Gladiators won the TCC Spring 2012 tournament beating Rattlers by 10 runs in a low scoring but intense and exciting final. Gladiators won the deserving championship in a well fought out tournament that had 12 participant teams.
On a gloomy day and wet outfield, Rattlers won the toss and elected to field in conditions difficult to bat. Early on Gladiators lost Sandeep (6 runs) in the first over of Sai. It was followed by couple of quick wickets of Hiren (run out) and Prateek (4 runs) who was brilliantly caught by Sarang of Sai’s bowling. Sanman and Akshay played steady till the 10th over and the score was 40/3 at the end of 10 overs due. Sanman scored aggressively in the 10th over. Akshay (9 runs) and Sanman (19 runs) were out in quick succession to Bala and Sai in an effort to score quickly followed by Saurabh (run out for 4 runs) leaving Gladiators in a delicate situation of 54 for 6 after 13 overs. Ketul who played a captain’s knock (31 runs) and Sheetal (13 runs) first stabilized the innings for a couple of overs and later accelerated the scoring thru big shots in the last 4 overs. Both of them hit some handsome boundaries on both sides of the wicket. Wickets fell at regular interval trying to accelerate the scoring rate in the end of the innings. The final score was 98 after 20 overs. For Rattlers, Aditya and Sai took 3 wickets each while Mahesh got 1 wicket. They were backed up by exceptional fielding.
Chasing 99 for victory in tough batting conditions, Rattlers lost quick wickets early on. Ram was out in the first over by Ninad, followed by Satish (6 runs) of Sandeep’s bowling and Aditya (4 runs) of Ninad’s bowling. Senthil and Mahesh then steadied the innings till the 10th over and the score was 30/3 at the end of 10 overs. Rattlers lost Senthil (6 runs) due to a brilliant catch by Ketul of Prateek’s bowling. Mahesh (21 runs) hit an elegant six and then got out due to a superb diving catch by Akshay of Ketul’s bowling. Manik and Ashwin played sensibly from there on. Manik (13 runs) was picked up by Ketul. Ashwin hit a huge six and was looking dangerous. 23 runs were required of 18 balls with four wickets in hand. Bunti (5 runs, 1 wicket) and Ninad (5 runs, 2 wickets), then bowled an exceptional 18th and an outstanding 19th over. Ashwin (18 runs) was out going for big shots due to an exceptional catch by Saurabh. Rattlers fell short by 10 runs in the end due to exceptional fielding and great catching backed by tight bowling by Gladiators. For Gladiators, Ninad took four wickets, Ketul took three wickets while Sandeep, Bunti and Prateek took one wicket each. The game had high quality umpiring from two neutral umpires Jagadish and Chaitanya. Though it was a low scoring game, it was very exciting and keenly contested and was decided in the last 3 overs.
The game was followed by a well-organized prize distribution ceremony arranged by TCC. The presentation party had members of TCC Board Venkoba Rao and chief guest was Mr. Masood Ahmed, EC member of HCL. Mr. Masood Ahmed was honored with a memento by TCC. Jagadish Biradar, organizer for TCC Taped Ball tournament coordinated the presentation ceremony.
Ketul, the captain of Gladiators was presented with the championship trophy and Senthil, the captain of Rattlers was presented with the runners up trophy. The players of the winners and runners up received individual trophies. Man of the match for the finals was Ketul from Gladiators who played his match of the tournament with 31 runs and 3 wickets.
Sanman from Gladiators won the Best Batsman trophy with 265 runs. Ketul from Gladiators won the Best Bowler trophy with 18 wickets. Ketul from Gladiators also won the Best All Rounder trophy with 92 runs and 18 wickets. Trophies were also given to the man of the match for Semi Finals and Quarter Finals. Prateek from Gladiators and Mahesh from Rattlers were the recipients of the man of the match for Semi Finals. Adithya Bala from Rattlers, Sudhir from Houston Arrows, Kartik from Gladiators from and Anukul from RCC were the recipients of the man of the match for Quarter Finals.