29/05/2023
The second semi was between KD and C8s. As predicted this match turned out to be a cracker of a contest and arguably the best match in the whole tournament. KD won the toss and choose the bat first and started in an attacking mode as usual but Samir took the important wicket of Sudipta early and put them on backfoot. KD captain understood the tension of the situation and made a good choice of sending Debraj at first down. It was the demand of the situation to play the anchoring role by someone. Debraj played it extremely well till the point where he got out hit wicket not able to retain his balance after a late cut, probably the unluckiest way to get out in a semi final match! On the other end wickets kept on falling and huge credit to C8 s for their attacking approach in bowling. Through out the tournament they were able to get out their oppnents and its their nack of wicket taking no team could really get any momentum against them. Although their bowling was thought to be the weak link, they proved all wrong and contain a strong and attacking batting side like kD to a score of 45 only, quite low to their standars. A special mention goes to Tarak for his absolutely dedicated fielding efforts.
With a chaseable score on eyesight, C8 sent Gaurav and Oais to open the innings. Gaurav has been in good form through out the tournamnet and started well. Unfortunately the weather condition suddenly started to worsen and the umpires had to take a call of stopping the match. The wind went on for 30 odd minutes but luckily there was no rain and the umpires decided to start the match. After a break in momentum, both teams steadied the nerves. But wickets started to fall for C8 and they sent Amit for batting. It turned out to be a blunder for them and he played 7-8 dot balls before he was retired out and Samir came in place of him. He hit a boundary in the first ball but Arijit Sarengi very cleverly bowled full to him and got him bowled! The match was going out of hands but Gaurav kept him applying and took the match to last over with 15 more runs to chase down. KD captain went for experience and threw the ball to Debraj. But Gaurav was seeing the ball like football by then and was able to take out 3 fours and Debraj had little idea where to bowl to stop the run bleeding. With 2 runs to get in one ball, and 1 run to tie, Gaurav got stuck half minded and played the last ball directly back the bowler. Debraj grabbed the ball , dislodged the bells and Gaurav was still miles away from the line. KD took the match by just 1 run, this little was the margin! What more can you ask from a match like this? A perfect ending.
Few questions reamin, not facing a single ball in the whole tournamnet why was Amit sent to a high pressure semi final match ahead of Samir, Bappa, Tarak?? With Gaurav to play the attacking role Bappa would have been the best option to rotate the strike and steady the ship. Is Samir's approach to hit all the ball for boundaries was wise specially when the previous ball was full length which he missed completely and should have been aware that the bowler has understood that he has chance of getting him out by full bowl as he is late to bring his bat down. With a set batter at crease and 2 runs to win, was it a good decision to try for a single but not a boundary, the conservative approach might have proven to be the deciding factor. Probably it's easy to answer these looking back now, not so much at that situation. But C8 played as a champ and they were no where less except maybe in luck to reach the finals!
KD as predicted by many, went through to the finals after all the dramas!
