Game Title: D2 Cricket League – Final
Date: May 15, 2010
Game Location: IOE Ground, Pulchowk
Photos: Ravi Sharma, Suyesh Nepal, Sangharsha Bhattarai
Captions: Team
Report: Keshab Ghimire, Nishikar Sapkota
Creative Support: Sangharsha Bhattarai

After a week of general strike, the eagerly anticipated final of the 1st D2 Cricket League was finally scheduled to be held on Saturday, May 15th, 2010. Dubbed as the “War of the D2 Cricket Gods” all players and supporters were expecting a spectacular contest from the match between the two top teams R & D and Operations. It was nothing short of a historic battle. Here is how the day unfolded.

Operations won the toss and elected to bat first. The Operations team had always been heavily dependent on their openers to get them off to a good start and this time too the dynamic duo of Bishesh and Prajowal didn’t disappoint. They put on an opening partnership of 32 runs after which Prajowal was out leg before. Bishesh soon followed and R& D were beginning to see the possibilities of a middle order collapse. Once again the Operations middle order did not click and wickets started falling in a heap. The R & D bowlers and fielders looked to be on song when it mattered most. Although they did give away a lot of extras, they prevented the batsmen from scoring freely. Finally, it was Anish Tuladhar who performed a mini-rescue act for Operations with a timely innings of 15 runs. He was well supported by Prabhash “The Wall” Jha who proved that he could not only stay at the wicket but also hold his own when it came to scoring runs. Operations were eventually bowled out for 94 runs in the 19th over but at one stage it never looked like they could get that many.

Operations skipper Ashutosh Mishra, however, was optimistic about his chances at the interval. He certainly felt that the bowlers had something to bowl at. R & D, on the other hand, were without key batsmen like Subodh Gurung and Ashish Lamichhane but they did have Ritesh Sapkota and Tejaswi Rana who could easily knock the runs off for them. Both sides looked to be geared up for the challenge. 94 runs looked like a competitive score and it set the stage for a cracking 2nd innings.

R & D’s reply started with a fierce shot to the boundary by Asim Khanal but he was soon out leg before to some fiery bowling by Suman Shrestha. The Operations bowlers were exemplary. There were very few wides and extras and they managed to maintain an exceptionally tight line to the R & D batsmen. They were simply not allowed to get away and could only manage 30 odd runs in the first 10 overs. The target of 95 runs which at one stage looked quite ordinary now seemed to be getting out of reach for R & D. With more than a run a ball needed it was clear that the batsmen had to step up a gear. And that they did! With Ritesh and Tejaswi at the crease R & D launched a brutal attack on the Operations bowlers. The boundaries started to flow and the tide seemed to be slowly but surely swinging in favor of R & D. It certainly looked like they were going to cruise to victory. However with just a few overs remaining and still a run a ball to get, Tejaswi mistimed a vicious drive and skied the ball to Bhuwan Gautam. Bhuwan was more than up for it and held on to the catch. It was game on once again and Operations were back in it. Now all hopes for R & D rested on the shoulders of the skipper Ritesh Sapkota. It was clear that the final was going to go down to the wire. The tension was mounting. With just 2 overs to go there were still 13 runs to get for R & D. Even Mohana didi who had arrived for the prize distribution ceremony seemed to be gripped by the action on the field. Suman Shrestha, who was entrusted with bowling the penultimate over was relentless with his line, length and pace and that left R & D still requiring 9 runs off the final over. Finally it all came down to captain, Ashutosh Mishra who was going to bowl the final over. Some supporters even speculated the possibility of a tie. What would happen in the eventuality of a tie? Some said “Bowl-out” and others said “Super-Over”. There was nervous excitement all around. Spare a thought for the umpires too who were under the heat in every sense of the phrase. But Ashutosh came in and maintained a tight line with an uncharacteristic calmness and composure that prevented the batsmen from hitting a boundary. Six runs were required off the final two deliveries. Ritesh played a well timed shot but straight to the fielder. No run! After weeks of planning, struggling for the ground and some tightly contested matches between the three teams in the league stage, it all came down to this – one captain to another, one ball, six runs! Who was it going to be? Could Ashutosh still keep his cool and seal it for his Operations team? Could Ritesh hit it over the boundary for a fantastic victory for R & D? The spectators were at the edge of their seats. Ashutosh ran in and bowled a near perfect delivery. Ritesh could only get it away for a single. It was all over. Operations had beaten R & D by 4 runs. The Operations players and supporters soon invaded the ground. The stumps were uprooted and thrown. What a final it was – an incredible end to a fantastic tournament.

At the end of the both teams provided some terrific entertainment for us all; not to forget the QC team as well who only narrowly missed out on the finals after some tight games. Kudos to all players, scorers, umpires, photographers and supporters who came together to fulfill the motto of the tournament “maximum participation and lots of fun”! Hail QC! Hail R & D! Hail Operations! Hail D2!!

Hope to see you all once again in Season 2. Cheers!!

Scorecard:

D2Hawkeye Cricket league -1
Final
Operation Vs R&D
Operation won by 4 runs
Played at Pulchok Campus Ground
15-May 2010 (20-over match)

Operation’s inning( 20 overs maximum )		R	B	4s	6s	SR
Prajowal Manandhar	lbw b Dipesh	6	16	1	0	40.00
Bishesh Manandhar	Stumped b Pragya	6	14	0	0	42.86
Mukesh Sah	bold b Dipesh	6	10	1	0	60
Suman Shrestha	C Tejaswi b Shishir	4	11	1	0	36.36
Bhuwan Gautam	bold b Pragya	1	7	0	0	14.29
Anish Tuladhar	not out	15	19	2	0	78.95
Ashutosh Mishara	lbw b Pravinda	0	8	0	0	-
Biraj M Shakya	bold Shishir	0	3	0	0	-
Amendra Shreshta	bold Ritesh	5	12	0	0	41.67
Prabhash Jha	stumped b Shishir	9	11	1	0	81.82
Ganesh Thapa	run out Tejaswi	1	4	0	0	25.0
Extras	(b 6 lb 3 w 32)	41
Total	(10 Wickets ; 19 overs)	94	(4.95 runs per over)

Fall of wicket: 1-32(Prajowal 4.4 ov), 2-34(Bishesh 5.4 ov), 3-47(Mukesh 7.5 ov), 4-50(Bhuwan 9.1 ov), 5-55(Suman 10.3 ov), 6-60(Ashutosh 12.3 ov), 7-61(Biraj 13.1 ov), 8-72(Amendra 15.4 ov), 9-92(Prabash 18.2 ov), 10-94(Ganesh 19 ov)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ	(n w)
Ritesh Sapkota	4	0	12	1	3.00	(6 w)
Chiranjib L. Karna	2	0	22	0	11.00	(11 w)
Dipesh Shrestha	3	0	12	2	4.00	(5 w)
Pragya R. Bajracharya	3	0	9	2	3.00	(2 w)
Shisir Adhikari	3	0	10	3	3.33	(6 w)
Pravinda Ranjit	4	0	20	1	5.00	(2 w)

R&D’s Inning( target 95 runs from 20 overs)		R	B	4s	6s	SR
Shisir Adhikari	bold b Bishesh	8	26	1	0	30.77
Asim Khanal	lbw b Suman	4	6	1	0	66.67
Shailendra Pradhananga	C Suman b Bishesh	4	20	0	0	20.00
Tejaswi Rana	c Bhuwan b Suman	6	14	1	0	42.86
Ritesh Sapkota	not out	23	25	1	1	92.00
Dipin Shrestha	bold b Bishesh	8	18	0	0	44.44
Pragya R. Bajracharya	bold b Ashutosh	2	9	0	0	22.22
Pawan KC	not out	1	2	0	0	50.00
Extras	(b 5 lb 2 nb 2 w 25)	34
Total	(6 Wickets ; 20 overs)	90	(4.5 runs per over)

Did not bat: Pravinda R, Chiranjib K, Dipesh S

Fall of wicket: 1-6(Asim 1.4 ov), 2-27(Shishir 7.1 ov), 3-30(Shailendra 9.4 ov), 4-49(Tejaswi 12.4 ov), 5-75(Dipin 18 ov), 6-88(Pragya 19.3 ov)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ	(n w)
Biraj M Shakya	4	0	16	0	4.00	(3 w)
Suman Shrestha	4	0	11	2	2.75	(4 w 1 nb)
Bishesh Manandhar	4	1	16	3	4.00	(7 w)
Ashutosh Mishra	4	0	15	1	3.75	(3 w 1 nb)
Anish Tuladhar	4	0	25	0	6.25	(8 w)

Match details
Toss Operation, who chose to bat
Series Operation won the series
Player of the match Bishesh Manandhar (Operation)
Player of the series Bishesh Manandhar(Operation)

Umpires Aakash Deep Shakya(QA), Manish Dhakal(QA)
Score keeper Keshab Ghimire, Sagar Adhikari

Series Best Performance
Batting

Player		Team		Inning		Runs		Balls Faced		Strike Rate		Average		4s		6s
Prajowal Manandhar		Operation		5		100		100		100.00		20.00		13		0
Bishesh Manandhar		Operation		5		85		137		62.04		17.00		10		0
Ritesh Sapkota		R&D		2		84		69		121.74		42.00		9		1
Shishir Adhikari		R&D		5		67		122		54.92		13.42		9		0
Utsav Pokharel		QA		4		54		71		76.06		13.50		5		0

Bowling

Player		Team		Over		Runs		Wicket		Economy		5Wi		Avg
Bishesh Manandhar		Operation		20		113		10		5.65		0		11.30
Suman Shrestha		Operation		16		69		9		4.31		0		7.67
Abhisek Gupta		QA		13		79		9		6.08		0		8.78
Ritesh Sapkota		R&D		19		76		8		4.00		0		9.50
Chiranjib K. Karna		R&D		12.1		80		8		6.62		1		10.00