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)

End of Roads?

The UnderDogz are almost out of the run for the last four places and it has been a disappointing tournament for us. The reasons for the same are mixed i'd say. One would be bad luck and the other ofcourse being poor cricket at times, which added to the bad luck. There have been controversies relating to our team, and surprisingly every body showing interest in our team. But we would definitely take some positives out of this tournament for the upcoming Goodwill Series. We will focus more on our cricket. Captaincy is another issue which i have been thinking seriously about and it shall be decided before the Goodwill Series. Coming to the other teams and matches, i think the 1st years have played well and their bowling was impressive against us today. 26 was never going to be a tough target and they surpassed it. We decided to play Janmejay today and he bowled and fielded brilliantly. The match between 16 Radians and the Red Hawks was an interesting one but the Radians got home courtesy two brilliant knocks by Abhishek and Khanjan. The former i think played maturely today and saw that his team reach the semis. Khanjan also played a gem of an inning. 2nd Years are a good side too. Purple Haze also is one team who has not got what it deserves. One reason perhaps would be their bowling, which if gets better, will make them a formidable line up.

The last phase of the tournament would be quite interesting to see.

Tough Times

Much has been said about the UnderDogz and our performance, but i truly believe that the results could have gone our way, but for some sheer lack of luck. I think our combination has been right and the squad has given its 100% commitment. Words of praise for Shreyans Mehta who has come in to the side and given some solidarity to the middle order. He has been superb behind the wickets too. I think some reckless shots have added to our misery. But over all, our luck has been teasing us through out the series. There have been some loopholes, particularly some drop catches. They were half chances but you need to convert those if you have to win matches. It has been heartening to see the Red Hawks perform really well. They have got their original squad (minus Anand), who played the Final of GPL-1.

Rest later.

Vijay (Captain)

How the teams figure so far...

Tally

Sr. No.	Teams	Play	Win	Loss	Points
1.	RED HAWKS	4	4	0	8
2.	16 RADIANS	3	2	1	4
3.	THE VILLAN’S	3	2	1	4
4.	BARMY ARMY	2	1	1	2
5.	AMATEURS	3	1	2	2
6.	UNDERDOGZ	4	1	3	2
7.	PURPLE HAZE	3	0	3	0

Fortune does not favour the UnderDogz

We lost once again in a very crucial tie against The Villains, who got back to back victories against 16 Radians, and us.

Their match against 16 Radians was low scoring, with them batting first and scoring 14 runs. Parth has not been clicking in this series. Most would believe this to be a no-contest with 16 Radians winning hands down, however, The Villains bowled superbly and won the match. Their bowling has been tremendous, and a notch or two better than other squads. But their batting has been over dependent on Parth, and they should get their act together as regards the batting is concerned if they are to win the series.

Their next match was against us, more or less a do or die match for us. We chose to bat first and scored 28 runs, not bad considering that their bowling was nothing less than lethal. We were unlucky in the sense that Vijay got out in an absurd manner...instead of being a six, the ball refused to fall from the roof, a very rare and unfortunate dismissal indeed.

We, as a team bowled very decently, but Jeet stuck to the crease more than we would have liked him to, also scoring a few in the process. After him, Parth and Nirav Bhatt perished cheaply, and Nirav Meena came in. He batted sensibly, and for a time it seemed he would take the Villains home. But finally he fell and Soham came in.
We understood that this was the last batsman, Villain has not really performed with the bat in the GPL grounds. We tried our best to dismiss Soham but he remained in the crease. He was fortunate to be dropped twice, once in the boundary, hitting a six in the process.

He concentrated on getting 2 runs from the side, almost getting out once in the process, but he managed to stay on and win the match for his team.

In a match between the Amateurs and The Barmy Army, the Barmy Army managed to win with some difficulty, even though the Amateurs had scored only 8 runs, and were playing with 5 players.

Red Hawks then comfortably beat The Amateurs. Inspite of the 38 runs the Amateurs had put on board, the match proved to be a cakewalk for the Red Hawks.

16 Radians played and comfortably won their match against Purple Haze.

In the last match of the day, the Red Hawks faced Purple Haze. Red Hawks batted first, and courtesy Mahendra's and Kalpit's brilliant hits, scored 80 runs. I fell that Purple Haze could have utilized their bowlers in a better manner. Though Purple Haze were not really in the game, they put up a brave front and managed to score 44 before all their batsmen got dismissed.

As regards our own performances and other things, keep watching this space. Plenty of discussions to come.

Contributed by : Kanishka Chakrabarti (VC)