Stormers on a roll, makes it two in two
It is a generally accepted fact in cricket that low scoring matches often create more drama than their high scoring cousins. Low targets often seem attractive at the outset, but the more you get closer to them the more difficult they become, as the Stormers discovered today. However the Stormers was able to soak the pressure of reaching a low target and defeated Tuskers United by 6 wickets in 9.4 overs.
On winning the toss the Stormers’ captain Ranjith E had no doubts in choosing to field first on a rain-drenched surface. On a pitch where the ball hardly bounced above knee height the opening batsmen of Tuskers United had a very tough time. Both Ben and Saravanan were careful in not attempting any outrageous shots to increase the scoring rate. They moved forward with ones and twos and occasional big hits against really bad deliveries. The opening partnership was on course to go the whole distance of 10 overs when Binish took the wicket of Ben for the individual score of 16. Since the loss of the first wicket, Tuskers kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. In the final over, Stormers’ icon player Renjith K made three breakthroughs restricting the Tuskers for a score of 61 in 10 overs. For the Tuskers, Saravanan top scored with 31 runs.
Stormers started their tricky run chase in a measured manner. On a difficult batting track they were concentrating on not losing wickets in the initial overs of the innings. While they were surely moving forward though slowly, disaster struck when Vijai’s wicket was taken by Basil. Then Binish went in to partner his skipper in the middle. The partnership was not allowed to flourish as Basil removed the other opener Ranjith E too with his skilful bowling. Noble, who went in next, was also out soon without troubling the scorers. That wicket brought some tension in the ranks of the Stormers and the Tuskers sniffed an opportunity to get back to the game. However in Gopalan Marimuthu, Binish found an able partner to take the innings forward towards the target. Both batsmen made sure that they didn’t lose wickets and took the team nearer to a victory. When the Stormers was just 3 runs away from a win Binish was run out. Renjith K, who trotted in next, took his team to the winning total by hitting the ball across the fence for a four in the fourth ball of the final over. For the winning team, Gopalan Marimuthu top scored with 23 runs in 14 balls.
Gopalan Marimuthu was declared the Man of the Match.
SCOREBOARD
