The Finals of the Spring 2021 TCC was contested between Gladiators and Powerstars. Gladiators and Powerstars have done decently well in the leagues to get to 3rd and 4th positions in their pool. Gladiators sailed to QF directly after the league phase. To reach the finals, they beat the most consistent Cougars team in the QF and highly competitive JCC in Semis. However, Powerstars, on the other hand, beat CFCC and Big12 comprehensively in their run-up to Finals as they bundled out the opposition for 58 and 55. Powerstars bowling showed up big time in the playoffs.

Gladiators won the toss and elected to bat. It was a steady start by Gladiators for the first two overs before Karthik and Eklavya did the damage in the 3rd and 4th over to reduce Gladiators to 20/2 in 4 overs to mark the end of the powerplay. Then the duo of Dylan and Kaly, who have been exceptional throughout the playoffs, have been bought into the attack. Gladiators played the bowlers with caution and steadily marched towards a decent total of 58/2, and the game was evenly poised at the end of the ten overs break.

Immediately after the break, Dylan got the breakthrough in the form of Darshan T. However, Emad Badri quickly turned the next two overs in their favor by scoring quick runs in the next two overs to cruise to 84 before Eklavya broke the partnership. In the very next over, Ronnie took the wicket of dangerous Venkat Kunderu to have Glads struggling at 94/5 at the end of 15 overs. Karthik Vadlamudi, the captain of Powerstars, brought himself into the attack in the 17th over to produce another extraordinary over with a maiden wicket. The very next over Ronnie produced a beauty to remove Emad Badri, the highest scorer of Glads innings. Karthik took over another wicket in the 19th over to finish his excellent spell by taking three wickets for meager 28 runs. Dylan Bowled the last over to finish yet another excellent spell of 4 overs for just 21 runs and taking a wicket. Karthik’s strategic bowling changes ensured Gladiators didn’t score big. Whenever a partnership was brewing, Powerstars captain made masterful bowling changes to contain Gladiators to 127 for 9.

Halfway into the game, it still looked like a decent score considering the Gladiators scored more than double the score of what Powerstars’s opposition scored in their previous two playoff encounters.

Powerstars Openers Money Singh and Navin Negi started the innings at a very brisk pace and never let the bowlers settle into rhythm from ball one. They scored 22 runs in the first two overs before Money Singh was caught out in the bowling of Ninad. Sreenivas Seelam joined Navin Negi onto the crease. Here again, Before Glads could rejoice the wicket, Navin Negi scored scorching boundaries back to back in Ninad’s over to take the score to 35/1 in 3 overs. At the end of the powerplay, Powerstars were 38 for one. Sreenivasa Seelam joined the party with a beautifully crafted lofted drive on the offside to get the boundary of the bowling of the ace spinner Sandeep K. 

Powerstars Kept the runs flowing from both ends before Sreenivas was out for 13 in the bowling of Aradhya. Gladiators happiness didn’t last long as Prashanth Manne, who joined Navin Negi, looked in complete control to bring Powerstars total to 78 for two. In the eleventh over, right after the break, Navin Negi brought up yet another masterful and classy Half Century. After the 10th over break, Powerstars upped the ante and scored at will and brought the total to 120 for two in 16 overs, leaving only eight runs to win in 4 overs. Prashanth Manne and Arjun got out in quick succession. However, this was too late for Gladiators. Kalyan Chivukula came to the crease to finish off the match which looked like a mere formality.

Cometh the hour and Cometh the Champion is what we could think of when we witnessed Navin Negi’s innings. He dominated the match from ball one and has bowling look very easy, and it looked almost like he was batting on a different wicket than all other batsmen. There were several shots in his innings which were eye-catching, and the best of the lot was the pull shot to cow corner for a six.

Needless to say that Navin Negi was adjudged Man of the Match for his unbeaten knock of 79 of just 53 balls with seven fours and 1 six.

The MVP of the series was Karthik Vadlamudi, who took a total of 17 wickets in the season and also contributed with the bat with 213 runs. The very fact that the stats sheet in the playoff shows the top 3 wicket takers in the league were from Powerstars. The Trio of Dylan Joseph, Kalyan Chivkula, and Karthik Vadlamudi who took eight wickets apiece to ensure comprehensive victories in the Playoffs.

It’s absolutely a must to give a shout-out to Dinesh Kasliwal, who has held the Gladiators unit cohesively, and it’s always a treat to watch him on cricket grounds strategizing and ensuring Gladiators had a great run in the season to be crowned Runners!!

The core unit of Karthik Vadlamudi, Prashanth Manne, Rohit Bade, Sreenivasa Seelam, Kalyan Chivukula, and last but not least, the beast alias Ronnie Ronaldson ensured Powerstars had a great and successful season.

Under the able leadership of Karthik Vadlamudi and Kalyan Chivukula, Powerstars has grown from strength to strength and is a force to reckon with in TCC.

The game was followed by a well-organized presentation ceremony organized by Jagadish Biradar. Dinesh Kasliwal of Team Gladiators was thanked for voluntary work on scheduling. Karthik Vadlamudi, the captain of Powerstars received the winner’s trophy and the runners up trophy was collected by Emad Babri, counterpart from Gladiators. Other tournament awards were presented to Amit Patel (best batsman with 291 runs), Sajid Khan (best bowler with 16 wickets), Shiva Prasad (best keeper with 23 catches), Jayanth Kalakuntla (best all-rounder with 220 runs and 12 wickets), special century award for Rakesh M Raja, Rushang Shah, Hiren Patel and Swapnil Chandrate, special hat-trick award for Archit Shah and Yesu Seelam. Online scorecard: https://www.cricclubs.com/3T/viewScorecard.do?matchId=1193&clubId=8675

Winners Powerstars

Runners up Gladiators

Amit Patel Best Batsman

Sajid Kahn Best Bowler

MVP of tournament Karthik Vadlamudi

Rakesh Raja – Century Special Award

Umpires of the game