The case of curious Redbirds - Redbirds vs. Beetles

Click here for a detailed scoresheet

The Redbirds faced off with Beetles in their second encounter of the Super-12 stage. The stage was set for some good cricket and some of the players from the playing XI had returned to the team after missing a couple of games. Both the Beetles and the Redbirds were riding high on their victories over Veterans and Foce XI respectively. Both of them had made pretty identical scores and the victories had quite an uncanny resemblance.

Beetles won the toss and understandably elected to bat first on a very humid Sunday afternoon. The opening pair provided a decent start to the innings and kept pushing the ball around in the gaps stealing singles at will. The left-hand, right-hand batsman combo was something the Redbirds bowlers had not encountered (except for one game) much before and it appeared to be an unsettling factor initially.

Kedar and Vinod opened the bowling for the Redbirds and kept a tight line and length without giving much room to the batsmen. Dheeraj and Sudheer bowled next as the first bowling change and continued to bowl in a controlled fashion. At the time of first break, Beetles score stood at 30 runs from 7 overs at the loss of no wickets.

Quite predictably the batsmen took on the bowling after the first break and aided with some lose balls scored 50 runs from the next 7 overs and the the end of 14 overs, the score was 80 runs with the loss of two wickets.

Imran and Dheeraj took quite a bit of wood in the 10th and 12th over respectively. As Ravi Patel started to look threatening, and Beetles looked to put up an imposing total, Kedar removed Ravi by trapping him before wickets. With a bit of faltered bowling the Redbirds went into the second break at the end of 14th over.

The last 6 overs however saw the most disciplined bowling performance by the Redbirds bowlers given the circumstances. All the bowlers kept a very tight line and restricted the final score to 115 from 20 overs, thereby having given only 35 runs from the final 6 overs. Even though the bowlers did quite well to restrict the score after the initial Beetles onslaught, the final bowling figures revealed that the quite a few extras has beed gifted to the Beetles - 22 in all (16 wides, 2 no balls and 4 byes). Another interesting factiod is that each one of the first four bowlers started thier quota with an extra.

Chasing an achievable target of 115, Dheeraj and Vinod opened the innings for the Redbirds. Ravi Patel was impeccable in his bowling and on the fifth ball of the innings, he sent the Redbirds back to the bench with a beautiful incoming delivery that broke through Dheeraj's defences and shattered the stumps. Vinod and RK kept rotating the strike, but RK was bowled by Amir in the 4th over. Varun and Vinod put together a valuable 22 run partnership for the third wicket before Varun was run-out due to a terrible mix-up in the middle.

The wicket kept falling at regular intervals from this point on and the Redbirds could never regain control as the required run rate kept creeping up. Sudheer and Kiran put together another valory 26 run partnership for the 7th wicket. Ravi struck again by bowling out Sudheer after being hit around briefly. At the end the Redbirds were able to garner only 86 runs at the end of 20 overs for the loss of 8 wickets.

It makes one curious seeing this performance from the Redbirds and ask a lot of questions. Was it the bowling, was it poor scoring, was it the number of extras, was the poor running between the wickets? No matter what it is, the Redbirds need to refocus now again and as Varun put it "work as a team and win comprehensively". The Redbirds face-off against the Veterans this weekend. Ahmed Rizvi was declared as the man of the match for his score of 33 runs from 40 balls for the Beetles.

A slight detour - but it is completely worth it

Just read this on indiafm.com and I completely agree with this. For anyone who is a die hard AAA fan, just the prospect of a sequel is worth knowing. For any of you younger kidlings who haven't seen this movie, you may have just missed out on some of the best laughs of your life.
And as it says in the article, I also hope that Salman and Aamir and more importantly RKS is reading and the team comes back together to give us all more laughs from Amar and Prem.

Here is the article: http://indiafm.com/features/2007/07/26/2886/index.html

A TEAM comes together: Redbirds vs Force XI

Click here for a detailed scoresheet

Videos coming soon...

On a warm July afternoon, the Redbirds took on Force XI in their first match of the Super-12 in the CICA tournament. This was the first 20 over game that the Redbirds were going to play after having played 16 over matches in the league stage of the tournament. Force XI won the toss and elected to bowl.

After having tested a few changes in the batting line-up in that blistering knock against Spirit, Dheeraj brought himself on to open the innings again along with Vinod. They opened the innings for the Redbirds and put together a decent first wicket partnership of 26 runs for the first wicket. Dheeraj attempted to push a delivery that was pitched slightly uppish into the covers and gave a leading edge to the fielder at the second slip. Imran came in next and provided another top edge from a short pitched rising delivery to the fielder at short fine-leg who made no mistake of latching on to the ball.

Varun joined Vinod after that and provided an 18 run partnership for the third wicket. Kiran came out to bat next and played a very cautious and useful knock. He paced his innings extremely well as he watched the ball initially. After a few initial hiccups, he started connecting well with the ball and scored 24 runs from 20 deliveries. His innings included three boundaries and six. He put together a very useful 30 run partnership with Varun for the fourth wicket.

The redbirds were cruising at 75 for the loss of three wickets and Sajjad turned the tables before the second wickets as he dismissed both Varun and Kiran in consecutive deliveries. Guberan came in next and stayed in the middle for a brief period of time. Kedar and Sudheer played extremely well and added pressure on the Force XI by pushing the ball into the gaps and putting pressure on the fielders. They added 27 invaluable runs to the total between them for the 7th wicket. At the end of 20 overs, the Redbirds posted a 110 runs for the Force XI to chase down.

As always Kedar opened the bowling for the Redbirds and kept a very tight line giving away only one run in the first over. Vinod opened his spell with a wicket in his first over itself. He sent Jamal back with a terrific delivery outisde the line of off-stump that teased the batsman and he took a poke at it, only to edge it back to the wicket-keeper. Kedar took two wickets in his fifth over and got rid of the opener Katti and Ajay. Dheeraj also opened hi spell with a wicket in his over as he had Sachin caught behind. At the time of the first break Force XI were reeling at 26 for the loss of 4 wickets from 7 overs.

Imran and Dheeraj continued to bowl after the first break and gave away only 11 runs in the next 4 overs and the Force XI scorecard read 37 for 4 from 11 overs. As the Force XI players prepared to take on the attack, Imran dismissed Sajjad as he edged a length delivery that was pitched outside the line of off-stump. The next 7 deliveries were nothing less than a nightmare for the Redbirds as Faizal started hitting at will and scored 20 runs from seven balls. His twenty runs included 4 boundaries.

After appearing to take the game away from the Redbirds, Faizal fell in the 14th over for a catch that was well judged and held by Kiran in the deep mid-wicket region. Sid took on the attack next and scored 12 runs from the next three balls after Faizal got out. Sudheer was called in to bowl next and claimed the wicket of Ibrahim by keeping a tight line and length.

Force XI now required 31 runs from the last 4 overs with 3 wickets in hand. The Redbirds bowlers kept the pressure in the field and after a dropped chance in deep sqaure-leg, finally got Sid run-out in the 17th over. Needing only 2 more wickets to seal a victory, Kedar bowled as if he was breating fire in his last over. He was deservedly awarded with a wicket off of the last delivery of his spell as Sandeep edged a fast short pitched delivery back to the keeper. Dheeraj came on to bowl his last over and the innings came to an end as Manoj executed a smart run-out by running up to the stumps and flicking off the bails as the two batsmen got involved in a mix-up.

The Redbirds won the match by 19 runs with 2.2 overs left. The highlight of this match was the teamwork shown by all the Redbirds players. For the first time in the tournament, all the players contributed to the total and played to their true potential. Right from the opening partnership between Vinod and Varun to the penultimate partnership between Sudheer and Kedar, all the players kept their heads down and played disciplined cricket. All the Redbirds have to do now is play collectively and continue to showcase similar disciplined performances. Kedar was adjudged the man of the match for his wonderful in which he claimed 3 wickets and a contribution of 15 runs to the Redbirds total.

After registering their first win in the Super 12 stage, the Redbirds face-off against the relatively unfamiliar Beetles next week.

Blazing Saddles: Redbirds vs. Spirit

Click here for a detailed scoresheet

Click here to Download the batting highlights (first 8 overs)

Click here to download the batting highlights (last 8 overs)

No cricket tournament or a championship is ever complete without the emergence of a team that is a fresh face on the roster with players that are young and oozing with energy and confidence. The Redbirds proved just that as they stormed into the Super-12 stage of the CICA 2007 tournament after they massacred the spirit of the Spirit. Granted that it was a relatively easier team, against whom every other team in the group has savored a few victories, the Redbirds however took the game to another level by breaking several records in the process.

Needing to win this game desperately by a huge margin, everything came down to the toss. Every single individual in the Redbirds camp was praying for a win of the toss and things were going the right way for the Redbirds. Dheeraj won the toss (the only second toss-win in the tournament so far and it couldn’t have come at a more perfect time) and elected to bat. Keeping in mind the number of runs to be scored and the margin required to win, Dheeraj and Kedar came in to bat and opened the innings. What happened next is sure going to be talked about for a while.

Dheeraj was in a belligerent mood and took on the bowling right from the first ball he faced. He played a captain’s knock and delivered a batting performance that was overdue and boy, did he deliver that in style. He smacked the ball at will in all directions sending it soaring over the fence a total of 7 times. He brought out his natural game and hit a fast paced century, the first of the tournament so far, in only 40 balls. This was the first century of the tournament and only the third in the past seven years in the CICA tournament history.

Kedar provided good support and played his usual self. He kept rotating the strike by bringing on Dheeraj and anchored the innings along with the captain. He scored at will and hit four sixers and four boundaries scoring 70 runs from 35 deliveries. His fifty came off of only 24 deliveries with a soaring six over square leg boundary.

Kedar and Dheeraj put together an opening partnership of a whopping 189 runs. It almost looked like they were going to remain unbeaten and see the overs through. After a blistering knock Dheeraj fell at 110 and an over left. Imran wrapped up the innings for the Redbirds with a boundary and taking the score to 203, the highest so far made any team in the tournament.

Facing a ginormous (yes, its officially a word now) 203 from 16 overs, the Spirit batsmen made a, well spirited attempt of achieving it. Vinod and Imran opened the bowling attack for the Redbirds and Imran struck in his first over itself taking two wickets in two balls thereby sending both the opening back. He claimed another wicket in his second again when Guberan took a terrific catch and latched on to the ball above his head in the first slip position. Imran finished with his best figures so far of 3 wickets for 4 runs.

Kedar and Dheeraj came in to bowl and after that continued the demolition. Dheeraj claimed 3 wickets in one over and never let the batsmen take control in anyway. He ended with his best figures too taking 4 wickets for 19 runs. Kedar stuck to usual self claiming 3 wickets and cleaned up Spirit by bowling out their skipper on the last ball of his spell. The Redbirds were able to wrap up the Spirit run-chase for only 53 runs, thereby winning the match by 150 runs, the largest margin so far in the tournament. Dheeraj was adjudged as the man of the match for his century and a 4 wicket spell.

This win gave the Redbirds the much required boost in the run-rate, thereby pushing them past Peoria XI and qualifying them for the Super-12 stage. A hard earned victory for a team that started modestly and kept playing hard throughout the tournament. With a lot of persistence and hard work and little bit of luck, the Redbirds have moved on to the Super 12 stage and will face off in their match on Saturday.

Now all the Redbirds to do is keep up the good form and with the confidence boost they have received with this huge victory, they are sure to play with so much more passion and conviction. If anything, the disdain the batsmen showed towards the bowlers is bound to make a positive impact in the coming matches. So watch out CICA…here come the Redbirds in their blazing saddles!

Back to basics: Redbirds win against Mustangs

Click here for a detailed scoresheet

After losing two matches in a row, the Redbirds squared up against Mustangs on Sunday in the Normal ground. Needing a win desperately, the Redbirds stuck to their basics in this match and pulled off a convincing victory. The Redbirds won this match by doing what they do best - chasing the target. A loss for either team meant that they would be out of the tournament. Mustangs won the toss and elected to bat under severe heat conditions.

Kedar opened the bowling spell with a wicket in his first over. Vinod appeared to find his rythm back after a forgetful performance against Rapchiks by claiming two quick wickets in his first over itself, the first one off of the first ball of his spell. After losing three quick wickets for only 8 runs, Mustangs hit back with a good partnership between Yogesh and Manoj adding 35 runs for the 4th wicket. As a result of some poor fielding (which is very unlike Redbirds) and dropped chances, Mustangs were able to put up a healthy target of 86 for the Redbirds to chase.

Madhav and Kedar opened the innings for the Redbirds and Kedar did so in style by sending the third delivery of the innings seering over the mid-wicket boundary for a six. They gave a good start to the innings and gave the Redbirds the best opening partnership (28 runs) so far in the tournament.

Dheeraj changed the batting line up a little bit and sent Imran in to wrap up the match fast. At this stage the Redbirds lost three wickets in quick succession(Madhav, Dheeraj and Kiran got out in the 6th, 7th and 8th over respectively) and game plan had to be re-assessed. However the two batsmen in the middle played sensibly and kept rotating strike and put together a valuable 18 run partnership for the 5th wicket.

After losing Sudheer for a full pitched delivery, Varun came in and batted flamboyantly and finished the chase by scoring three quick fire boundaries. Guberan remained unbeaten on 11 and Varun scored 15 from only 8 deliveries. Kedar was adjudged the Man of the Match for his blistering opening knock and 2 wickets.

This win by the Redbirds drew curtains for the Mustangs as they have now lost four matches out of their six and have no more games left to play. They should be able to credit in the fact that they didnt hand over the match to the Redbirds, who at the end proved to be a team that stuck to their basics of bowling tight and chasing sensibly.

This win gave the Redbirds the much needed 2 points and also the much required confidence. With 3 wins from 5 matches, the Redbirds are positioned precariously in the group standings. Even though a win against Spirits is virually guaranteed, a lot of other factors are going to come into play for the Redbirds to move on to the Super-12 stage.

A lot depends on the outcome of two important matches next weekend. Peoria XI (who lost against Redbirds in a close encounter) and Rapchiks (who beat Redbirds convincingly) face-off on Saturday morning. A win by Peoria XI will mean the end of road for Rapchiks and a win by Rapchiks will mean that four teams will end up with 8 points each (assuming that the Knights vs. BPUD game doesn't end up in a tie and the Redbirds beat Spirit). In that case it all comes down to the run-rate and the Redbirds sure don't want that to happen.

Rapchiks give Redbirds 'the Rap'

Click here for a detailed scoresheet

Inspired by some strong batting and tight bowling, Rapchiks handed the Redbirds the worst loss of the tournament so far. Rapchiks dominated the proceedings from the get go and never gave an opportunity to the Redbirds to get back in the game. Rapchiks set the tone for the match in the second over of the innings when they slammed the Redbirds' bowler for 14 runs. Uma's unbeaten 24 from 20 balls and a 22 run partnership for the 7th wicket sealed the deal for Rapchiks. Uma came in to bowl only 8 deliveries and wrapped up the Redbirds after claiming 2 well deserved wickets.

The Redbirds never got off the ground while chasing a monumental score with a run rate of 6.75 per over. It almost appeared ad if the Redbirds choked as the required run rate kept increasing at a steady rate on one hand the wickets kept falling at regular intervals on the other hand. It was a dismal performance all around for the Redbirds, nothing reminiscent of their previous performances, where the bowling had fire in it and the batting had passion to it.

Rapchiks played a determined innings and dominated the Redbirds attack right from the second over. Rapchiks were able to pick up pick up the line early on and with the help of strong opening batsmen were able to amass a healthy total in the initial overs and reached 35 in just 5 overs after losing only 1 wicket. The Redbirds struck back after that taking a few back to back wickets and controlling the run flow with some disciplined bowling. At the end of 11th over, Rapchiks had made 57 for the loss of 5 wickets.

At this stage Rapchiks almost got beligerent with their batting almost hitting at will. The Redbirds could not control the nerve at this stage and along with a few extras allowed Rachiks to score 50 runs in the next 5 overs. The last overs saw some fine stroke hitting from Prasad, Uma and Ravi. Uma played an intelligent innings and made 24 from just 20 balls. The highlight of his innings was running between the wickets and two elegant boundaries. Prasad played his role by hitting a couple of back to back sixes over the deep mid-wicket boundary. Rapchiks set a target of 108 aftersome blistering late order hitting.

None of the batsmen could produce a similar performance for the Redbirds. Chasing their highest (previous chases - 75 against Peoria XI and 76 against BPUD) total so far in the tournament, the Redbirds got off to a very slow and disastrous start with the score reading 11 runs for the loss of 3 wickets at the end of 5th over. Wickets fell at regular intervals and the Redbirds never looked more diffident. Rapchiks ended the misery for the Redbirds in the 15th over as the Redbirds were able to score a mere 55 runs chasing 107.

At the end of the day Rapchiks played a very disciplined and confident game, whereas the Redbirds didn't look like they even posed any challenge. With a poor bowling performance and a dismal display of batting, the Redbirds lost their second match in a row. The Redbirds were outdone by Rapchiks in every department. Whether it was a sensible and paced display of batting and nifty running between the wickets, controlled bowling and excellent fielding (that resulted in two run-outs), the Redbirds were no match to a very pumped Rapchiks team. Uma was deservedly adjudged as Man of the Match for his fine batting performance and a late wicket burst.

The Redbirds have a very difficult task ahead of them. They face Mustangs on Sunday (July 8) and Spirits next weekend. They have to beat both these teams in order to even have a chance of moving forward in the tournament.

ISU Redbirds Player Statistics

You can view the batting and bowling statistics of the Redbirds players here:

Click Here

An affair to remember: Redbirds vs. Knights

Click here for the detailed scorecard

After almost two weeks of hiatus, the Redbirds finally got to play cricket again (thanks to the rains and lack of some practise) in their third match of the CICA tournament against the Knights. The Redbirds will want to remember this match and keep several parts of etched in their minds for the forthcoming matches, and at the same time they would definitely want to erase some of the memories. Even though the Redbirds lost this match, the boys proved once again that they are quite a formidable group of young players who will play out of their skins and not go down without a fight, as they came close to giving Knights a shocker.

The match was very unlike the previous two matches that the Redbirds have played so far. It was a very low scoring affair all around as the total combined runs scored by both teams didn't make it past the seventy run mark.

For the first time in this tournament, Redbirds won the toss and elected to bat. Kiran and Imran opened the innings for the Redbirds. After watchfully playing the first over, Imran took a wild sweep at a delivery that was way outside the off-stump only to edge it high up in the air to the wicket keeper. Dheeraj came in next only to find himself walking back after Rinil dove forward to pull off an amazing catch at the point region. Venkat and Kiran found gaps in the next over and kept the scoreboard ticking briefly. Venkat attempted to drive a ball that was pitched full and straight and his furniture was disturbed.

Having lost three quick wickets Kedar was sent in to restore some stability. Unfortunately nothing was working well for the Redbirds as Kedar flicked a full length ball to short leg for a lollipop of a catch. Kiran was back in the barracks in the very next over courtesy of some fine work behind the stumps by the wicketkeeper, Ranjit. Halfway through the innings the Redbirds had scored 16 runs at the loss of 5 wickets. From here on it was mostly a matter of survival as the Rebirds found themselves under immense pressure to score a few runs and not lose anymore wickets.

Knights kept a very tight line and length with a disciplined demostration of bowling performance in which they gave away only one extra in the form of a wide. Whereas for the Redbirds, wickets kept falling at regular intervals. The innings came to an end in 14th over as the Redbirds scored a measly 34, or so did it seem until they took the field to defend that score.

Kedar lead the Redbirds bowling attack from the front with a tenacious grip over his line and length. He bowled with such pedagogical authority that the Knights batsmen could barely connect with the ball and when they did, they did so only to send it in the hands of either the wicket keeper or a fielder to be caught. He ended up with his best figures in this tournament so far by picking up 3 wickets for a paltry 6 runs in 4 overs.

This was another highlight of the day - a terrific fielding performance from the Redbirds. Right from the first catch that Imran took running in from long-off to dismiss Reynold Sebastian to the tumbling catch that Venkat took at extra cover region, the Redbirds demonstrated the fire and passion to win this game. Half way through the innings Knights scorecard read 18 runs for 6 wickets, quite similar to what the Redbirds made at that stage. Dheeraj and Imran sent two more batsmen back after the break

Inspite of picking up wickets at regular intervals, the Redbirds gave away quite a few extras during their bowling. While the Knights gave away only one extra in the form of a wide, the Redbirds gave away 12 wides, a third of the target set by them. With the combination of a low score and all the extras, Knights reached the target in the 12th over with two wickets left. The bowlers dominated both the innings and it was such that the ball never crossed the boundary line throughout the match.

At the end of the day, this match was something that both the teams could take a lot from. While Knights will be proud to be able to get the Redbirds out for their lowest score so far in this tournament, the Redbirds made them sweat for every run that came of the Knights' blades. With a tight bowling attack and sharp fielding, theRedbirds kept things going their way for a while, but the extras and a low score resulted in their first loss of the tournament.

The Redbirds face-off with Rapchiks and Mustangs on Friday and Sunday respectively. The Redbirds have their work cut out infront of them and as much as they would want to forget this loss, the lessons learned will be remembered by one and all.