An epic inning from Pandiyan: Nomads beat KCC by four wickets

Winning is important but it cannot be a goal in itself. If you give it a thought, you will find that win is only a by product of doing the right things. 

  

That is what Nomads did in the last match in Karlsruhe against the Karlsruhe Cricket Club. When we finished bowling we found that we had conceded at least 100 runs too many and none in their sane mind gave us a chance to chase 259 runs in 35 overs and win. So, Vijay and other senior players decided that we need to play 35 overs, no matter what. It was a right thing to do, this is not just an opinion in retrospect.

In the third match of the season we had our third opening pair. This time it was Arpit and Rehan. Arpit saw off the first over without scoring anything off the bat, but runs came as extras. Rehan failed to read the bounce and was hit on his helmet. But the next shot was a true testament of the positive mindset of the Nomads. On a rising delivery Rehan made room and guided the ball to third man fence. The tone was set... a good chase was on its way.

Rehan fell after a positive start to a lazy shot to a non-bowler (Adeel). That brought in Pandiyan. A couple of over later Arpit also departed to the same non-bowler as he failed to read a slower ball. But runs were coming in the from extras and also from the bat of Pandiyan. Saghir started off in a way only he can. At one point when Sagir and Padiyan were batting we were 75 runs off 10 overs, going well with the asking run rate. Still, at that point there was no hope or expectation of win although there was a glimmer. Soon after that Saghir miscued a ball from the spinner and the non-bowler took an easy catch. So the guys who was not supposed to be a bowler was involved in first three wickets that fell. Next man in was Fayas who was playing cricket after four years and made his debut for the Nomdas, started off very well, but unfortunately couldnt continue with the good start he had. But, he showed that he has the potential to be a strong hold of Nomdas' batting.

Vijay joined Pandiyan who had been dropped once thus far, and immediately the two brought a feeling of calm to the chase. They started playing their shots. Pandiyan grew in confidence. So did Vijay who returned to form after two consecutive ducks. Those two back-to-back boundaries were a proof of his class. Without being aggressive in a visible manner Pandiyan and Vijay continued to take more than seven runs an over. Pandiyan, particularly made sure that he got at least a single as long as the ball touched his bat. But he deserved those, as his powerful shots forced the opposition to protect the boundaries. Despite that, on average, every over brought us a boundary and few wides and couple of singles. 

Virender Sehwag once said that any point in time more than 90% of the field is unguarded and Pandiyan and Vijay showed us what he meant. The KCC was struggling to place field in their own home ground.

At one stage when we needed 106 runs of 13 over and Pandiyan and Vijay were going strong there was first a glimpse of hope. But more important, they both ensured that we were going to bat through the overs. From that point on, with the aid of fast outfield and spread out field we scored nearly 10 runs an over. Vijay contributed 29 runs but when he came out we needed 21 runs off  21 balls. This says how dominating Pandiyan was who by now had completed an amazing hundred. There was celebration but with every ball he was becoming more and more determined and he save his celebration for the end.  
Now the victory was a certainty. Adnan who replaced Vijay, first gave strike to Pandiyan but then he also opened up and took us very close to am amazing win. When Adnan returned we needed just three runs. I got a double of the first ball I faced and in the next over Pandiyan hit a beautiful and powerful drive. Only he was supposed to hit that and then came that roar which should have come at when he reached his 50 or 100 or when he hit that six. But Pandiyan was so committed that only a victory could stop him.

Before all this, we won the toss and elected to bowl first. It was a very deliberate decision taken by Vijay, Saghir, Rehan and myself. We started off very positively. Again Arpit was a bit uneasy with the new ball. He compensated for it in his second coming. Saghir was just brilliant as he started his spell and immediately there was a catch dropped. Nila who was given a longer spell today bowled really well and in fact, his bowling improved with every ball he bowled. Finally, he ended up with two well deserved wickets and the first one, which was also his first for the nomads, was just a beauty. Rahul and Fayas, were a bit expensive but so was everyone else. The ground was oddly shaped and out field was rather fast. Moreover, we were bowing on a true wicket and in general we struggled with out bowling lengths. But credit also to the KCC batsmen who did very well to keep our captain busy with fielding and bowling changes. Irfan, Waqqr, Chopra and Adeel batted well. Two friends of ours, from the Pak Freiburg, Zeb Bhai and Rezwan also played for the KCC as they were short of players. Zeb bhai showed his class as he struck Saghir and me for boundaries. Rizwan was not as successful. In the end Nila and Vijay got two and Saghir and myself ended with one wicket each. We did miss one extra bowler. 258 was a big score. 

In our pre-match discussion we thought to restrict the KCC to 150 or so. Evidently our bowlers could have done better but it was a new ground and pitch, and we struggled with out consistency in finding right length and proper field placements. But I do not mean to say that we made serious fielding error. Everyone, including Nikolaus, who made his debut in the match, was fully committed. Nikolaus later mentioned how the ball surprised him at times in the field. We could have taken a couple of catches but then at this level of cricket such errors are bound to happen. But I am sure everyone learned from this experience and our next effort on that wicket will be more true to our abilities as a bowling unit.

I have to admit that KCC was perhaps not at their best, perhaps their best players were not available. In fact they played with 10 fielder for first 13 overs. Perhaps they also did not take us seriously, maybe because they thought that 258 was too big a total for us...All this maybe true but its not an easy act to chase 259 runs not matter how easy and inexperienced the opposition is. We reached target with 5 wickets and 11 balls remaining, this show how well we played, how Pandiyan dominated the opposition and how winning was not our target but it came to us as a by product of our good game.

In any case it was good to be on the winning side. It for the first time in the history of Nomdas that we have had three consecutive wins in away games. without a doubt, Pandiyan was the hero of our victory but even he will agree that everyone contributed to this win. The spirit are very high and players are happy to each other perform and I think thats what we mean by the word 'Team'.

Despite this record win some cracks have now become more visible in our side and all players are aware of those as was clear in the post-match discussions. So, Nomdas are going from strength to strength. Now they have a home game coming up on the coming Sunday and they are charged up to continue. This will be a test of our bench strength as several players are away due to a long weekend.

I would like to thank KCC for being great hosts and for providing plenty of water on a hot and humid day and excellent food. Its a pity that our vegetarian teammates could not taste that.