When the going gets tough, the 21 Centurions get going

This afternoon's final match of the Goodwill Series was a heart stopper. The 21 Centurions beat their opponents GJ 6 in a tight match and captured the imaginations of one and all.
Batting first, Romit finally ended his run drought and scored in a manner that could be described by only one word, 'blitzkrieg'.

Romit was rock solid, and gave a smashing start to the 21 Centurions innings. But just as he looked good enough to set a big score up for his team, he was dismissed by a wonderful ball.

Abhinav Saxena then played a pivotal role and took the tally to 40 runs.
From there on things went spiraling downwards for the 21 Centurions, no one else contributed to the score, even the usually prolific Mudit went for a duck this time, and the total score remained 40 runs after the innings ended.

40 was not a huge target, but it was not an easy one either, if the bowling remained disciplined then it would be tough for GJ 6....and it was.

21 Centurions bowled in an exemplary fashion but GJ 6 went on making steady progression. in spite of the loss of regular wickets. Abhinav Maker started an onslaught and it appeared GJ 6 would go on to win, but after Maker was out, and Sahil had just come in, Nirav Meena stepped in to bowl.
He dismissed Sahil, then Parth and then Trushil in consecutive balls, to get a hat-trick for himself and to wrap up the match in a stunning fashion.

The celebrations of 21 Centurions was a sight to see...they were ecstatic, and rightly so. Along with us, they were also written off prior to the start of the tournament. They too were underdogs in the same sense as we are, so we, naturally were rooting for them.

Abhinav Saxena's commitment was amazing, he would and could do anything for the team.
Nirav Meena, though he did not have a good tournament with the bat, he more than made up for that with his wily bowling. He managed an amazing hat-trick when it was needed the most.
Romit, was an integral part of the team and showed in the finals what he was capable of doing. He lived up to his words.
Praveen, bowled and fielded with commitment and more than made up for his average batting display.
Puruaj, normally not an avid cricketer, proved that no matter what he does, he does with passion and zeal. His fielding skills saved precious runs for the 21 Centurions.
Mudit, my favourite batsman, played FANTASTIC cricket, in all aspects, he is an one man army, and does everything without giving any hint or display of emotion.

The 21 Centurions deserved this series, and we, the UnderDogs congratulate them and hope that they continue playing with the same set of players.

P.S: Keep watching, we will soon have loads of updates to our gallery.

Contributed by : Kanishka Chakrabarti (VC)

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GJ 6 oust The UnderDogs to reach finals.

This morning the second semi - finals took place, and GJ 6 played brilliant all round cricket to reach the finals of the Goodwill series, which will take place at 4pm.

We won the toss and decided to field first, Soham opened the batting and gave a solid start to the team, Hardik continued from where Soham left and was looking in good touch before he got dismissed.

Though we had plans to counter the batsmen, we were not really able to execute them well, as a result our gameplan to some extent went haywire.

Vinit bowled extremely well and bowled 2 maiden overs, but our plans of keeping him for the end overs were not possible as we needed the wickets before their batsmen got settled.

Our middle overs were so-so but the main thing on our mind was that Parth was on the crease, and only 2 wickets had fallen so they could afford to take chances, also the fact that we had to bowl all 6 members of our team was playing on our mind.

I myself, (Kanishka) bowled the eighth over, and conceded eight runs, Parth was getting into the groove and the score was 40 runs.

The last two overs were bowled by Anand and Amit respectively, and it was at this time that Parth let loose his flurry of boundaries. Amit especially got hit badly and conceded 28 runs in the last over.

We needed 83 runs to win, a daunting task needless to say, but we still believed that we were in the match. Vijay opened the innings and looked good, but the fact that he didn't have time to settle eventually got the better of him.

We sent Anand up the order, hoping that his pinch hitting would take us out of the potential mess we were in.

But, Anand, who has batted brilliantly throughout the series, appeared uneasy in his role as a first down batsman, and after sticking around for a while, got out.

Vinit came in, middled a few balls, but the fact that we were (perhaps) playing for a lost cause must have somehow bothered him, and he too fell.

Now Amit, the anchor of the team, was our last chance, but he too gave in to the rising pressure and got out.

Kumar Janmejay, who too, has been having a wonderful series with the bat and the ball came in. But, at the back of our minds, we knew that it was only a matter of time before we lost.
He hit a huge sixer before succumbing to GJ 6.

As I came in, GJ 6 was already celebrating, and after a few balls, I too got bowled by an excellent delivery. Thus, 'The UnderDogs' made an exit from the Goodwill Series.

GJ 6 were in very good touch and were better than us in both the batting and bowling department. They kept the cool and never gave in to pressure, Parth's half century will be remembered for both his beautiful strokes and for his cool temperament. His innings, truly took us out of the game. Their bowlers were bang on, and we could learn a lot from their disciplined line and length.

We have learned a lot from this 6 matches that we have played in. We as a team, know our strengths and weaknesses, our dedication and commitment to the sport was always evident. We plan to field the same team, with no changes in the upcoming Laxmi Bakery Challenger Series, and later on for GPL 2 as well.

Later on this afternoon, the finals will be played between GJ 6 and 21 Centurions. Both the teams are on a high, though the odds will be in favour of GJ 6 for their consistency. But, knowing 21 Centurions, they will give everything to this match, and I personally feel that for the 21 Centurions to emerge as the champions, they all have to play well.

Nirav Meena, who is a good all rounder, has not really clicked with the batting so far, Abhinav Saxena too has not lived up to his true potential, both the players need to click.

Pururaj needs to improve his fielding and bowling, if he is to bowl at the death overs.

Mudit, who is a terrific batsman in terrific form, just needs to keep doing what he has been doing. His ability to not to let the pressure get to him has seen him through all sorts of tough matches.

I, personally, want 21 Centurions to win, but keeping history in mind, feel that GJ 6 has the edge.

See you all at 4pm.

And yes, keep visiting the blog for more information and updates regarding our team, Goodwill Series, Laxmi Bakery Challenger Series, GPL 2 and everything else that comes up. Thank you all for your support.

Contributed by: Kanishka Chakrabarti (VC)

Our loss in the Semi Final today was quite disappointing for all the players. But, we have a lot of positives to take from this series. We played brilliantly as a unit. Amit and Vinit were good with the bat. Janmejay has proved himself as a brilliant and match winning all rounder. Kanishka's balling has been terrific through out. Personally, the series was good for me in patches with the bat but i m quite content with my bowling. Parth's innings and GJ 6's performance was terrific today and if they go on to play like this in the final, they can win the series. All the players in our team were from earlier GPL teams, who had faired badly. So this goes on to prove once again, that its not the individual but the team which is important. I would like to thank my team for supporting me and my decisions (thought they were always collective). I take the responsibility for the loss though it was just a bad day.

We hope to perform better in the coming Challenger Series.


Vijay Purohit (Captain, the UnderDogs)

21 Centurions rout 16 Radians to reach the Finals

First things first, we witnessed the mother of all matches this afternoon. The semi final match between 21 Centurions and 16 Radians was considered by many as a no contest. 16 Radians were the favourites, and after their first debacle against us, The UnderDogs, they made a sparkling comeback and hardly showed any weaknesses. They were in formidable form.

In contrast, 21 Centurions were impressive only in bits and patches, they lacked the consistency of the other teams. Some considered their entry into the semi finals as somewhat of a fluke, as they only had to be better than Team Delhi and The Blockbusters, both the said teams failed to impress in this series.

But as they took field against the 16 Radians, the determination showed, their first minor victory was in letting 16 Radians field first, they have been a weak team while chasing.

After the initial few wickets, 16 Radians seemed all set to cruise through to another easy victory. But Abhinav Saxena was due to make some runs, and he appropriately chose this occasion. After getting a few runs on the board though, he fell.

Mudit, was at his best, leaving the dangerous balls and punishing the ones he deemed fit, he played a gem of an innings to take his teams total to a formidable 60.

Chasing to get 61 is not an easy task, but if there was any team that could do it, it had to be the 16 Radians, who have a history of getting high scores. Moreover, there were a few inexperienced bowlers in 21 Centurions, and they could count on their overs to let loose.

But the bowlers bowled tightly and wickets fell at regular intervals, and soon there was only one man who was coming in between the 21 Centurions goal of sealing a final spot, Rajeev Tak.

Rajeev, as we all know, has been in tremendous form, if anyone could carry 16 Radians home, it was him.
It was a wise decision on part of the team to save up Mudit's quota of bowling, so Mudit had 2 overs to bowl, with Pururaj bowling one over in between.

Mudit's first over was tight, and 16 Radians required 19 runs to win from 12 balls, of which Pururaj was to bowl 6.

Rajeev unleashed himself in Pururaj's over and scored 12, all seemed over when Pururaj dropped a relatively easy catch of his own bowling.

Mudit came in to bowl the last over, with 16 Radians needing 7 runs to win.

Mudit frustrated Rajeev, even giving 3 wide balls in the process, but Rajeev nevertheless managed a few runs somehow, and 2 runs were needed to win. Then, Rajeev unnecessarily hit a ball straight, Romit and Parveen both rallied behind it, and for a moment it seemed the ball would be dropped, but Parveen held on to it like his dear life, and Abhinav Saxena started celebrating in his usual wild fashion. A hell of a match, a hell of a victory.

In other news, in the league matches, The Blockbusters finally showed their true colours against Team Delhi, who were pulverized for just 2 runs!!! Needless to say, The Blockbusters won.

GJ 6 lost against 16 Radians earlier on, ending their winning streak, but they went on to defeat the would-be-finalists 21 Centurions in a convincing fashion.

Tomorrow, we play our semi final match against GJ 6. The match is scheduled to take place in the morning, so it would be a different experience.

Both the teams are playing good cricket, and its a tough choice to decide between the two teams, though GJ 6 has an edge as they have earlier defeated us in the 'one' match we have lost in this series so far.

But, we are in good touch too, and everything seems to be working perfectly for us, so expect another cracker of a semi final.

Contributed by : Kanishka Chakrabarti (VC)

Mother of all games...

Today,it was one of the biggest upsets that cricketing world would have ever wittnesed...Abhinav Saxena lead team beating 16th block team in a nail biting & a well contested Semi-Final.After witnessing the joy on the 21 centurians faces I could relive the moments which I saw on the television screen some years back, when minnows like Kenya had beaten West Indies in 1996 World Cup.Here I would like to mention that the spirit of 21 Centurians was always high as compared to 16th block.It was there self belief which took them to their maiden finals.16 th block were very close yet they were so far from reaching the final.They were few positives that they would be taking from this series like-Rajiv's form, he played a superb knock on a loosing cause...but his fire works would always be remembered(specially his ton against the Delhi team),also Khanjan bowled a good line length during the entire series,was bit unlucky today as he wasnt able to quite capatalise a good bating form.Sachin, today I feel was quite unlucky with bat & bowl,but surely he would return in good form in the upcoming GPL 2.The player who didnt play upto his potentials was Abhishek, the only thing he needs to understand is Dude! stop experimenting & taking other teams for granted.Lets see what happens in tommorows crucial encounter between the Underdogs & GJ6.

Fall of the Radians!

What a semifinal! The script for the 21 Centurians couldn't have been better. After a poor start, i.e. loosing 5 wickets on 22 runs, it was Mudit all the way. He had not played well in the tournament, but i guess he saved his best for the Semi Final. Before that, i must mention that the Centurians had lost 4 wickets on just 4 runs and Abhinav played a gem of an inning to take the team to 22. 16 Radians looked under pressure for the first time and after their top order collapsed, it was upon the last man Rajeev to take the team to the finals. He almost did that, thanks to a dropped catch by Puru off his own bowling. But Praveen took a splendid catch to rap up the innings and win the match for the Centurians by one run. The Radians were aghast and shocked. All credit to the Centurains for a wonderful display of all round cricket.

Now, the UnderDogs meet Gj 6 in the 2nd semi final tomorrow morning, which should also be an exiting game, given the form of both the teams. We are full of confidence right now and would like to execute our plans on the field.

We played a friendly match with the Blockbusters today, and won the same with ease. The boys are rearing to go.

Contributed by - Mr.Vijay Purohit (Captain)

Raring to do well in Semifinal

So far we have played to our potential and with team unit. Winning four out of five matches in the league matches are considered as good if not the best. After finishing the league matches I hope that we have garnered some respect from the opposition team. If the rain god doesn't disrupt today's matches, the series is likely to finish on Tuesday. The main concern for our team is that none of our players have experience of playing in big match. But the best part of our team is that we are playing with brains, we have gelled well, our fielding and bowling has come out very good and surprisingly our batsmen are in good touch. Each and every player has contributed with bat in this series so far. After winning against some tough opponents, there are lesser possibilities that we will not live to our expectations. I would personally like to thank our captain Mr. Vijay Purohit for his leadership, Kanishka Chakrabarti for his unbelievable commitment on the field, Amit Sharma for his quality batting, Vineet Chaudhary for his all round performance and Anand Nair for his explosive batting and tremendous fielding. I personally believe that I have improved a lot in my batting on this ground and my bowling was always considered as an asset.

So to sum up we are fully fit and eager to give our best in the Semi final of Goodwill series. The team is in good form and would like to maintain it to win the series.

Love and lots of panti....


P.S. Thank you for being such a great blog audience. Thank you for all your comments and feedback. We enjoyed reading the good, the bad, and the ugly. Please keep it going, we look forward to it.

Contributed by : Kumar Janmejay (Player)

WHY IS OUR CAPTAIN THE BEST?

It was few months back when the GPL1 had just ended, after a lot of on field & off the field action.I was sitting outside and was bit disappointed with my personal as well as my team performance,and even was regretting to play in GPL 1.Before, I could mourn for our failure as a unit, I saw someone approaching and calling me, as he came nearer I realized that was Vijay( Captain of one of the weakest team in GPL1), I m saying so because they were beaten quite comprehensively by nearly all the teams.But, still there seem no signs of grief & sorrow on his face.I guess he was the only one who seemed quite normal after miserable performance shown by his team.He asked me whether I would like to join his team, I wont lie but initially I was quite reluctant, but there were few things that forced me to change my mind.The first thing was his enthusiasm for the game & his never say die attitude.Secondly, he made me realize that its not the individual who matters but the support which he gets from the team even if he fails which creates the zeal in the player to play well.Hearing his views I realized if we play as a unit we can surely turn the tables, thats what we did in this series.No matter, even if we don't win a single game from now on, we would still take a lot from this tournament.We did what nobody expected us to do?We bit the invincible 16th block..n many others as well..All credit goes to our captain who not only showed trust in us,but also motivated us to play well each time.Three cheers for our Captain...

SHAH RUKH KHAN: AN INSPIRATION FOR“THE UNDERDOGS”

Shah Rukh Khan aka King Khan loves going where no one else has managed to and so do we. SRK is an inspiration for the entire team and like him; we proved today that we are not a team, to be taken lightly.

We are very proud to say that we are a great fan of him and his tremendous energy. We believe that his kind of temperament and positive attitude will ultimately make us feel like a true champion on the field.

It is you, supporters and critics, and your generous wishes and comments that have always driven the passion in us. The thirst for victory is now stronger in us after losing to GJ 6. And our motto is strengthened by the faithful supporters who chant along with us, even in our weakest moments. With four wins and one loss in the league round, we are in a position where we can go a long way in the tournament. And the fact that we are a force to be reckoned with cannot be denied.

Regarding “publicity gimmick”, as alleged by some people, I would like to add one of favorite quote of SRK: - I am SRK, I am publicity. Publicity follows me wherever I go.

P.S. - It is well known to the world that what Shah Rukh Khan touches becomes gold.

Posted by - Kumar Janmejay (Player)

Road to the Semi Finals

First of all i would like to thank all those who helped in making the ground worthy of play today, in spite of the fact that after early showers today play was very unlikely to take place. But with in 40 minutes after the rain stopped, we worked our asses out to make sure that we get play today. Due to this herculean effort, we were able to witness four matches today. I would like to compliment team Delhi on their performance with the bat in their maiden tournament on this ground, though they are out of the run for the semifinals.
Coming back to the UnderDogs, we played the last match of the day and it was once again, a brilliant performance with the bowl, restricting the 21 Centurians on just 22 runs. Small totals can be tricky some time and i played a very rash stroke when we still weren't off the mark. But our Mr. Dependable Amit once again played patiently to make sure that the target was surpassed without any further loss of wickets. The Blockbusters once again failed to make any impact today and were routed out of the tournament by the 16 Radians. The Radians are once again back into their old form and will be tough to beat. It will be interesting to see how their match against the GJ 6 shape, who also have won all their matches till now.

I would like to say that our bowling, fielding and batting has been quite brilliant in the tournament and that is the reason why we top the table right now. But all the four teams making it to the semi final are very balanced and competitive and it is difficult to say at this moment, who will win this Goodwill series. But it definitely has been a joy ride as far as the UnderDogs are concerned and we would certainly like to continue with the same squad in GPL-II. Lets see how things shape up.

Vijay Purohit (C)

Analysing the disaster OR Why The Blockbusters got busted?

At the beginning of the Goodwill Series, 2 teams were touted as the favourites. One of the teams, 16 Radians, is still considered to be the favourites.

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)

UnderDogs on a roll

Once again, the UnderDogs proved their mettle on a day that saw some rainfalls, and play being interrupted.
But first things first, though the league rounds are not over yet, the semi-finalists are now certain.
The semi-finalists are : The UnderDogs, GJ 6, 21 Centurions and 16 Radians.

The two teams that are out of the competition for sure are Team Delhi, and our arch rivals The Blockbusters. Both having lost all 4 games they have played. Tomorrow they play each other, and we would love to see the match.

Neither of the teams are bad, but while Team Delhi is just getting settled on this ground, the Blockbusters contain players used to the format and the ground, yet they have not played up to expectations. This just goes on to show how important mental strength is, in this game.

I firmly believe that we have been winning matches, because, we believe we can.

Today, we defeated 21 Centurions convincingly, and its a great feeling to have 3 wins on a row. Our only defeat has come against GJ 6, who have played 3 matches, and have won all 3. They are looking very good.

But looking even better is 16 Radians, who have found their lost touch, and are absolutely punishing and pulverizing every opponent they are facing. Their only defeat EVER has come against us, in the first match of the Goodwill Series, their batting lineup is tremendous.

Though it is unlikely that we will face them in the Semi Finals, it is possible that we meet in the finals of the Goodwill Series. It promises to be a hell of a match.

Contributed by : Kanishka Chakrabarti