Powerstars were crowned the Champions of TCC Taped Ball Spring 2021 Premier League for their 2nd consecutive championship. SLCC, a 10th time finalist were the runners up. The Finals was a contest between the two of the most deserving teams in the once in a year tournament for Division one teams only.
On a muggy overcast day on July 17th 2021, with a heavy outfield, the crucial toss was won by Powerstars captain Ashwin and they decided to take advantage of the conditions and put SLCC in to bat. Sriram started off in typical fashion for Powerstars by grabbing yet another powerplay wicket, thanks to a well-judged catch by Kalyan to remove Dulaj. Jeevankumar came on to dismiss the dangerous Kusal who was batting with a brisk strike rate close to 130, he was caught behind by Prashant. Powerstars bowling changes orchestrated by the Ashwin Ravi and Kalyan began making massive inroads into the strong left hand dominated SLCC batting line up. Up first, Asad Mirza castled Bernard and then Prashanth in a mesmerizing spell of off-spin bowling got rid of Tushara caught by Kalyan. Asad Mirza also got Gihan Fernando to leave SLCC tottering at 42 for 5 in 9 overs. Powerstars had the upper hand walking into the break after 10 overs of the first innings
The game moved in a similar pattern post break with Ranil getting runout in the 11th over massively shifting the momentum towards the Stars. The game defining strikes came in the 17th over from Adithya who initially dismissed Thilan off his first ball in the powerplay, caught by Kalyan and then got rid of the other set batsmen Janith with a quick delivery, to polish off any threat that SLCC could pose. From the remaining couple of overs SLCC ended up with a paltry total of 106. Powerstars had contained yet another strong batting line to a below par score to give them a wonderful chance to win back-to-back TCC championships.
The second half of the game had very little drama as the Powerstars batting unit put on a very professional display in chase of 106. The initial SLCC attack was thwarted and the top order of Powerstars raced away to 30/2 in 5 overs losing one of the openers Parasu to the tournament’s best bowler Ramesh and Srini who was run out. Jehanzeb (Jazzy) the other opener, who had got his eye in by now was joined by the Prashanth and the duo decided to play in an extremely aggressive mode. The remaining 80 runs were knocked off in 12.1 overs with a flurry of boundaries to both the batsmen. Jazzy added a couple of massive sixes to end up with a well compiled 53(29) and Prashant was there to score the winning runs yet again, capping off a tremendous series with the bat, staying not out on 30(26). Through the entire season, the Powerstars team was impressively well led and managed by Ashwin and Kalyan , both kept the team highly motivated to win back-to-back TCC trophies.
The game was followed by a well-organized presentation ceremony hosted by Jagadish Biradar of TCC. Dinesh from Gladiators was thanked for his voluntary contribution in scheduling the tournament. Umpires Devon and Adnan were presented with umpiring medals. Ashwin Ravi, captain of Powerstars was awarded the championship trophy and Udesh, captain of SLCC was awarded the runners up trophy. Jazzy was awarded the MVP of final for an explosive half century.
Tournament awards were also presented during the presentation ceremony. Prashanth from Powerstars won the award for the MVP of the tournament. George from ECC was the best batsman with 306 runs, Ramesh from SLCC was the best bowler with 13 wickets Aradhya from Gladiators was the best All-rounder for 107 runs and 10 wickets. Navin from WOMCC with 17 catches and Rex from Big12 with 16 catches and 1 stumping were the joint winners of best wicketkeeper. Special award for century was presented to Navin from WOMCC
Online score card is at https://www.cricclubs.com/3T/viewScorecard.do?matchId=781&clubId=8675 and You tube video is at https://youtu.be/zG7ZucG-BTU
Winners Powerstars are as below
Runners up SLCC are as below
