The one man show was not enough

There has to be a noble reason to win. In my opinion the best reason to win is that "we are better than our opponents". Shorter term or lesser reasons such as -- because we want to defeat them or because we want to ensure a place in the next round, usually fails to motivate the team and perhaps does harm by creating a fear of loss.

I think that is what happened. Long before the match was due we were made slowly aware of the strength of the opposition, but not necessarily as to better prepare us for them.

There is a bit of background to this match. Incidentally, I  have not updated my blog since Kaiserslautern University Cricket Club (KCC) team visited and the StadtVerwaltung Freiburg double booked the ground to preclude any form of cricket. The league administration did very well to reschedule the game.

So we reached the ground with a bit of aura of the opponents and a lot of strong motivation to win.

And it was well reflected in the way we started bowling. We bowled, arguably the most successful batting team in the league, for a mere 135.

Among all of us Raghav was the clear pick of the bowlers. He very well exploited the conditions, i.e. the pitch and the heavy weather. After a long time we were playing on a good wicket where bowlers could see the ball bouncing up to chest height without much effort. While I ended up relishing the bounce, Raghav just stuck the basics, i.e. aim the top of the off stump and rest just followed for him -- I mean the seven wickets. 

Sagir, Arpit, Adnan and Rajesh contributed their share. In process of relishing the bounce I leaked out lot of runs in the my second spell (mostly in boundaries) but I was happy with my bowling, it was a bit selfish effort but when Raghav was bowling so well, our team could afford that. Except for some lapses in the wicket-keeping we were just superb on the field and it was great to see the strongest opposition of the league fold with 135 on board.

On that good wicket where both disciplined bowlers and batsmen could be successful, the target was not difficult but still we were chasing at the home ground of the bowling team. Besides, as I said earlier, perhaps we could not believe that we were just chasing 136.

Our chase started with rain interruption. From then on the rain played hide and seek but the ground was good and the field dried out faster than expected and we managed to finish the full game despite multiple breaks. 

We started well and managed to maintain a good run rate.  But our wickets kept falling, occasionally to the brilliance of the bowlers and mostly due to the lapse of concentration of the batsmen. Everyone of our batsmen started looking very confident but not converting the starts. All we needed one big partnership and that just did not come. At one stage we had lost 7 wickets for 60 runs. Then came a short partnership. However, when I entered, we needed 31 runs one wicket remaining and plenty of balls left. I started off well but then fell to the temptation of hitting a big shot. I know I cant cross boundary, only rarely I have, but still, I tried and failed.

We lost a game we should have won. We all were unhappy and the saddest among us was Raghav, who really deserved to win and did all that in control of a bowler.

Well, now Raghav can pride himself that for matching a feat achieved by the great Imran Khan. Imran holds the record of best bowling (6-14) in a 50 over game in a losing cause. Sunday, last Raghav took 7 wickets and very sadly, ended up on the losing side.

Raghav was perhaps at his best and he will have to work extra hard to emulate his own standards from now on. It just a pleasure to be on the field and watch him sort out the batsmen.

I often see cricket as a team game played by individuals and thus, single performance can change the course of the match. However, in this case rest of our team fell so far behind that we just could cash in the great opportunity Raghav created.

This failure initiated that we are a better bowling side. Few games earlier when we almost chased down 295 runs, we were cursing our bowlers and batting was our stronghold. It will change again if lose to bowling errors. Loses always teach something. With victories we tend to overlook our limitations.

I should also congratulate the Kaiserslautern team for the victory. They are really good unit and held their nerves and showed why they have remained undefeated so far. And they brought good food for lunch.

Arvind

PS: This blog is way too delayed and should have been written two weeks ago. The match was played July 4, 2010.

PS: This blog was written while listening to the great Imran Khan delivering the Cowdrey Lecture 2010 at the Lords.