with exposed leg side field during the first 3-4 overs of the game cost an extra 10 runs during the first 10 overs. Karthik produced a tidy spell and good bowling at death by remaining bowlers meant Sunnyvale team could only set a target of 78 from 20 overs.

Cheetah's could not take the target lightly, as they are known for batting collapses in the past. However, a good stable top order line up ensured only 2 wickets were lost in the first 10 overs, even though only 35 runs were scored by then. A good game plan was in place with incremental targets set for 13th, 15th and the 17th over. Mica produced a well paced innings along with Praveen to take Cheetah's closer to the finish line.

Arvi got out trying to hit out a short delivery on the off side, however the ball stopped on him resulting in a simple catch to mid off. Ram and Selva rotated the strike beautifully to make sure no particular end got stagnated, despite a relatively low run rate of 3-4/over. Defending some short deliveries for the sake of preserving wickets, was the only questionable tactic from a batting stand point. Risky runs to rotate the strike meant, there was a high probability for Ram's dismissal as 'Run out' and it did. Mica and Praveen got in and accelerated the score steadily; Karthik walked in after Mica's run out and all he had to do was score a few boundaries to take Cheetah's almost to the finishing line and got out trying one too many big shots. Ben tried to go for a heroic shot to bring a fancy finish to the game, however, he was bowled the swinging across a straight delivery. Losing some unwanted wickets is another area Cheetah's need to think about for future games. Running between the wickets need some improvement as well.

Target was reached in the 18th over and Cheetah's went home victorious.

Some notable fielding performance by Cheetah's: Ben's quick throw from fine leg area resulting in Vijay's run out was a crucial. Vijay could have stayed a little longer and taken their score past 90. Nikhil, Guruji, and Karthik grabbed any lobbed opportunity presented to them. Sreejan's keeping performance was good, despite a few dropped catches. If Cheetah's had batted first, they would have sent a pinch hitter like Ben, Satish, or Nikhil up the order to take the score past 100.

Having beaten, not exactly a Minnow, but one of the lesser known teams in the bay area, Cheetah's cannot fly high with this victory and definitely have room for improvement in respective departments. Cheetah's have to play against better bowling attacks to test their true batting strength. This victory is however a good morale booster to this highly enthusiastic and deserving group of players.

Hope to have another friendly in the next few weeks. Go Cheetah's Go!