Interesting Start to the Final Edition

GPL, Final Edition kicked off yesterday. Jaipur Club (JC) made their come back after two seasons, to the tournament, by facing the Red Hawks. Their batting was formidable as they posted a score of 55. Punit batted brilliantly for his knock of 38. He batted with a mixture of patience and flurry, but the others could not support him much. Red Hawks made it a one sided affair, with Kalpit getting a magnificient half century and ensuring that their team surpassed the total in 4 overs with no wicket loss! JC will have to improve their bowling, as their batting looks strong. The second match was between the Minnows and 16 Radians. Radians managed a total of 78 with every body contributing. The target was mammoth and the Minnows could manage 46 runs. Arun was the saving grace as he scored a brilliant 30. The next match was between the UnderDogz and Purple Haze. We chose to bowl and managed to get them for 16 runs. Anand managed the runs but got out. Thereafter Shreyans completed the formalities to give us the first win in the tournament. The format this time is different from the previos editions. It has two pools, with four teams each. Three teams from both groups will qualify for the Super Six. The tournament looks well open at the moment and today's fixture will almost decide who will go to the next round.

Vijay
(Captain)
UnderDogz

A Day Full of Dramas: Underdogz and Unicorns are in the Final

Amidst high drama and exciting turnarounds, the UnderDogz and the Unicorns made it to the Final of GNLU Premier League, Edition III.
The first Semifinal was between the UnderDogz and GJ 6. Prior to this match, GJ 6’s winning record against the UnderDogz was 100%! But what followed was unexpected by one and all. I won the toss and elected to field. Parth opened the batting and was looking in a definite touch, but then came the blow. Vinit dismissed Parth with a rising delivery. The next over Vardhan got two more wickets. Mudit too was dismissed by Sachin Baid, and GJ 6 was dismissed for a mere score of 10 runs! I opened the batting and hit a six but was dismissed while trying to finish off proceedings. Thereafter, Vinit and Sachin were dismissed with out adding to the score. Anand came and finished off the match in style with a six and the UnderDogz were in the Final. I have a word of praise for our immaculate bowling performance and for having dismissed a batting team like GJ for such a low score. A lot was said before this match regarding our poor form and the invincibility of the team we were facing. But, strategic planning and execution made it sure that GJ 6 was ousted from the run for the Cup. But I must mention here that GJ 6 gave it everything while they bowled and it was a spending show of spirit and fight, that made the match as it was, rather than allowing it to be a one sided affair.
The second match between HIV 6 and the Unicorns was also on the lines of the First Semifinal. HIV 6 managed 12 runs, thanks to a spending four-wicket-haul by Manish Kanth, supported well by Sharad Khare and other bowlers. But the HIV 6 managed to get the wickets of Abhishek, Neeraj, Neerav Meena and Sharad Khare for 8 runs. But, Jeet Bhatt showed his patience and class and made sure that the target was surpassed.
Thus, looking at the form of both the teams, the Final promises to be a great contest. We have come this far, we are hoping to lift GPL 3.

Vijay Purohit
Captain, the UnderDogz

GJ 6 and Unicorns through to the Semis, Purple Haze out

We had many matches today and I'll just summarize the outcomes below:

GJ 6 played with HIV 6, and won.

GJ 6 played with The UnderDogs, and won.

The Unicorns played with Purple Haze and won.

The Unicorns played with HIV 6 and won.

Red Hawks played with Purple Haze and won.

The match between us and GJ 6 was a tight one, but the advantage was always with them, and they kept taking regular wickets and that enabled them to win.

The Purple Haze managed to get the Red Hawks dismissed for a paltry 22, while batting they scored a quickfire 14 runs in the first two overs, but after that no one contributed to the total, and the Red Hawks members played as if their life depended on the outcome. Everyone fielded and bowled superbly, and Purple Haze once again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, the GPL III is over for them.

The Unicorns and GJ 6 are through to the semis and each of this teams have won 3 matches out of the 4 they have played.
Purple Haze have registered one victory and have played all the matches, they are out.
HIV 6 have played all of their matches and have won 2, and are still in the running for the semi-final spot. (Depending on the performance of UnderDogs and Red Hawks)
The UnderDogs have 2 victories too, but we have one match against The Unicorns remaining.
Red Hawks are in a somewhat similar situation, they too have 2 wins, and have one match against GJ 6 remaining.

As the situation stands, if The UnderDogs and Red Hawks both win their respective matches tomorrow, HIV 6 will definitely be out and both Red Hawks and UnderDogs will go on to the semi finals.
If Red Hawks win, and UnderDogs lose, Red Hawks will go on, and there will be a match between UnderDogs and HIV 6, the victor will go on.

If UnderDogs win and Red Hawks lose, UnderDogs will go on, and there will be a match between Red Hawks and HIV 6, the victor will go on.

If both Red Hawks and UnderDogs lose, there will be a short tri series between HIV 6, Red Hawks and UnderDogs, the top two teams will go on.

The situation is very delicate, keep visiting for updates.

GPL : Day 2

A mixed day for us.
The results of the matches are :

GJ 6 played The Unicorns and won in a convincing manner. Jeet wasn't playing and The Unicorns sorely needed him in a crucial tie such as this.

We, The Underdogs played Purple Haze and managed to bowl them out for a measly 26. They however bowled pretty well, but defending this low total was going to be difficult, and we managed to win.

The next match was between the Red Hawks and HIV 6. HIV 6 managed to bowl out the Red Hawks for an unbelievable 2 runs! And needless to say, won without much difficulty.

Red Hawks then faced us, and outclassed us in every department, they scored a mammoth 68 runs, with Mahender and Kalpit especially contributing. They bowled well too, and we managed a paltry 26 in our quota of 10 overs.

Underdogs have played 3 matches and have won 2. (Yet to face GJ 6, Unicorns)
HIV 6 have played 3 matches and have won 2. (Yet to face Unicorns, GJ 6)
GJ 6 have played 2 matches and have won 1. (Yet to face UnderDogs, HIV 6, Red Hawks)
Unicorns have played 2 matches and have won 1. (Yet to face UnderDogs, HIV 6, Purple Haze)
Purple Haze have played 3 matches and have won 1. (Yet to face Red Hawks, Unicorns)
Red Hawks have played 3 matches and have won 1. (Yet to face Purple Haze, Unicorns)

Purple Haze and the Red Hawks are now at the bottom of the table, and I figure that in order to surely qualify for the semis, each team must at least seal 3 victories.
So Red Hawks and Purple Haze would have to give their best to make it to the semis.

The UnderDogs require one more victory, but we face two very tough opponents.
Tomorrow we face GJ 6, this is surely going to be a very crucial tie for both the teams.

Keep visiting.

Posted By : Kanishka Chakrabarti

A good day of Cricket today, and the tournament seems pretty much open.


The first match was between The Unicorns & Red Hawks, both teams touted as the favourites.
The Unicorns batted first and were dealt a double blow in the form of the dismissal of Abhishek Chaturvedi and Vipul Jain pretty early. Jeet steadied the innings to some extent with his useful 16 runs contribution before getting dismissed.
Nirav Meena was not really comfortable today, and the Red Hawks smartly used Sagarnil against him, restricting him further. After sticking around for a while and scoring a couple of runs, he eventually got dismissed. Sunny did not really last long and Manish Kanth stepped in as the last batsman. His massive Sixer in the last over of the innings took the tally to 27 runs.

While the score may not seem like much, chasing it would not be as easy, as the team boasted of impressive bowlers.
Mahendra fell early, and Abhinav Maker too got dismissed earlier than he would have liked to. Kalpit tried his best to exploit the bowlers, but the class bowling on display ensured that he did not score much. Much to the dismay of the Red Hawks, the match was slowly turning against them.
Eventually, Suvojit came in and hit a classy overboundary, raising some hopes, but just as he looked steady and likely to take the match all the way, he too fell.
Deva Prasad came in, and tried his best, scoring a few, but the Unicorns were bowling with excellent precision and dismissed Deva with only 8 runs remaining for the win.

The Unicorns prevailed in this match, and they are surely a force to be reckoned with in this series.

The next match was between Purple Haze and GJ 6. The odds were heavily stacked in GJ 6's favour, and most believed that this would be a cakewalk for them.
GJ 6 batted first and scored 52 runs, while this is a very competitive score, it wasn't unbeatable, as Purple Haze have mostly batted well and average around 40 something runs in their innings.
Sarthak Guru and Raunak Jain did not really click with the bat but Alfus Rocky did, and how!
He scored 38 himself to take his team to an unlikely victory and cause a major upset in the process, he played patiently, and hammered the loose balls.
Indeed, an excellent match, and a much needed boost for Purple Haze.

The next match was between The UnderDogs and HIV 6, they won the toss and elected to bat.
We were lucky to have Romit dismissed pretty early, as he has been playing magnificently in recent times, and lately his batting in the ground have led to some even declaring him as the 'golden player'. With Romit dismissed, Amit Sharma came in, but he did not last long either, and we were pretty much happy with ourselves and the way the game was heading.
Johnny came in and scored some runs, but was dismissed eventually.
Then Seetanshu came in and started scoring runs without much fuss, and the game was suddenly on again, things were starting to look difficult for us but Vinit prevented further damage by dismissing him. Abhinav Saxena came in and was looking in reasonably good touch, at the end of 10 overs, they had managed to score 42 runs. A reasonable and competitive total which would have been much more if it wasn't for Sachins tight bowling.

Sachin opened the innings for us and after scoring a few, got dismissed. Vijay went in, but he too did not last long. The situation seemed grim for us. But, Vinit went in and seemed determined to stay in the crease, he scored runs sensibly and kept the 'Required Run Rate' at bay.
He eventually got out when the team needed 22 more runs to win with Vardhan, Anand and myself left.
Vardhan went in and took his time initially, however, as he got the hang of things, he played a gem of an innings and proved his maturity as a batsman, but he was dismissed eventually with merely 3 runs required for the victory.
The last over was remaining and Abhinav Saxena was bowling with everything he had, Anand hit some grounded shots but the ball just refused to touch the boundary, eventually Anand tried for the aerial route and succeeded, The UnderDogs thus scored a vital win in the series.

The next match was between HIV 6 (playing back to back) and Purple Haze(second match of the day). HIV 6 batted first and once again lost their first two wickets quickly. However, Seetanshu once again saved the day for them, and later on Yash (a last minute replacement for Nakul, following the latter's absence) too scored runs without much difficulty. Purple Haze failed to capitalise on their excellent opening and gave away around 60 runs by the end of the innings.

HIV 6 did not make any mistakes while bowling and refused to let any batsman of the Purple Haze settle. They dismissed Purple Haze very cheaply and went on to achieve a huge victory. Purple Haze completely failed with the bat this time around.

The series is pretty much open, and the only teams yet to register a victory are the Red Hawks and GJ 6, but knowing the calibre of these two teams, they are sure to bounce back. Tomorrow, we may be better enabled to estimate which of the teams would be likely to reach the semi finals.
And yes, The UnderDogs face Purple Haze tomorrow.

Keep checking for updates.

Posted By : Kanishka Chakrabarti

GPL 3 is here

The much awaited GPL 3 is finally here and is scheduled to start from Monday. While we are not yet completely sure about the number of teams and the players involved in the third installment of the GNLU Premier League, we are aware of certain facts.

16 Radians, the victorious team of the First and second GPL, will not be participating this time around, at least not in its earlier form. Some players have shifted to different teams, while others would not be available for the series due to a variety of reasons.

The Red Hawks (earlier named The Blockbusters, Knickers United etc.) will be fielding the same team.

There are talks of a new team participating in this edition of the tournament, led by Siddharth Tandon, the complete composition of the team is yet to be known, and the authenticity of this piece of news is also under question.

As far as our own team is concerned, we have plenty of news and updates. But, a flashback first.

Sometime after the Goodwill Series, Shreyansh Mehta (Sheetal Jain) had approached us for a place in our team after his team (The Blockbusters) had decided to drop him, we had to politely decline him, as we could not accomodate him then.
Before GPL 2, we suddenly found an open slot as Anand Nair had excused himself from the tournament.
We decided to take Shreyansh in, we had belief in his abilities, and decided not to treat him like the rest of the teams did, i.e. poorly.
We had a pretty lacklustre tournament, but did not play the blame game with each other. As, we at The UnderDogs, believe in sticking together, through the good times and the bad.

Till a few days ago, we were under the impression that our squad consisted of seven players, and everyone would be given a fair deal.
The said seven :- Amit Sharma, Anand Nair, Kanishka Chakrabarti, Kumar Janmejay, Shreyansh Mehta, Vijay Purohit and Vineet Chaudhary.

However, we received information that Amit Sharma would be changing his team, though Amit personally had not informed us of his decision, it was confirmed to be true. It was a pleasant surprise. We were glad that his decision was communicated to us (albeit indirectly) well ahead of time and hence did not cause any inconvenience for us.

Yesterday, I approached Shreyansh Mehta (Sheetal Jain) to talk about the tournament taking place in three days time, and to my utter surprise/horror/astonishment he casually informed me that he would not be playing for the UnderDogs, as he had decided to play alongside Manish Kanth.

To cut a long story short, we immediately contacted Vardhan Tulsian and Sachin Baid to play with us, for the UnderDogs, and they were gracious enough to accept.

What later went on between Sheetal Jain (Shreyansh Mehta) and his potential teammate(s) is anybody's guess, but soon Shreyansh Mehta (Sheetal Jain) was back asking for his place, stating that his earlier statement to me was a joke!!

Well, the joke's on you Sheetal!! We already know that your potential teammates were not as keen as having you in the team as you were, and we already know that you have been going around doing what you do best, asking everyone if there was a vacancy in their team.

Once bitten, twice shy. So thank you Shreyansh, but no thanks. We are happier without you.
My personal best wishes to any side that wishes to accomodate you, if any.

Our final squad for the GPL 3 is :

1. Anand Nair
2. Kanishka Chakrabarti
3. Kumar Janmejay
4. Sachin Baid
5. Vardhan Tulsian
6. Vijay Purohit
7. Vineet Chaudhary

May the best team win, best of luck to all the teams.
Keep visiting this site for more GPL updates.

Posted By:

Kanishka Chakrabarti

GPL-1....yet again!!

What a day it was! four very good teams met today in the two semifinals and the finalists of GPL-1 made it again to the final.

The first semi-final was between the 16 Radians and the Villains. The Villains bowled a terrific line and length and reduced the Radians to a low total of 16. The best bowl of the innings was the last bowl of the innings by Manish Kanth who bowled Rajeev with a perfect leg cutter round the wicket. The batsman could not do anything about it. Many would have believed that it was curtains for the Radians but they showed a character today very rarely seen. The batsman also were responsible for the hapless condition of the Villains. Radian bowlers kept blocking them by yorkers and the batsmen offered half-defensive and half-lofting shots and were comprehensively bowled. The Villains fell short by 4 runs though their captain hung for a long time. The Radians were 'very expressive' about their win. It was a great match.

The Second match between the Red Hawks and the Barmy Army was won by the Hawks in a grand fashion. Batting first the Hawks posted a total of 46. Maker was as free flowing as ever after Mahendra got out cheaply. He gave a solid start to the team and after that Suvojit, Deva Prasad and Kalpit helped the team to reach a decent score of 46. For the Barmy Army i think Arjun deserves a word of praise. I have liked his bowling through out the tournament and he would definitely be my pick for the bowler of the tournament. Coming back to the match , wickets kept falling for the Barmy Army, and their main batsman Mohit also got out cheaply. Red Hawks kept the pressure on continuously before Shubham gave some lusty blows. But they were not enough and the Barmy Army was bowled out on 21. The Hawks are into the final and i think they would like to settle the scores of GPL-1. They are in a great form, both cricket wise and spirit wise. They are just one step behind clinching the title. We wish them and the Radians good luck for the finals.

Vijay Purohit
(Captain)