However, the other team is already out of the tournament, and so far, have lost 4 matches out of the 4 they have played. The 'other' team, 'The Blockbusters' have a squad which is anything but lackluster. Sagarnil, Suvojit, Deva Prasad, Arjun, Shreyansh and Kalpit are all good players, and they, at least on paper, have the firepower to carry the team to the final stages of a series.
So what went wrong ?
For a start, it could be the initial overconfidence of the team, they played a tough first match, which in all likelihood they were expecting to win, but underestimating GJ 6 was a big mistake, and though a close contest, The Blockbusters lost. That was a huge blow to their ego I guess, plus the fact that they got out for a measly 14 or 16 runs must have shaken up their confidence.
Their second and third matches were on the same day, with little gap between them, against 21 Centurions and us respectively. They were expecting an easy win against 21 Centurions, but they got a huge shock when they realised that the squad consisted of stalwarts like Mudit and Nirav Meena, apart from Abhinav Saxena and Romit. Before they knew what hit them, they had lost the match.
The bubble had burst by then, after seeing our solid performances, it appeared that they really did not believe that they could beat us. Their body language said it all, (refer to picture) moreover, Sagarnil's batting was not in touch, and a lack of another solid batsman in the team really did them in. They lost the match, and in all likelihood, realised to their horror that they were virtually out of the series.
Almost all the players, apart from Deva Prasad, seemed shaken and ruffled, their confidence at an all time low. To further worsen things, their next match was against 16 Radians, who were in solid touch.
They lost, even before the match had started, they lacked the belief that they could beat a team like 16 Radians. After the 16 Radians had batted, the Blockbusters needed more than 50 runs to win, it is at this time I heard Suvojit say that such a score will be tough to beat. This attitude rubbed off on the other teammates as well, they lacked the will to try.
Suvojit, who was going through a lean batting phrase himself was the last person to bat, he tried hitting his way back to form, but did not quite succeed. In spite of a few hits, he did not look good and wasn't hitting the ball the way he would like to. He finally got out, a soft dismissal.
Another factor, that perhaps contributed to the downfall of the team, was the inclusion of Shreyansh Mehta. A good batsman and perhaps the best wicketkeeper available, he perhaps was not really compatible with the other players of the team. There was a constant dispute about who should keep wickets, the other contender being Arjun Bhattacharya, who indeed did the wicketkeeping from time to time. Shreyansh perhaps, did not feel at home with this team, and this factor cannot be ignored.
Tomorrow, the Blockbusters play their last match of the series against Team Delhi, they would definitely like to end the series in a positive note and be ready for GPL 2, but, that is if Team Delhi lets them.
Contributed by : Kanishka Chakrabarti (VC)
The bubble had burst by then, after seeing our solid performances, it appeared that they really did not believe that they could beat us. Their body language said it all, (refer to picture) moreover, Sagarnil's batting was not in touch, and a lack of another solid batsman in the team really did them in. They lost the match, and in all likelihood, realised to their horror that they were virtually out of the series.
Almost all the players, apart from Deva Prasad, seemed shaken and ruffled, their confidence at an all time low. To further worsen things, their next match was against 16 Radians, who were in solid touch.
They lost, even before the match had started, they lacked the belief that they could beat a team like 16 Radians. After the 16 Radians had batted, the Blockbusters needed more than 50 runs to win, it is at this time I heard Suvojit say that such a score will be tough to beat. This attitude rubbed off on the other teammates as well, they lacked the will to try.
Suvojit, who was going through a lean batting phrase himself was the last person to bat, he tried hitting his way back to form, but did not quite succeed. In spite of a few hits, he did not look good and wasn't hitting the ball the way he would like to. He finally got out, a soft dismissal.
Another factor, that perhaps contributed to the downfall of the team, was the inclusion of Shreyansh Mehta. A good batsman and perhaps the best wicketkeeper available, he perhaps was not really compatible with the other players of the team. There was a constant dispute about who should keep wickets, the other contender being Arjun Bhattacharya, who indeed did the wicketkeeping from time to time. Shreyansh perhaps, did not feel at home with this team, and this factor cannot be ignored.
Tomorrow, the Blockbusters play their last match of the series against Team Delhi, they would definitely like to end the series in a positive note and be ready for GPL 2, but, that is if Team Delhi lets them.
Contributed by : Kanishka Chakrabarti (VC)
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