UCSD v/s MMSL

The match was played at a picturesque ground on Black Mountain road. The outfield was lush green but thick making it tough for the ball to reach the boundary.

MMSL captain won the toss and elected to bat. The SD3 opening bowlers Pritesh and Sriwatson kept a tight line and length. They were rewarded with a wicket each and UCSD was off to a good start. The continous chirping of the fielders especially behind the stumps kept the pressure on the batsmen.

The MMSL batsmen started consolidating after the first 2 wickets. The score at the first drinks break was 64/2 in 17 overs. The UCSD capatain chopped and changed his bowling attack after the break and the MMSL batsmen increased the tempo of their scoring. There was some ordinay fielding on the boundary and the captain , Raiyan, had a tough job on his hand. He bowled a tight spell at the death along with Rahul but MMSL finished on a good score of 187 in 35 overs.

It was a tough target to chase on the slow outfield and UCSD got off to a bad start when they lost Shawn for a duck. Kanishka hit a few lusty blows for quickfire 14 but then fell again to his Achilles heel of playing across the line. Sriwatson got out to a duck too and then it was left to Raiyan and Rahul to get the team out of trouble. Weather the storm they did, running quick singles in the beginning and then opening up to keep the run-rate under control. The score was 68/3 during the drinks break and UCSD had to score 120 runs of the last 18 overs.

Rahul reached his fifty with a silken straight drive but his running bordered between the sublime and the ridiculous. He got many lives mainly due to the largesse of the fieldsmen and was finally caught on the boundary. Andy joined Raiyan and after taking his time in the middle started opening his shoulders. This partnership brought the target under control but Andy was unfortunately run-out even after a Katichesque dive. Manish soon got out for a duck but then target was reached with ease by Raiyan with Kushal for company.

Raiyan played his best innings for UCSD. Taking quick singles, running the outfielders ragged and scoring boundaries when needed - it was an innings which brought all his experience into play. It was a stiif target to chase with good bowling and slow outfield but he made it look all to easy in the end.

A good game for UCSD who have made it a good habit of chasing well in the last few matches.

Match summary
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MMSL - 187/6 in 35 overs
Aanak - 48
Mangesh - 43
Achal - 37

UCSD - 188/6 in 33.5 overs
Raiyan - 80*
Rahul - 56
Andy - 18